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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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