The Influence Of Body Image

“People often say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder,” according to Salma Hayek. Society should have a positive outlook on body image, rather than face a disorder that can change one’s whole life. Negative body image can result from the media, with photoshop and editing, celebrity fad diets, and society’s look at the perfect image. Negative body image can lead to dangerous eating disorders, such as bulimia and anorexia. It can also take a risk to unhealthy habits, such as smoking, alcohol, and drugs. It is important to stress the effects of body image, because the world still struggles with this today. Society should not be affected by

What is body image? Body image is what one sees about themselves. What you imagine their appearance to be. This could include their weight or height. Most importantly it is how one feels about themselves. Do they feel happy with what they see? Maybe they feel sad with they see. Roughly 91 percent of women are not confident with their figures. Body stereotypes haves changed throughout the years. Since times began body image has been a big deal. A few examples being; in the 1920’s it was the flapper look. The flapper look being petite and straight as a board. Next in the 1950’s it became the hourglass figure also known as the pin up girl. This figure was very curvy but still with a slim waist. The 1980’s was the supermodel body. This being a tall athletic physique. In current times it’s alike to the 1950’s. Everyone wants the Kim Kardashian body. A skinny waist with big assets. In America only five percent of the population are happy and have the figure that is “normal”. Body image is greatly influenced by our peer and the culture we live in. If we are around people that motivate and give positivity towards our bodies then we will have a higher self-esteem. Just as if we are around people that are negative. When around others that give insults and degrade you, then you will have a low self-

Body image is an important concept in many adolescent and young adult minds. To have a positive body image is to know that you are beautiful. To be beautiful is to reach the standards of beauty in society. However, society is constantly changing those standards as time goes by. Many young men and women strive to reach the positive, even if it means their health, money, and mind. They have the media, such as magazines to thank for these wonderful standards.

A body image is a subjective combination of all the thoughts, emotions, and judgments that an individual may perceive about his or her own body. Each individual has a unique perception of his or her own body. This image is strongly influenced and often times skewed due to the increasing pressure created from outside, societal factors. With a world that is continuously creating new forms of social media and entertainment, individuals are constantly exposed to images that supposedly define bodily perfection and are then expected to resemble these images in order to fit in and/or please society. The expectations that have been put in place by society has created unwanted pressure on individuals who feel as if they need to resemble these images to get society’s approval.

What is body image? From Sophia Greene’s ‘Body Image: Perceptions, Interpretations, and Attitudes’, body image is “the mental picture we have in our minds of the size, shape, and form of our bodies and out feeling concerning these characteristics and one’s body parts.” So, let break this down a bit. It all comes down to the mental picture we have of ourselves? But when the media is constantly throwing images out there of what “beauty” is, is it just our mental picture of ourselves that determines our body image? Is it all the other physical pictures around us shaping what we should look like? Out subconscious sees everything around us and is a part of determining that feeling concerning the characteristics of our body.

Low self-esteem is, and always will be, a growing issue in the world. There will always be people who struggle with it more than others and others less. And some people want to change it, some people want to help other people so that they never have to face the harsh reality of low self-esteem. And some people just don’t want any help at all. But of course, without a change, body image will just get worse. And if there is change, perhaps this way that social media and people view reality can change how everything is going

In Susan Bordo’s article entitled, “Never Just Pictures,” Bordo explores the driving forces behind the ever-intensifying, pervasive, and obsessive behaviors related to perceptions of and adherence to “acceptable” dictates regarding body image. Bordo’s insightful observations, examples, historical development, and logic shed light on how these dictates developed and from where they currently emanate, including the self-appointed societal, cultural, philosophical, and psychological “gatekeepers” of beauty in today’s society.

"Body image is the perception that a person has of their physical self and the thoughts and feelings that result from that perception.” The American society has been broadcasting a certain type of body,

This part important because it shows you can love yourselves of who you are if you start to accept yourself. Having body image issues isn’t always how people see you, but it’s sometime about how you see yourself. Learning to love yourself takes a lot of time and effort, there’s days who will love yourself and some days when you

Body image may be viewed as the way people see themselves and even imagine how they make look based off how they may feel about themselves. Yet it could also be viewed as the way other people see you. Body image, in medicine and psychology refers to a person 's emotional attitudes, beliefs and views of their own body (Positive and Negative Body Image). According to Positive and Negative Body Image, a negative body image develops when a person feels his or her body does not amount up to family, social, or media standards. Many people feel as if they don’t measure up to the belief of others. People who have accepted the way they look often feel good about their image and would be considered to have a positive body image. One’s appearance may not be measure up to how their family expects it to be or how it is perceived to be in the media, but once people learn accept and be proud of the way they look they’ll be better off in the long run. When a person is measured against the standards of the beauty seen frequently in the media and it doesn’t compare to how they feel about themselves it become discouraging. Having said that, long-lasting negative body image can affect both your mental and physical health which could lead to eating disorders down the road.

In today’s society, many people in this world come across either a body image or even some may even become obsessed. Obesity and body image has been a world problem all across the nation. Commonly in our society, people are contradicting the “ideal image” often times people are told that looks don’t matter- it’s only skin deep, but in our media to say something else otherwise our society promotes a certain body image as being seen as the only way to look and feel beautiful.

We live in a world where we solely base our ideas, thoughts, behavior, and opinions of ourselves, etc. on what other people think of us and what we want them to think of us. The reason being is that people try to gain acceptance from the world and its peers. By doing this, human beings allow themselves to live unhappy in exchange for everyone else’s happiness and approval. The best solution(s) to preconceived ideas about body image is to first realize that you are beautiful no matter what size or shape you are, pinpoint what is keeping you from loving yourself, notice negative self-thoughts, surround yourselves with people who only have positive comments about your health and your life, and lastly, you must learn how to control, master, and

All women should have a slim body and a big butt. All men should have washboard abs and big biceps. These are just expectations that society has built up of how one should look. Often when we don’t reach it, there are consequences of developing negative body image issues. So what is negative body image exactly? According to NEDA (Australia’s national eating disorder association), body image issue is the dissatisfaction someone may have of their body not meeting unrealistic criterias. It is the negative thoughts and emotion that result from someone’s perception of their physical self. Unfortunately, in today’s day and age this is an existing issue because we live in a world that promotes unrealistic body ideals. It becomes a challenge to not compare yourself to these ideals when you see images of instagram models floating around in your everyday life.

To begin, body image is affected by social media. When men and women see ads and magazines with people with perfect bodies that are impossible to get, it lowers self esteem about their body image. In addition, these images are mostly photoshopped also. Patrick Kelleher, from the article “No body is perfect: is it possible to be happy with our bodies when we are constantly being bombarded with images of perfection?” explains “The images we see get stuck in our head, it makes everyone think they need to look like that.” (Kelleher). The text says that social media makes it impossible to feel good about are bodies. In fact, the images we see are photoshopped, but no one knows that. Women and men get distracted from these pictures and makes them obsessed with trying to look like that. This can also lead to eating disorders and anxiety. People get affected by social media when images get stuck in our heads. What social media doesn't show is imperfect bodies. In

Often, people of all ages, race, and gender catch themselves gazing into mirrors for hours, blaming themselves for the way they look, not realizing that the media is actually the one to blame for many people’s body image. Body image is the way people see themselves, or how they assume other people see them. It is not likely to see a plus sized model in a magazine or a model on the runway with blemishes on her face. A person’s negative perception of their own body is not because they think it is wrong to look and be healthy; it is because the media is telling them that being a size 2 with flawless skin is healthy and beautiful.