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Short Summary: Female Body Image And Mass Media

650 Words3 Pages

Hailey Reith
WBIS 188-001 Baker
November 2014
The Female Body Image and Mass Media Sociocultural expectations of feminine beauty are portrayed in majority of forms of popular media, overwhelming women with images that depict what is considered to be the "ideal body." Such standards of beauty are nearly unattainable for most women. Mass media's use of such unrealistic models elicits notion that women must be unhealthy in order to be viewed as beautiful. An abundance of information has indicated that women are negatively affected by the persistent exposure to society’s media that exposes the unrealistic “ideal body”; however, it is uncertain on the process in which a women’s self-satisfaction with their physical appearance is affected by the …show more content…

Women are surrounded by a society that promotes the idea of a “perfect body”. Our society offers cosmetic procedures and drugs with excess hormones to enhance one self’s personal image. With the knowledge that women are more likely to experience body dissatisfaction than men (The Skinny on Body Dissatisfaction), it explains why 82 percent of cosmetic surgery patients are women (Wood, Sandra). Body image problems develop as females go through puberty. Girls in adolescence frequently express being dissatisfied with weight, fearing further weight gain, and being occupied with the thought of weight loss (Striegel-Moore & Franko). The media is a predominant cause of all this distress in …show more content…

Television, movies, magazines, advertisements, and many other forms of media are exposing women with an impractical body image. The average U.S. model weighs 117 lbs and is 5’11 while the average U.S. woman weighs 140 lbs. and is 5’4 (Media Influence). This shows that the average U.S. model that is presented in media is considered to be anorexic on a BMI scale. Magazines and advertisements often display images of flawless women. This is a massive disturbance because women have been found to be exposed to such material on a regular basis. Findings of one study indicate that 83% of teenage girls reported reading fashion magazines for about 4.3 hours each week (Thompson & Heinberg). These images project a standard of feminine beauty that can have a powerful effect on the way females perceive themselves. Media pairs happiness with being thin; therefore women feel if they are not thin, then they cannot be happy. Women's body sizes have grown larger over decades (Spitzer, Henderson, & Zivian), while societal standards of body sizes have become much thinner. This discrepancy has made it challenging for most women to achieve the current “ideal body”. Therefore, women are faced with a constant struggle with happiness and their satisfaction with

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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.

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The ideal of a women magazine model are full of photos with women who are typically white and very thin. Many women will agree that they may feel pressured to dress or look a certain way because of the way the models look. The media can make women feel insecure about themselves and have low self-esteem. The messages in the media says that women will always need to make an adjustment to fit the “ideal” look. Since, the media portrays such images and make women feel like beauty is important women need to make sure they love themselves.

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In today’s society, the average American woman is 5’4” and weighs 140 pounds. The average model displayed in the media is 5’11” and weighs 114 pounds. Take a minute to consider that extreme difference in weight and height. This statistic alone is shocking, but the fact that these models undergo intense retouching before ever being seen in magazines and advertisements has an effect on what women today, view as standard beauty.

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Fauquet, Sánchez, Levine, and López (2010) engaged in a cross-sectional analysis that focused on the association between exposure and consumption of media outlets, such as television and magazines, and its relation to body dissatisfaction, excessive weight concern, and bad eating habits. The media integrates ideas, values, attitudes, and behaviors that potentially affect young female girls because it represents a distorted, unrealistic vision of the world and the expectations women are assumed to obtain. In one cross-sectional study conducted by Groesz, Levine, and Murnen (2002), focused on twenty-five experimental studies, which they controlled what the young women were exposed to. For example, excessively thin models in photographs, music

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Focusing on a “real woman”, causes many females to compare themselves at a greater extent that results in having a lower self-esteem. Instead, “The most effective way to reduce the negative consequences of media exposure is relate to awareness of the artificial and deceptive nature or proposed images” (Rollero 200). This is due to the fact the viewers have reassurance that the model does not even look like the image herself. By blindly promoting unattainable beauty standards, young girls fail to realize that the images are altered which “…can lead to eating disorders, drug abuse, and suicidal thoughts” and many other health issues when trying to reach such standards (“Should”

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Since, this unrealistic image has created a definition of beauty that women compare themselves to; along with the factors of a low self-esteem, may suffer from body dissatisfaction. According to Grogan (2008) body dissatisfaction relates to the negative evaluation of body size, shape, muscularity or muscle tone and weight, and it usually involves a perceived discrepancy between a person’s evaluation of his or her body and his or her ideal body. Whereas women are taught through social media that the way they evaluate themselves is based upon what they think men believe is attractive. Females then compare themselves to the models shown throughout media such as on the television, in magazines, billboards and local advertisements, this leaves them feeling incompetent and not as the epitome of success and social desirability. As a result, women engage in cosmetic alterations in an attempt to measure up to the standard (Van Vonderen & Kinnally, 2012).

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Many changes take place within eating and exercising habits to achieve the look that is unrealistic. Girls stop eating and end up starving themselves to achieve the weight that celebrities are manipulated by because they think they are overweight. To make a change; a popular magazine that is said to be read by a lot of teenage girls, Seventeen Magazine, has dwelled upon the harmful impacts media can have on a teen’s body. In effect, they had vowed to “keep photo shoots transparent, celebrate all body types, and never change the shapes of girls’ bodies or faces, so that girls will be more comfortable and proud of their bodies.” In order to establish a lasting impact for those who look up to famous people; the media should play a role in displaying images of healthy models and celebrities of all shapes and

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Models that are shown in magazines and in ads are looked at as appealing to society as a whole. These models are usually very thin, have long hair, and perfect fair skin. Everyday women are suffering from the many effects that the media promotes on beauty and on body image. Such effects include and are not limited to dissatisfaction with their body image, low self esteem, depression, eating disorders and the list goes on. This is a major issue in todays society and it must be changed and it absolutely can be changed.

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Yet today in our society the propagation of these ideal body types through various media outlets contradicts everything said earlier. If beauty is judged by what's inside then why are there such high, unrealistic standards set for women? And why do major media companies alter the images to hide any flaw a person has? This is a major factor that leaves many women unhappy with their own body type, as they do not look like the model on the front cover of the magazine; who “allegedly" represents society's ideal body type with traits that include: large eyes, a small nose, a slim waist, broad hips, large breasts, long legs and more traits that are a far cry from the average woman's size. However, it is fundamental to understand how all such front covers are heavily edited to extenuate certain parts to give the model her flawless and perfect

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