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How media influences body image
How media influences body image
How has womens body image been affected by media
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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
Moreover, Body Image, Media and Eating Disorders states that 30% of children are dissatisfied with their body image due to being overweight and 15% are dealing with obesity (Derene & Beresin, 2006). This demonstrates that the number of children watching television and the number of overweight, obese children are involving their selves more into the media rather than more crucial events. Correspondingly, the average model is 23% thinner compared to 25 years ago (Ravelli & Webber, 2012). Today’s media has an impacting effect on how women should appeal themselves to others in society. This guides them to behave a certain way and not truly be themselves.
The author, Xiao, further explains how the media can cause corrupted body images, but may also have positive outcomes. Throughout the article, Xiao expresses a state of neutrality, he constantly stresses the both positive and negative stances of media. Moreover, the author provides the audience with structural models that represent the different medias and the influence it has on an individual’s self-esteem and body image. In addition to these structural models, the author concludes
According to a survey done by Jesse Fox, Ph.D., 80% of women feel bad about themselves just by looking in the mirror (Dreisbach). This has happened because of social media being changed to make girls feel like they need to have a certain body shape. Models and celebrities in magazines and media show unrealistic beauty and it contributes to eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and much more (Seventeen magazine). Media has put lots of stress on women throughout history with changing body shapes. A survey done by Dove found results that 9 out of 10 women want to change at least one aspect of their physical appearance.
The author identifies several perspectives, including social comparison theory, objectification theory, and cultivation theory, which explain how social media can contribute to negative body image. Perloff also provides an agenda for future research, highlighting the need for studies that explore the moderating factors that influence the impact of social media on body images, such as age, gender, and cultural background. The article emphasizes the importance of understanding the complex relationship between social media use and body image concerns, and the need for interventions that promote positive body image and self-esteem. Overall, the article by Perloff (2014) is a valuable contribution to the literature on the impact of social media on young women's body image. It gives a complete summary of the theoretical viewpoints that explain how social media can exacerbate body dissatisfaction and emphasizes the need for more studies to identify the moderating elements that affect how social media affects body image issues.
Sass also mentions after a research, ‘that strong link between social media use and body image issues; here Facebook and Instagram were cited as particularly influential in shaping perceptions of the feminine ideal, leaving users dissatisfied with their own bodies.’ With the wrong message advertisement many young teenager girls are discouraged from sports. What they see on social media is what they believe is accepted in society. A lot of websites and advertisements show athletic women with six packs abs, skinny bodies or other sexualized objects, that leads girls and women to have a lower self-esteem. Women are often treated as objects, this causes more self-conscious about their bodies and impacts their participation in
However, when abused, the power of the media can harm everybody and anybody. Images portrayed by the media tend to make people attempt to accomplish trying to be someone else's idea of perfect while also ignoring what they want and what makes them happy. The majority of the media today often portray the perfect body to the public, hoping that people will strive to achieve fitness using a certain product or idea. Many people suffer from self infliction as a result of failure to achieve the perfect body. It makes it harder to accept someone for who they truly are: The effect of media on women’s body dissatisfaction, thin ideal internalization, and disordered eating appears to be stronger among young adults than children and adolescence lays the foundation for the negative effects of media during early adulthood”.
There are a number of pressures that influence how one perceives their own body image. The largest pressures on the ideal body image are spawned from the influence the media have on society and the reactions that emerge from interpreting the media and advertisements. In documentaries such as Killing Us Softly and Dying to be Thin, the media is entirely made out to be the lone culprit of body image skewing. However, the media cannot be completely to blame. Many pressures emerge from family members or members of society that have the influence to shape how one feels about themselves, which has been apparent since the Victorian Era, and can still be seen today in the case of Frank Bruni.
From an early age, we are exposed to the western culture of the “thin-ideal” and that looks matter (Shapiro 9). Images on modern television spend countless hours telling us to lose weight, be thin and beautiful. Often, television portrays the thin women as successful and powerful whereas the overweight characters are portrayed as “lazy” and the one with no friends (“The Media”). Furthermore, most images we see on the media are heavily edited and airbrushed
Social media plays a big role in how society portrays body image. “Alternatively, an increased number of Facebook friends may provide girls with greater opportunity to rapidly make multiple social comparisons, itself shown to be associated with body image concern”(Tiggemann and Slater 82). According to the survey that was taken by Marika Tiggemann and Amy Slater, the more Facebook friends the girls had, the more likely it was that they had body image concerns. They were able to compare themselves to the other girls that they were friends with, which led to them to have an increase in their drive for thinness. “Further, these comparisons are likely to be with somewhat idealised images, in that girls mostly post photographs in which they look good or are doing something ‘cool’ (and can be digitally altered)”(Tiggemann and Slater 82).
Countless advertisements feature thin, beautiful women as either over-sexualized objects, or as subordinates to their male counterparts. The mold created by society and advertisers for women to fit into is not entirely attainable. More often than not, models are Photoshopped and altered to the point that they don’t even resemble themselves. W. Charisse Goodman suggests, “The mass media do not
Advertising is one of the main influences on our body image. Besides the many other influences such as parents, education, peers and relationships, the media has the greatest impact, and specifically on young women. Young women are constantly being given the image of the ‘perfect’ body and indications on what the world defines as ‘beautiful’. From the perspective of the media slimness is idealised and expected for women to be seen as ‘attractive’.
There are a large amount of misleading ideas which women think are true, such as, models on social media. Individuals strive for that perfect image which, if not attained, can cause major health problems like depression. They can even resort to plastic surgery to completely change their body forever. The amount of insecurities that social media causes among young women are gradually increasing overtime due to, peer related comments about their weight or parental guidance toward dieting according to Emily Balcetis, Shana Cole, Marie B. Chelberg, and Mark Alicke. In the article written by Emily Balcetis, Shana Cole, Marie B. Chelberg, and Mark Alicke, its states that women are more influenced by famous people that are on tv, “An average of 76 percent of female characters are below the average weight” (Fouts & Burggraf, 2000).
Self-absorption attitudes in adolescents and young adults are influenced by social media to develop body image and empathy issues. For example, “Social Media and Narcissism: Rise of A Self-Obsessed Society”, written and published by Jay Thadeshwar, describes how “blogs and social media … encourage constant [self-absorption] by allowing [individuals] to broadcast details of their lives” (1). Narcissism and self-absorption are synonyms relating to the same thing—feeling extreme confidence in one’s physical appearance or characteristics. When adolescents use media to post images of themselves, they cannot help but compare what they look like to others. This comparison is needed to validate an individual’s expectations of themselves.
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.
