Young Women's Body Image

The topic of body image is an issue that we see amongst many adolescents all around the world. This huge issue can be dealt by adults but the main victim of body imaging are adolescents. Everywhere, anyone goes, there is example of what society considers “beautiful.” Even if someone is not completely studying it, their subconscious is still registering all of the images and words to what society thinks is a perfect body. Everyday there are people that walk by magazines in stores, drive by billboards with models, and watch television commercials with the skinny girl or buff guy. It is just something people see in their everyday life and is something that is hard to get away from. With all of the hints here and there, it is hard to not think about your own self-image and lose a little bit of self-esteem. Adolescents are more vulnerable to getting self-conscious because that is when we as humans are starting to figure out our own bodies, so when these young adults see a skinny girl on the cover of a magazine with the words “beautiful” or “hot” next to them, they start to question if they can fit in those categories.

The female body image is highly influenced by the mass media and the media’s portrayal of women, ‘70% of college women say they feel worse about their own looks after reading women’s magazines’ (University of Massachusetts & Stanford University, 2006), the portrayal of women in the media has an unrealistic approach and brings out body dissatisfactions and this results in eating problems and disorders.

Every single day women are faced with the questions of whether they are pretty enough, skinny enough, whether men are attracted to them, whether they can be loved or not, and whether people think they are beautiful. Images of “beautiful” females are plastered all over the media, commercials, Internet, movies, TV shows, ad campaigns, etc. In today’s society the “perfect female proportions” are nearly impossible for one to healthily obtain, but this does not stop women of all ages to going through impossible measures in order to be one step closer to what they consider “perfection.” For many girls all ages, shapes, sizes, around the world, eating disorders are becoming more prevalent for weight

Due to the rising epidemic of poor body image among young females within Australia, body image has been identified as a top personal concern for the 6th year in a row (King, 2011). According to Mission Australia’s 2015 National Youth Survey, this is an increasing trend that had risen by 26.5% in 2015 (King, 2011). Poor body image refers to the negative way in which someone perceives their body, and a significant public health issue, particularly among young females aged 14 to 25 (BMC Public Health, 2016). It is associated with a range of detrimental outcomes, including eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia (BMC Public Health, 2016). The fashion industry’s infatuation with unrealistic body size and subsequent manipulation of societies

Eleven million women in the United States suffer from eating disorders- either self-induced semi-starvation (anorexia nervosa) or a cycle of bingeing and purging with laxatives, self-induced vomiting, or excessive exercise (bulimia nervosa) (Dunn, 1992). Many eating disorder specialists agree that chronic dieting is a direct consequence of the social pressure on American females to achieve a nearly impossible thinness. The media has been denounced for upholding and perhaps even creating the emaciated standard of beauty by which females are taught from childhood to judge the worth of their own bodies (Stephens & Hill, 1994). To explore the broader context of this controversial issue, this paper draws upon several aspects on how the media

Chronic dieting, low self-esteem, depression and, high levels of body dissatisfaction were among the major issues women face when addressing their body image (Gingras, Fitzpatrick, & McCargar, 2004). The severity of body image dissatisfaction have increased to such a dangerous state that it was added to the DSM-IV as a disorder now called body dysmorphic disorder (Suissa, 2008). One of the main reasons for the prevalence of these conditions in women was due to contemporary Western media, which serve as one of the major agent in enforcing an ultra-thin figure as the ideal for female beauty (Saraceni & Russell-Mayhew, 2007). These images and models presented by the media have become the epitome of beauty, pushing women who internalized these images to dangerous extent to attain these norms. According to evidence from previous studies, contemporary Western cultures have influenced women to an acquired normative state of discontent with their bodies, which have become the source of maladaptive eating practices, negative psychological outcomes, and, chronic health conditions associated with eating disorders (Snapp, Hensley-Choate, & Ryu, 2012). The seriousness of these body image conditions among youths and women have also led to congressional actions.

Media has become a significant component within society. While media provides many pros, it supplies various cons as well. One very prominent fault that the significance of media has is its visual depiction of women. There is an abundance of media portraying women to have ideal bodies, and this undoubtedly has a negative effect on adolescent girls. Two of the many effects of media on females are depression and self esteem issues, as well as eating disorders. Unfortunately, body dissatisfaction caused by media is becoming more and more common.

At the end of my speech, the audience will have a better understanding on how society plays a big role on women’s body image. They will also be able to identify the relationship between body image distortion and eating disorders. Finally, I will provide further understanding on the crucial factors of eating disorders, as well as the different treatments available.

O'Dea, J. (2002). Can Body Image Education Programs Be Harmful to Adolescent Females? Eating Disorders, 10(1), 1-13.

Body image is often portrayed in the media. For many decades, people have accused the media for portraying an unhealthy body image that is nearly impossible to mold. The rise of social media has affected how we think and how we perceive things. People refer to the media for a clear understanding of what is accepted and what is not accepted in today’s world. So because of this, Jenner’s images may affect young adolescents. Because body images is so important to young teens and even adults today, we desire to look like the celebrities in photos and magazines. Whether she knows it or not, Jenner portrays a body image to teens similar to her age and gives them an idea of what is “perfect”. By doing this, it causes teens to crave for the same traits

society’s ideal of beautiful they partake in these negative habits. We ought to consider the

make your face thinner. These are the types of things that make people more and more self-conscious about even the tiniest flaws.

Unfortunately, there are many people throughout every corner of the world that are pressured into being the perfect image of a woman in today’s society. This causes stress and the turn to eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and binging; however, society has the power to prevent this. These are caused by disappointment in one’s body shape, and this disappointment can be triggered by depression, hateful comments, or the promotion of the importance of physical appearance. Eating disorders are extremely dangerous to one’s health, alter one’s mind to lead to depression, and can be prevented by minimizing certain factors in society. The influences leading to eating disorders should be discouraged, if not demolished because of these reasons.

“More than 90 percent of girls- 15 to 17 years- want to change at least one aspect of their physical appearance, with body weight ranking the first,” (Smith). These girls who are feeling dissatisfied with their bodies are experiencing a negative body image. Body image is the internal representation of a person’s outer appearance. To have a positive body image, is for people to have a clear perception of their bodies and the ability to see their bodies as they really are. A negative body image however, is to have a distorted perception of the body and when people perceive their bodies unlike they really are. Having a negative body image has many detrimental effects on individuals, such as, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, along with low

Under society’s customs for decades, young women have been put under the pressure and anticipation to have perfect bodies. That is, thin and curved, beautified by applying pounds of makeup to their face but not appear ridiculously overdone. Who’s responsible for these standards imposed on young women? When a young girl picks up the model along the cover of Vogue being called flawless, it’s easy for her to then aspire to be a real-life imitation of the photocopy. These companies produce magazine covers shown with girls’ images daily. As if keeping the perfect body wasn’t hard enough our culture also forces girls into the forever expanding world of composition, however, body image is a surging subject for young women. Advertisements and pictures of lean female models are all over. Girls are measured and perplexed by their physical appearances with attire intended to enhance a facial expression; social media, magazines, the society, marketing campaigns and advertisements add to a strain of excellence.