Bad Body Image Research Paper

Malcolm X, a civil rights activist, stated that “The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have to power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent and that’s power. Because they control the minds of masses.” Unfortunately, some people lose their lives trying to get an “ideal body.” From the article “NYC Girls Project - Media and Girls,” this organization conducted a study in 2010 that stated that “63 percent of girls think the body image represented by the fashion industry is unrealistic and 47% think it’s unhealthy. Due to these reasons and others, the media influences individuals in a negative way because of how it reinforces racial/gender stereotypes.

“We are constantly surrounded by all sorts of media and we construct our identities in part through media images we see.” Social media plays a huge role in constructing our idea of the perfect body. But it hasn’t always been the same idea. Over the years, the perfect body image has changes. The ideal body image has changed so much over time because media never stays the same, fashion trends are always changing, there’s such a diversity of bodies in this world to choose from, and different cultures consider different bodies beautiful.

When I was in high school, I had an overweight friend—she was ‘fat’ but not obese. She was always being bullied because of her physical appearance and weight. Based on Goffman reading, this is called discredited stigma, as it is visible to others and people can clearly see the physical differences that she had. Her situation also falls under the physical category of stigma, as it is related to physical features of her body that is outside of her control.

The media has been the number one contributor to the oppression of women in today's society. According to the film Miss Representation, The average person spend 10 hours and 45 minutes a day using some form of media. Though this is not surprised, it is very alarming considering how the media portrays women. Women in the media are literally unrealistic; producers edits photos of women to make them “more attractive” by making them thinner, smoothing skin or reshaping their facial features. Since these women are seen as the standard, women aspire to look like them, which causes a number of problem. Women are more likely to have eating disorders due to harsh comparisons they face in today's media. Famous women sometimes have to make public statements denying pregnancy allegation because the media deemed them too big to not be

There are hundreds of reports that prove what a major influence media has on shaping our perceptions; I am not disputing the good and bad massive effects that media has on us, but can we continue to blame the media for every negative thought girls have about themselves and about their body shape?.

Scrolling through social media posts can be a bit of an emotional roller coaster. One minute, you're laughing at the antics of an adorable kitten, the next, you're crying over a tender commercial, the next, you're seething over an inflammatory political post.

Society is making a grand impact towards the new generation and modern society, But what are the troubles with society? Society has a view towards what is revolving around the world, and the what the generation might be looking at in the mirror. That's why most adolescents have trouble feeling as if their fitting in and looking “ideal”. The way people at a young age look at themselves and they often start to worry about their body image is normal, but some issues still interact as the younger part of society keeps on growing.

Turn the TV on. There is a girl on the weather channel; she is skinny. Change the channel. A new series pop up, the main character is a girl with curves and she has the good-looking boy by her side. Go to the store and grab a magazine. The models on the cover do not have an over-weight looking body. The right thing to do would be blaming media for giving young girls the idea of a perfect body and also, proving them with the illusion that a body is what they need to have a good, happy, and full-filling life. But, is it really all media’s fault? In today’s world, people are misreading what media is really about, and they have started to blame it for the bad that is in the world. A bad that is changing people’s eating habits because of body

The media = has a strong impact on body image, and research has shown that the media’s standard of beauty has a detrimental effect on people’s body satisfaction.

Throughout the twentieth century, mass media has helped shape American culture; however, not only culture is affected. Media has begun to change the way people view themselves and others. Body image is a significant part of a woman’s self-perception: it affects her self-esteem, her confidence, and her health practices. For generations since women gained the right to vote, media has taken an ever-tightening hold on body image. Women have been convinced for decades that in order to be a part of this male-dominated culture, they have to be able to do everything a man can do while wearing gorgeous clothes, staying slim, and doing other things to make themselves “beautiful.” Mass media has an immense impact on body image, and this relationship

Does the vast amount of media that we filter through our eyes daily effect how we view ourselves? If so, do they accurately portray who we are as humans? As a society, can the amount of advertisements we view daily be a healthy consumption, or seriously harmful? Or are we passively allowing the media to dictate how we think and feel about literally everything that surrounds us, but also more importantly, ourselves? In Lee Monk’s poem “Under Water,” he writes “The world would be a better place if girls weren’t pushed from the womb and fed, tabloids, diets, (and) shame.” Boys and girls today are growing up in a generation of photoshopped and airbrushed images of women that are filtered in through their brains as normal from billboards, television, tabloids, and the internet. These sources are encouraging the altered images as glamorous and ideal, leaving advertisements to teach girls and women that the ideal of their gender is to obtain an unrealistic body image, while at the same time, subtly, or not so subtly devaluing and dehumanizing the female body. With the constant media pressure that surrounds girls and women, females are left with a very narrow definition of what beauty appears to be. This also causes most men to define women by their bodies, and to view females as sexual objects rather than humans.

Through all forms of media, you can find petit images of the “ideal” woman's body. These images are seen on billboards, magazines, in commercials and in ads. There has been anl interest in women’s body image throughout the years. Women’s self-esteem, eating patterns and how these two concepts are affected by what a women sees in the media have been researched. This line of research is important through discovering the link between poor body image and the media’s portrayal of how women should look. If more advocates spoke more about society's unrealistic standards of what beauty is, there could potentially fewer cases of anorexia and bulimia in teens and young adults looking to change their image. It could lead to increased self-esteem and a more positive body image amongst women. The purpose of this research paper is to advocate for more realistic images. Use everyday women. Often times, there is a correlation between the way individuals view themselves, after seeing the media images of women. Women begin to feel less physically attractive.

Culture, molds an ever-changing body image body-image standards for centuries, with each centuries body-image standards differing from the last. There are many differences in the body ideals that we have now compared to the 1930’s to the 1950’s where a beautiful body was considered curvy; whereas now a skinny body is being promoted. With girls obsessing over thigh gaps, waist size and body weight we can see how damaging the media can be. Encouragements from the media is something we see every day all around us, while supposedly promoting a healthy body, the opposite has occurred. With magazines covers displaying a size 0 model on the cover, next to a not so subtle title reading “Slimmer, Fitter, Sexier!” while promoting brands that only sell to skinny women. We are bombarded with standards of what a beautiful body is and isn’t. As the media seeks to reap a profit, they are damaging a woman’s view on their body. Today many would acknowledge the negative effects of body image in the media, so why has no one done anything to fix it?

Around the world, women are unhappy with their body image due to the media portraying body image. Media affects how women look at themselves every day. Body image plays a huge role in the media. Women are constantly criticizing their body when they see a perfect body on the media. With this being said, the media is to blame for how insecure women are about their image. A large variety of people agree how the media is wrong for portraying these “perfect” body images, but a few disagree and think taking away “perfect” body images on the media is too extreme. Without the media portraying body image, the world would be a happier place. Not only would the world be a happier place, but women would feel more secure about how their bodies look. Media is to blame for why women are so unhappy about their appearance. (Scholastic Choices, 2016)

Mass media has been around for decades and it has grown more rapidly as technology advances. It started with telegraphs and eventually turned into televisions, newspapers, cell phones, magazines, and the internet. The purpose of mass media is to provide news/information, education, and entertainment. With these purposes, comes the influence of all the information we are exposed to. Most might say that mass media has had a positive impact on society as it’s made communication and information easily accessible for everyone. However, what they’re not aware of is the negative influences it has brought to women’s body-image. Because of the media’s endless advertisements of what is considered “beautiful” or “perfect”, eating disorders and body