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How Media Is Influenced
Societal Expectations And Media Influences Of Body Image Essay
Is body image a social problem
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Nowadays, society is obsessed with the way our body looks because it is now used as a way to portray what is on the inside. The ideal body image is socially designed as the ultimate goal that one can attain in order to fit-in and be acknowledged in today’s society. The image that society has on the “perfect body” that has been gathered through media, ads and culture, is something that most people have started to “idolize” and are setting
“Although African Americans have been the victims of racial oppression throughout the history of the United States, they have always supported the nation, especially during wartime” (“Taylor, Clarence”). December 17 1941 brought new opportunities for African Americans that would help their ongoing move up in society. This date marked the declaration of the war against the Axis powers. “For many African Americans, the war offered an opportunity to get out of the cycle of crushing rural poverty. Blacks joined the military in large numbers, escaping a decade of Depression and tenant farming in the South and Midwest.
These physical appearances create a society that makes other individuals feel like they should have that body too. Having these physical characteristics allows individuals to exist in a community however it can also make someone feel insecure about their body. Butler describes how “[our] body is and is not [ours]” (Butler 117). Meaning that yes it is our body but at the same time, it isn’t because it's controversial to what our body should look like. This relates to the “perfect body” because someone who is overweight is criticized as someone who eats unhealthy and doesn’t exercise.
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
Born July 6th, 1907 in Coyoacan, Mexico into a family with three other siblings, Frida Kahlo’s main focus was not derived nor did it begin with painting. Kahlo began her career aspirations and life’s work with medicine, in which her objective or goal was to become a doctor. However, due to some serious life issues that would ultimately alter and eventually change the course of her livelihood, Kahlo adjusted and settled into an atmosphere in which her aspiration to paint came alive. With the use of bright colors, presentation and imagery with in her paintings, it is obvious that Mexican culture and personal life experiences are what drives and influences her artwork.
These expectations can cause insecurities in adults, teens, and even children who normally have little to no insecurities. Young children should not have to worry about the way they look or what they are wearing. Therefore, society needs to address the problem of creating negative body images. It can start by recognizing that unreal and unnatural body image can cause eating disorders and mental disorders. “50% of teenage girls and 30% of
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.
“I’m so fat, why can’t I be skinny just like her!” “How does she get the perfect body, while I’m stuck with all of this fat!” These statements are common among teenage girls of today’s society. Social media of today shows unreal pictures of photoshopped models and the “perfect life”. This leads to discontent of young women with their body and lives.
The idolization of slim figures are blinding teenagers to believe it is a necessity to practice these methods. As Blaid describes society’s perspective, “If you develop an eating disorder when you are already thin to begin with, you go to the hospital. If you develop an eating disorder when you are not thin to begin with, you are a success story,”(26-27) this is to point out how society has manipulated the point of view on health conditions to be viewed as a
In today’s modern culture, almost all forms of popular media play a significant role in bombarding young people, particularly young females, with what happens to be society’s idea of the “ideal body”. This ideal is displayed all throughout different media platforms such as magazine adds, television and social media – the idea of feminine beauty being strictly a flawless thin model. The images the media displays send a distinct message that in order to be beautiful you must look a certain way. This ideal creates and puts pressure on the young female population viewing these images to attempt and be obsessed with obtaining this “ideal body”. In the process of doing so this unrealistic image causes body dissatisfaction, lack of self-confidence
Social media makes teenagehood harder by creating a stereotype of what a perfect body should look like, celebrating extremely thin, unhealthy
Body image has become such a big issue among society especially females mostly. According to Mariana Gozalo, states “Using Will’s sociological imagination, I thought about how there are girls who wish to look skinny because it is what is being idolized on TV and magazines and online ads. “Social media make us believe that there is a “ideal body” shape. In my opinion, there is no such a thing as the ideal body shape, because everyone is beautiful in their own individual way.
For example, girls will style their hair to “become more attractive” (Berger 2014), or they will purchase ‘minimizer,’ ‘maximizer,’ ‘training,’ or ‘shaping’ bras, hoping that their breasts will conform to their idealized body image” (Berger 2014). This all appears to be harmless activities, yet when body image is only addressed outwardly and not psychologically, there can be an increase in poor and destructive behaviors. For instance, body image dissatisfaction can lead to poor self-esteem, which can create a cycle of increased body dissatisfaction, followed by decreasing self-esteem (Stapleton et al., 2017). Ultimately, a teenage girl can find herself in a cycle of “depression, eating disorders and obesity” (Stapleton et al., 2017). On study in 2012 revealed, “Two-thirds of U.S. high school girls are trying to lose weight, even though only one-fourth are actually overweight or obese” (Berger 2014).
However, in today’s world it has detrimental impacts on the youth as a whole. In stores, people are often bombarded by magazines and other such items that display pictures and tips on how to become this “perfect” person. For guys it is this ripped, lean physique, and females skinny, and beautiful. This is nothing but a simple picture with some editing done, but it creates this feeling inside of youth that they are not good enough as they do not fit in with this category. This can also lead to becoming an outcast in society and viewed as weird, driving people to do terrible and even sometimes dangerous things.
Body shaming is one of the biggest problems in today’s generation. It is the practice of making critical, potentially humiliating comments about a person’s body, size or weight. It is obvious that all of us come in different shapes and sizes but society and the media puts a lot of pressure on us with beauty stereotypes and standards to deem some as healthy and some not. Recently, there has been a lot of controversy recently about body image and body shaming, especially among teenagers. Body shaming is an extremely personal concept and can take a negative toll on a person.
