Body Dysmorphic Disorders In The Media

Mass media can have an adverse effect teenage girls by showing body types that are unrealistic as the normal and desirable type of body to have. Young women look to the mass media to see the societal norms for beauty, and what they see can influence the way that they view themselves. By portraying women who possess a body type that is uncommon, it shows teenage girls that they need to change themselves to reflect the images they are shown. Portraying body types that emphasize thinness and exaggerated features, the mass media try to establish what is socially acceptable. Teenage girls who see this message feel pressured to become what they see, often not realizing that the body types portrayed in media are unrealistic.

Upon reflection, I have decided to go into more research on this topic through the question of: What is Body Dysmorphic Disorder and how have print and television advertisements

A very prominent and controversial issue related to media-idealized images is that of eating disorders and eating problems. Eating problems include binge eating, purging, and unhealthy eating problems. These disorders are seen in young adolescents who are at a very fragile stage of life. Teenagers experience bodily changes as well as peer pressure and new experiences of going into high school. According to Dakanalis et al. the media portrays individuals with an extremely thin build for females and a slim-muscular build (i.e., muscles along with minimal body fat) for males is considered to be the cause of body displeasure and eating pathology. There is no solid evidence to prove that the media is to blame for the degree of eating disorder symptoms and negative body-image feelings that many feel, hence the reason it continues to be a highly debated topic. There has although, been continuous research and theories comprised over objectification. This occurs when men and women are sexually objectified. A person is treated as a body, where beauty and attractiveness of a person are important and valued. This theory can be found nearly anywhere because of the amount and variety of social interaction. It is common because of the way media represents body images. The media has ideals of men and women’s body images and individuals are compared to how well

NEDA. (2016). Media, body image, and eating disorders. Retrieved March 20, 2017, from NEDA. Finding Hope website: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/media-body-image-and-eating-disorders

Demi Lovato once said, “I’m not going to sacrifice my mental health to have the perfect body.” However, today we find that many individuals are doing the completely opposite. In Susan Bordo’s, “Globalization of Eating Disorders” essay, they fall into the media trap, the self-image trap, where they are concerned of what people may think about them. Americans nowadays have pageants, modeling, and media to thank for this absurd notion. Fit women, along with strong men give this motivation to others to want to be like them. Most people should be comfortable with their own bodies. Americans are mesmerized with media and enthralled by one’s body image, and ,as a result, face ramifications like eating disorders and anorexia.

The media group that retouches images skews the “normal” body image of people through many of its outlets, including models in advertising and magazines, and actors in TV and movie productions. “The average model portrayed in the media is approximately 5’11” and 120 pounds. By contrast, the average American woman is 5’4” and 140 pounds” (Holmstrom, 2004). This statistic shows how the media manipulates consumers into believing that because they are not what the average model looks like, they are not living up to a certain standard which implies that they need to look like that to be beautiful. Another research fact that shows a similar concept is that, “In the United States, 94% of female characters in television programs are thinner than the average American woman, with whom the media frequently associate happiness, desirability, and success in life” (Yamamiya et al., 2005). This association of female thinness and happiness, desirability and success makes consumers believe they must achieve this unrealistic thinness to achieve more ultimate goals and fulfillment in life. “The media also explicitly instruct how to attain thin bodies by dieting, exercising, and body-contouring surgery, encouraging female consumers to believe that they can and should be thin” (Yamamiya et al., 2005). This idealization of thinness in the media is seen so much, and is extremely harmful to women’s self confidence and is often associated with body image dissatisfaction, which can be a precursor to social anxiety, depression, eating disturbances, and poor self-esteem (Yamamiya et al.,

People now a days have a problem with the way they appear. For hundreds of years, people, especially females, have been concerned with their weight, the way they look, and the way people perceive them. In the article, Do You Have a Body Image Problem? author Dr. Katharine A. Phillips discusses the concerns with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Dr. Phillips uses her knowledge or ethics to discuss the effects that BDD has on people today. She also uses emotion to show the reader how people are seriously affected by this disorder. In Dr. Phillips article, she discusses how people are emotionally and socially affected by the body dysmorphic disorder, and how society is also affected by it.

Picture the world controlled by the media. Could you imagine how ugly, scarce, and hateful it would be. What would you do if a magazine or a television show told you that your body weight had to be twenty pounds lighter to be all most perfect? Would you actually consider the fact or let ignore it? Teens, mainly girls, will be sucked into these magazines. (National Eating Disorders Info Centre 15) These could be magazines like Seventeen and Cosmo Girl. In addition with many others of course. All though, the media is a bad example at times it is not precisely the main issue for negative body image. (National Eating Disorders Association 1) All though, these constant screaming messages the media produces

Due to young women being constantly indoctrinated by being told how to look and act, it is no surprise that effects on a young woman’s body-image are primarily psychological. Within the group of young women, adolescent girls are targeted when it comes to thin-ideals and negative body-images. Throughout many psychological studies, it has been noted that this is because a young girl’s body is going through many psychological and physiological changes that make them more vulnerable to a negative body-image. Bell and Dittmar describe why adolescent girls are more defenseless by saying, “ During adolescence, a primary psychological task faced is that of identity formation, and being socially accepted by one’s peers becomes

Body Dysmorphic Disorder or BDD is something that has been rather controversial in the past. Is it something that could be linked to society as a whole? Could it even be something that has been implanted in us at an early age? Probably so, studies have shown that in the past that BDD can be brought about by the stigmas that are placed on us when we are young by the media. Some would say that this phenomenon is something that could be completely avoided if we just take away what it means to be perfect in the world’s eyes today. Perfection is something that we have been taught to strive for since we were still in our mother’s wombs, mothers and fathers go around saying that their child is their perfect little Angel. When

The affects from these glorified standards effect many in the form of Body Image and Eating Disorders; such as Anorexia, Bulimia, and Muscle Dysmorphia. The health concerns stemmed from these diseases are very grave, and can lead to severe problems – even resulting in death. Companies that realize the effects of the media on young adults have taken initiative and started a new trend, promoting positive self-image. In time, let’s hope this becomes a turning point, where individuals can feel comfortable in their own

The effect of media on women’s body dissatisfaction, thin ideal internalization, and disordered eating appears to be stronger among young adults than children and adolescents (NEDA, 2001). This may suggest that long-term exposure during childhood and adolescence lays the foundation for the negative effects of media during early adulthood (NEDA, 2001). Also, the pressure from mass media to be muscular also appears to be related to body dissatisfaction among men (NEDA, 2001). For example, a high school girl named Amy had the desire to be thin, and ended up as a powerful, inner, self-loathing endless mental battle from the media encouraging her being skinny is beautiful and being skinny is a better body shape for the world to see. Amy said "I slowly began to lose not only my weight, but my reality, my mind, my friends as well as anything and everything that I cared and loved. Anorexia had 100% control of me and my life. I was no longer Amy. I was an eating disorder, a lying, destructive, conniving eating disorder. It was an out of body experience, a loss of control so intense that I can’t even imagine behaving

We all know it. The media have a powerful influence on how society thinks. And our teenagers’ perception of their own body image is one example. There are studies that show how the media and their focus on the ideal body image affect the tendency of the teenagers to succumb to depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. The media portray models that exude the ideal physique and when people are exposed to them, there might be an effect on how they perceive their body image that could lead them to have eating disorders in their hopes of having a perfect body. They may become dissatisfied with their bodies. And if they do not achieve that kind of perfect body, they might feel the

This paper will assess several articles, literature reviews, and papers that relate to the media’s portrayal of the “ideal” women’s body being extremely thin. Each source elaborates on the dissatisfaction women have with their bodies as a result of the content released in the media. Irving (2008) defines media as a “Tool used to transmit ideas, images, messages, or information to the public.”

Countless studies have argued that media is one of the main sources of body dissatisfaction and negative body image. Media exposure is largely related to body image attitudes among female adolescents which can lead to poor body image and attempting to control their weight (Rodgers, 2017). On the other hand, the media consumption rate of 2- to 6-year-old girls has been associated with obesity as well as being overweight (Rodgers, 2017). It has been found that children as young as 2-years-old can spend up to as much as 6 hours a day exposed to television or some form of the mass media (Dohnt, 2006). This reveals that now children are consuming media at an earlier age and in higher amounts. Besides this, in the age range of 7- to 9-year-old girls, the relationship between media exposure and positive stereotypes related to thinness has been associated with celebration of the thin ideal and disordered eating habits (Rodgers, 2017). Girls themselves even agree that media influences them to be slimmer and agree even more with the