Body Image Paper

Is it impossible to capture happiness? Modern society would have everyone believe that the more things one acquires, the happier they will be. Taking a critical look at the messages that surround us, it becomes clear that this is nothing more than slick marketing and clever propaganda. Many people believe that it is the materialistic things that make us happy in life but is that really the case? Happiness can not be obtained by the things we have. Many people spend their whole lives chasing happiness and never reach it because they are chasing the wrong this to make them happy. This paper will examine what true happiness really is.

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.,

Images in the media are extremely powerful and affect the way women think about themselves and about their body. Hilary Rowland, author of “Media Images Are Unrealistic” states how the images shown everyday cause women to “feel insecure about their own bodies” even if they don't have anything to be ashamed of. It is evident that the media displays unrealistic images of beauty causing girls to feel insecure about their bodies and creates a false perception of how they should look. Due to this, women obsess so much over looking just like the “idealized” woman in the media that they create an obsession of losing weight because of lack of confidence. In the article, “The Media Drives Young Girls to Diet” by Jessica Hendrick, we see how women “diet obsessively” trying to “emulate the popular notion of beauty” that is being shown in the media.

Question: Did your body image in grade 9 change and affect who you are in grade 11?

In search of happiness for millennia, humanity has sought refuge in superficial objects, money, relationships, and nature. However, no one has much been able to define how to truly achieve happiness. It has been defined as achievable by being at peace with your inner self, or just being without worry for the rest of your days. Many Greek philosophers have added to the discussion as well as many Eastern based religions, as well as modern literaries, all claiming to know how to reach happiness.

Since the beginning of civilization, finding contentment within one’s life has been one of the most significant goals humans have strived to achieve. The ways in which each person strives for happiness are as diverse as human culture, but common connections can be found in every individual. The exact meaning of what happiness is, how individuals find contentment, and how each person compares their own personal satisfaction are all important pieces to fully understand the complex study of how one attains and keeps true joy in their lives.

Our eyes collect information and processes it without us even knowing. We use our eyes as the basic collector of everything, and we process it, sometimes done subconsciously. The Ideology of Norms in today's society is the key element that we live by, and we learn these norms through conversation, observation, and media. Media being especially important, especially now. We consume more and more media everyday. This grows as technology does, giving more platforms for advertisements. Therefore, companies have a responsibility of expressing or advertising their elements with sensitivity to general public. Some companies will persuade by using body image. They will set a standard of beauty and all those who don’t relate to it, are not beautiful. In Protein World’s recent advertising for their diet supplement products, you can see a clear Marginalization of women. They do this by using Color, Anchorage, and Problem & Benefit to marginalize and persuade women to purchase their product.

The beauty standards are changing with the time back in the time the women with curves used to be the ideals of the beauty. Now in these days to be beauty you have to be skinny and the media goes along with it now the magazines are full with images of skinny models and methods to lose weight and get to the ideal size zero. With the obsession to be thin many young girls are putting their lives on danger with extreme diets or they just stop eating or inducing vomiting. And this are the causes of low self –steam, the feeling of not being good enough is often caused by the images seen in the media. And they realize that they don’t look nothing like them. (Source card 2) the beauty standards are so UNREALISTIC that some of the models that are advertising them don’t obtain them (Photoshop). The celebrities are the ones that put the beauty standards of beauty and the teens around the world follow these standards. Now these days the advertising of beauty has been increasing and is part of our society more than back in those days. Some of these beauty standards cause both women and men with low self-steam, bullying, or even psychological disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. (Source card

The topic for my final paper will be on "How media has altered our perception on the acceptable image of beauty in society". My sources will be:

“Healthy body image is not something that you 're going to learn from fashion magazines,” (Shapiro) said Erin Heatherton, a Victoria Secret’s model since 2008. Media influence has increased considerably over the past three decades, whether it’s been through television, social media, or tabloids. The number of televisions has also increased in America since the 1950’s and most American have access to a television. Consequently, the images and attitudes are portrayed to the viewers. The seemingly “perfect” actors and actresses presented on television become the goals the viewers want achieve. Why is this goal unachievable? Due to the fact the seemingly perfect models have a team of make-up artist, hairdressers, and personal trainers. The media wrongly redefines healthy body image. According to Heatherton, who was raked number 15 of 25 sexiest models in 2013 agrees that healthy body image is not something one learns from media. Although, Victoria Secret’s Angles contribute to the skewed definition of “healthy” she recognizes its fault. Magazines are photoshopped-- digitally altered, to create flawless images that attract consumers for financial gain. Media has altered the “healthy” body, increased eating disorders, and placed an injurious importance on appearance.

Mass Media has a large contribution on how women view themselves. When analyzing women’s magazines, specifically the covers of Women’s Health, one can see that they deliver problematic messages about beauty norms. By placing females mostly naked on the covers, women feel pressured to look a certain way. The reason for this is that is essentially tells them to change their overall appearance to fit what they believe is the definition of beauty. When investigating Kate Beckinsale’s addition to Women’s Health magazine, one can discover that they tell females to fit the thin-ideal. As a society, when unrealistic beauty norms are shown, it is ultimately telling women they will never be considered attractive in the eyes of others. Research shows

Every person wants to be happy and happiness refers to “a brief state of mind during which the individual feels that all essential needs have been fulfilled and that all essential goals have been reached” (Jacobsen, 2007). People often associate happiness with their accomplishments, and met goals, and when ones goals are not met they are discouraged and lose hope, often people forget happiness is not measured by their accomplishment and worldly materials but it is something one experiences and feels.

Friedrich von Schiller thought that “The will of man is his happiness”. Happiness is a perpetual topic during human life, even the ultimate aim of living. But, what is happiness? How to gain happiness? People have diverse answers. As Alain-Rene Lesage said that “I am happy and content because I think I am.” Happiness is a very subjective personal feeling, how happiness people feel depends on themselves. Everyone has different definition and expectation of happiness, which depends his or her values. People’s attitudes toward life also affects their happiness feeling. However, if you are willing to, happiness is following you and it is easy to access.

Media can be seen as a channel of communication in whereupon millions of people frequently use in their daily lives. So, with all of this technology around, how is the media portrayal of beauty affecting women? According to Cheryl J. Haas, Laura A. Pawlow. Jon Pettibone, and Dan J. Segrist, “Research has shown media exposure to unattainable physical perfection is detrimental to people, especially women and that inimical effects are currently more the rule than the exception” (1). When a person feels as if they do not compeer with the standard of beauty media has set, that individual develops negative emotions towards themselves which can lead to ailing eating habits including binge-eating, purging, or starving. Several studies further reveal a show in a decrease of self-esteem, including other psychological distress, following exposure to idealized media portrayal.

“I’m not happy!” It’s shouted from toddlers’ mouths, complained from high schoolers jaws, and mumbled through the lips of a nine-to-fivers. There isn’t a magic pill to make these people happy, but there are several way it can happen. Creating a life of happiness can be done through a mix of science, engagement, and a desire to achieve the goal of lifetime happiness.