In contemporary times, one of the main aspects of its culture is the media. The media has developed a powerful influence on many teens and young adults. One of the messages the media endlessly sends out is body image. The media conditions what “beautiful” or “attractive” women are supposed to look like, and consequently, many young women now establish their body image in accordance with the standards the media has promoted. Because of the significant emphasis on body image, countless girls and women are now struggling with self-esteem, eating disorders, depression, and other harmful effects caused by the impossible body standards of society. One of the prime issues with body shaming, is that people do not recognize it as an actual problem.
Everyday females are exposed to how media views the female body, whether in a work place, television ads, and magazines. Women tend to judge themselves on how they look just to make sure there keeping up with what society see as an idyllic women, when women are exposed to this idea that they have to keep a perfect image just to keep up with media, it teaches women that they do not have the right look because they feel as if they don’t add up to societies expectations of what women should look like, it makes them thing there not acceptable to society. This can cause huge impacts on a women self-appearance and self-respect dramatically. Women who become obsessed about their body image can be at high risk of developing anorexia or already have
Thus, it can be said that this can be an evidence of a positive force against body image and the ill effects of
This constant fixation on physical perfection has created unreasonable beauty standards for women, ones we cannot possibly achieve on our own. Such standards permeate all forms of popular media, particularly fashion magazines and advertisements. Women are bombarded with the notion that we must be thin in order to be desirable. These images project an
When women are uncomfortable with their body, they get taken advantage of by companies trying to sell their products varying from protein shakes, “magic pills”, to surgical procedures (Lin). But all of this can be prevented with six simple themes to address. First, with family, friends, and other relationships, we can further educate each other and work together to come up with alternatives to these linked issues with body image. Secondly, we can put an end to teasing and bullying. No one has the right to or entitlement to emotionally, mentally, or physically harm another person for the way they look.
Every day, there are girls who look in the mirror and all they see is fat and ugly. Every day, boys look at themselves and say, “too scrawny”, “to fat”, “not enough muscles”. Every day people starve themselves just to fit into society’s mold of what the perfect person looks like. Every day we see stick thin models and buff male celebrities on television, in advertisements, and in other forms of media. The media influences people all the time to have a negative body image and nobody is doing anything to stop it.
Body image issues are compounded by unrealistic portrayals of women in the media. 1. Nichter & Nichter (1991) found that the ideal teenage girl was described as being 5’7”, 100 pounds, and size 5 with long blonde hair and blue eyes. If this were a real person, she would represent a body mass index lower than 16, which is extremely unrealistic and bordering on anorexic. On the same note, the average model portrayed in the media is approximately 5’1 1” and 120 pounds.
Men and women nowadays are starting to lose self-confidence in themselves and their body shape, which is negatively impacting the definition of how beauty and body shape are portrayed. “...97% of all women who had participated in a recent poll by Glamour magazine were self-deprecating about their body image at least once during their lives”(Lin 102). Studies have shown that women who occupy most of their time worrying about body image tend to have an eating disorder and distress which impairs the quality of life. Body image issues have recently started to become a problem in today’s society because of social media, magazines, and television.
Men and women nowadays are being assaulted and humiliated into considering that their body is not good enough. Body shaming is uncompromising and punctures deeply. People often listen to their minds expectations, lies, and criticism body shaming themselves. Another way people are being shamed for their body is by the judgement of others. This affects mental health of those who have experienced body shaming by causing anxiety, depression, and loss of self-confidence.
Research suggests that media advertising mainly impacts a woman`s body image negatively (Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008). On average a person sees 400-600 advertisements per day. The advertisements present beauty of unrealistic standards, distorting what true beauty is. The media flaunts girls with flawless figures and perfect skin. This creates pressure to look perfect rather than being healthy among females.
Majority of today’s teenagers suffer with the thoughts that they will never be “good enough,” loved, or happy as they are. The positive or negative mental perception that people have of themselves physically is what’s called a ‘body image.’ Although this image may be the total opposite and not reflect on the real appearance, or how others see it, there is no in between of the two body images: positive or healthy body image and negative or poor body image. A healthy body image is considerably attractive and poor body image as unattractive. A negative body image is commonly reported and influenced by the three main aspects: age, gender and society (Davidson and Cataldo, 221-222).
Media plays an important role and has influence in almost every aspect of a person’s life. Personally in my own life it has both positive and negative effects. One positive effect is that it’s my best source of knowing what’s happening in the world. It’s the best source of finding out what the news is around the world and the weather forecasts. It’s also very helpful on an educationally aspect.
In today’s society, the younger generations are focused on their body image and of others compared to generations in previous years. Many are very conscious about how their appearance is and have a created a stereotypical image for the average male and female. Also, many have become judgemental and prejudice towards other because of their body image, not personality and behaviors. Today, many people will put down others because of their body image.
Social media is a powerful source in today’s society, 81% of the population in the United States alone has set up a social media profile. Many use the media for useful things, like educational opportunities and business inquiries. Although there are people who may look at it more in a concerning aspect. Many people today view the social media as a stage where they are judged and told what the real way to look and act is, more specifically, body image. Social Media has a negative impact on body image, through creating a perfect view physically which affects someone mentally, targeting both male and female, and turning away from the real goal of social media.
Beauty is a rather amorphous concept. When taking differing cultures’ views on it; interpretations of it can be complete polar opposites. Despite this, beauty still holds an incredible amount of control in almost every human society. When viewing Cameron Russell’s Ted talk, The Power of Image, she explains in depth the dangers of body image and the pressures it forces upon some people in our society. One subject she briefly touches on is that of societal image and power.
Body Image and the Media “A healthy body image is not something that you are going to learn from fashion magazines.” (“Quiz: Do You Have a Healthy Body Image?”). Therefore; body image refers to the way a person perceives themselves. Numerous women and men battle with an unhealthy body image due to the media; furthermore, it makes humanity presume they are not adequate. The media should not have any control over how people contemplate their body image.