Body Image Affects Society

There are no questions to whether the media has influenced the self-consciousness people have on their body or not. Whether it is the front of a magazine cover or in a film or television show, the selection of models or actors are primarily thin or fit leading readers and viewers to worry or want to change the way their body looks. Body image is the way one sees oneself and imagine how one looks. Having a positive body image means that most of the time someone sees themselves accurately, and feels comfortable in their body; negative body image, what the media exemplifies for the majority of the time, is just the opposite. The media uses unrealistic standards of beauty and bodily perfection to drive ordinary people to be dissatisfied with their body image which can result in the search to obtain these unreachable goals.

Media has greatly evolved since starting, but has bad evolved with it? Print media, digital media, and now social media surround everybody today. Media surround us when we go to the store and see magazines, when we sit and home and watch TV, and especially when we go online. Over time, media has created its own idea of beauty. Medias influence on body image can’t be overlooked. Media and eating disorders have a cause and effect relationship. In Helens article, “Eating Disorders: A growing problem on college campuses”, she expresses that, “In today’s media-saturated world, young women are bombarded with one message: be thin” (Helen, 2014, Paragraph 9). Today media shows that to beautiful you have to be an unhealthy weight. If media doesn’t change its view of beautiful, then the rate of eating disorders triggered by media will go up. We need to figure out a way to help now.

Media is a significant force in modern culture, particularly in America. Sociologist refer to this as a mediated culture where media reflects and created culture. Communities and individuals are bombarded constantly with messages from a multitude of sources. These messages promote not only products, but moods, attitudes, and a sense of what is and is not important. The messages that the media portray are conflicting and it is impossibly hard to achieve both messages since one is orientated toward fast food consumption and the other it orientated toward an extremely thin ideal. Many researchers have hypothesized that the media may play a central role in creating and intensifying the phenomenon of body dissatisfaction and consequently,

Poet Allen Ginsberg once said that “whoever controls the media-the images-controls the culture”, and nothing could be truer than this. Media plays a larger role in society within this generation more than many of us are aware of. It can easily impact people’s lives through aspects such as sports, fashion, movies or hobbies, but unfortunately, one of these impacts is how we view our body. Media constantly posts images and messages promoting a nearly unachievable and unrealistic image of what beauty looks like and it almost always has negative fallout when we struggle to meet this. This is known as an eating disorder. An eating disorder is a psychological sickness that results in dangerous eating habits and both short and long term affects on the body. People with eating disorders generally have a negative perception of their self will try to control their weight through unnecessary dieting, exercising or purging. But how does this illness begin? Social media sites, advertising, celebrities and other forms of media through society are all social pressures that are influencing people to be “perfect” and causing this expanding matter.

Body image is how we think other people view us and how we view ourselves. How we view our body creates our own body image, but the media has an impact on how we view ourselves. In other words, how we feel about ourselves as a person. Can you recall a time when you didn’t care about what you looked like when you left the house? The last time I remember was in fourth grade. If kids are already worrying about what they look like at such a young age, I believe there is a problem here, and this is something we all need to come together and fix.

Body image has become a primary focus for individuals and in some instances is resulting into an obsession, especially in women. Media instills in men and women an ideal body standard causing unrealistic expectations, some resulting to the extremes to obtain the perfect body that is being perceived in order to conform. More and more people are aspiring to become media’s “ideal body image” to be considered attractive. The American media is becoming detrimental to individuals as it is negatively influencing the perception people have of themselves and their bodies.

Body Image is how we see ourselves, whether good and bad, it is essential to our confidence. So many people, both young and old are insecure about some characteristic of their body, these people are suffering from bad body image. This is a distorted perception of what they might really look like, it sometimes includes over analyzing small imperfections leading to low self esteem,eating disorders and other harmful effects. Bad body image affects so many people today, and this is greatly because of the media and its common standard of beauty: young,skinny and white. Tackling body image is a tough issue that feminists are trying to address but perhaps those who can really make a difference, is the industry that is perpetuating these unrealistic beauty standards.

Media exposure creates an ideal body image that is not easily maintained by most adolescents and causes adolescents to be dissatisfied with their bodies and leads to unhealthy diet habits and other more sever eating disorders.

Body image is how a person feels about their physical appearance. Someone with a negative body image has a distorted view of his or her body and often feels shame, anxiety and are more likely to suffer from low self-esteem and depression. People with a poor body image have a greater chance of developing an eating disorder. Which then can lead to drastic changes of their bodies using dangerous methods such as plastic surgeries and severe eating disorders in order to meet societal ideals. Today people feel that present ideals are pressuring them to conform, in any way possible to get the ideal body, these pressures cause body dissatisfaction and self-esteem issues.The media is causing body image issues due to the lack of diversity and realistic body representation, when exposed to western media young people are more likely to have eating disorders, participate in fad diets, or drastically change their bodies with plastic surgeries.

The Media has a big impact on Body Image is because we can see what celebrities or the cool kids like and we want to look like them because we won’t get bully and look at wried when we are going out, a school or work. This quote from National Eating Disorders Collaboration “The way you feel about your body is your affective body image. This relates to the amount

For many decades, the unrealistic body expectations for men and women set by the media have been ruining how we view our own body image. Major media sources such as Hollywood and news sources such as the New York Times have always used people who are in incredible shape to show happy individuals. This is completely unfair to the vast majority of humanity, who are not capable of meeting these standards. Our views on our own bodies are negatively affected every day and we need to learn to be more comfortable in our own skins.

Body image has always been a problem in the United States. Society has always expected men and women to look a certain way. Individuals overtime have let society and the media be the judge of what healthy and attractive should look like. The images portrayed by the mass media create impossible beauty standards.

“The attention-grabbing pictures of various high-flying supermodels and actors on different magazine covers and advertisements go a long way in influencing our choices” (Bagley). The media is highly affective to everyone, although they promote an improper image of living. Research proved says those with low self-esteem are most influenced by media. Media is not the only culprit behind eating disorders. However, that does not mean that they have no part in eating disorders. Media is omnipresent and challenging it can halt the constant pressure on people to be perfect (Bagley). Socio-cultural influences, like the false images of thin women have been researched to distort eating and cause un-satisfaction of an individual’s body. However, it

There is no one factor that is responsible for eating disorders, but rather several. A loss of self identity, poor self esteem, perfectionism, maturity fears, personality, genetics, and family dynamics are all factors that can play a role in contributing to these disorders(Lackstrom, 2014). Whether one feels as if they are always dependent on someone, has a failure to form an identity, or possesses a need for being perfect, this can lead to an eating disorder. It is these factors, alone or in combination, influenced by western culture that can shape an individual 's vulnerability or predisposition to such illnesses.

The Media affects body image perceptions Anorexia and the effects the media has on body image. The Media affects body image perceptions for girls and boys. The media has affected many people and how they deal with it which could be very dangerous.