Internalized Body Image

than that of sex symbols today such as Angelina Jolie. Consequently, we realize that the ideal body has considerably changed throughout the years. What is considered ideal has been presented by the media. Television, movies, magazines, internet expose us to “beautiful people”. It is worth mentioning that today’s ideal body presented by the media is achieved by less than 5% of females (John Crane p.164). According, to Gerbner (1998) cultivation is “the independent contributions television viewing makes to viewer conceptions of social reality” (p.180). Indeed, Gerbner (1998) and Morgan and Shanahan (2010) found that those who watched long hours of television perceived the real world to be similar to what they had seen on television. However,

Women who have an internalized body image that is close in resemblance to society’s body ideal image are more likely to suffer from body image dissatisfaction and eating disorders. The same researchers propose that if we can change the internalized ideal body of women to become more attainable and realistic, then, we can help these women overcome their negative feelings and embrace their true selves. Phelps, Sapia, Nathanson, and Nelson (2000) evaluated a six-session program which tried to prevent unhealthy eating habits of women who had a thin internalized body image. While at the same time focusing on rising their self esteem and at the same time changing their thin ideal internalized body image. After participation in the program, women reported feeling better about their physical appearance. However, the researchers Carson A. Benowitz-Fredericks, Kaylor Garcia, Meredith Massey, Brintha Vasagar, Dina L.G. Borzekowski (2012) have questioned the success of such interventions. It seems that we cannot generalize such findings to all women and psychologists need to address the individual needs of their clients Sands & Wardle

A study that examined body satisfaction in Jordan girls between 10-16 years old showed that a big percentage of such young girls are not happy with their body. These girls are influenced by many factors including mass media pictures and magazines (Tamara Y. Mousa, Rima H. Mashal, Hayder A. Al-Domi, Musa A. Jibril 2010). Ferron (1997) compared sixty US and sixty French adolescent boys and girls to investigate how satisfied they were with their body image. The researcher found that 80% of the Americans believed that they could reach their ideal body with diets and exercise. Whereas, less than half of the French participants believed this to be true. Furthermore, 75% of them thought that their physical appearance was determined by hereditary factors and could not change a lot. Also, Ferron found that 75% of US girls believed that their self worth depended on their looks. Gina L. Bruns, Michele M. Carter (2015), studied African and Caucasian American women in regards to the rate of body satisfaction they experienced. They found that African American women even if exposed to media thin ideal images do not report body dissatisfaction in comparison to Caucasian women. Thus, African American women had less body dissatisfaction than Caucasian women.