Effects Of Social Media On Female Body Image

In the article written by Zimmerman, it states, “...even supermodels feel heaped with physical flaws and are slaves to their self-perpetuated myths”.

The media is our source of constant information, and is presented in many forms such as, daily newscasts, social media like Facebook, and the magazines strategically placed in our doctor’s office. There is no surprise that it is also the dominant influence when it comes to society’s beauty standard either. Unfortunately media isn’t a positive influence all the time, and is the main force behind negative body image epidemic that plagues women, especially the 18-25 age group. In order to fully understand the severity of what some call a “Vanity” issue we must look into the facts of how exactly the media damages women’s perception of their own bodies, and then observe the extent of the damage done to the physical and mental states of these women

Also, the media lowers women's self-esteem by making them believe that if they don't have the appearance of the young woman in the advertisement, their body is not classified as beautiful. Diana Vancura in her article, “The Media Focus Too Much on Looks” not only emphasizes the idea that the media ignores women's talents, but also the idea that they only “advertise a specific body type as beautiful” constantly. Once again we see how media puts down any beauty that

“Advertisers are so manipulative,” Christy Turlington, a Calvin Klein model, confessed to a magazine company (Rowland 54). The pictures are not only fake, but airbrushed to a point where the actress, model, or famous individual barely resembles an actual human being. Christy Turlington’s experience with airbrushing is an unpleasant one and she deems it necessary to call out the media that continuously allows this to happen. The idea of perfection and ultimate, top-notch beauty shows adolescents that flawless beauty is the only type that will be accepted in society today. Airbrushing and other devices that are capable of fixing imperfections can lead to “depression and eating disorders” (Issitt). This only emphasizes that the media is affecting the overall psychological progress young minds adapt to. Additionally, at age thirteen, 53% of American girls dislike their bodies because of the media’s influence; that number continues to grow as they get older ("Teen Health and the Media"). This directly correlates with problems that follow such as self-consciousness, lack of confidence, and depression. The effect media has on an individual lasts a lifetime and becomes a serious problem to overcome as a result. Society is also affected by models and the theory of the “thin ideal” which in turn discourages a positive body image.

America is obsessed with body image. In today’s world, you can't go through the day without seeing the television, advertisements, magazines, or really any type of media portraying women's bodies. Due to the immense societal pressure that women should have the “perfect body” to be accepted, the nonstop reminders to change what they look like, struggling with body image has now become a major social phenomenon- and it's time for women to challenge that narrative. Women of all ages are facing face increasing scrutinization over their body image through media influence leading to invasive surgeries, increased depression, and eating disorders.

In the “Just Say Yes” article, I was appalled to see the statistics of how many children are being shaped by these unobtainable ideas of what beauty is. I always knew that people were being negatively affected by these false images, but I never really considered the generations that are being raised with this idea of beauty constantly swirling in the heads. It’s hard to even think that nine and ten year old girls know to be self-conscious about their bodies and want to diet. The comparison between the average U.S. woman’s dimensions and the models sets the authors point in stone and really drew me back for a moment. You never see models in real life and compare yourself based on height. The pictures only highlight their “beauty”, so that is what girls compare themselves to. This article makes me hope that young girls and women would realize that models are really the abnormal ones that should be criticized for sticking out from the normally beautiful crowd.

Approximately 14 million U.S. teenage girls don’t like how they look. The number of women who feel confident in their bodies is dwindling quickly and is being fueled by edited pictures they are comparing themselves to on social media. The Time magazine article “How Social Media Is a Toxic Mirror” by Rachel Simmons tells of the risk for everyone to feel self-conscious about their bodies. However, those most at risk are teenage girls who spend a significant amount of time on any form of social media. In response to the article, I agree with the negative effects social media has on the body image of teenage girls because I have seen girls trying to change their bodies. I also see the effects logos and pathos have on the strength of the article and what would make it a stronger and more credible source for information on teen body image.

Every year, millions of people are displeased with their outward appearance. The media presents society with unrealistic body types promoting people, especially women, to look like them. We spend so much time trying to look like what society wants, that we begin to see others and ourselves as what is presented physically rather then who a person is. According to Helen Champion:

With technology and social media quickly advancing in today’s society and being everywhere around us, women on a daily basis are affected by the “ideals” they see. Media today makes self-esteem and body dissatisfaction a long-term problem for a majority of women which leads to many more problems with mental and physical well-being.

The media is encourages us into achieving an impossible measure: perfection. Often times people look up to other people, often times them being models, actors, and celebrities. This looked

What does the media tell us about women? It tells us what is “most important” and that’s how we look. They surround us with images of ideal female beauty. We have been learning from such an early age, that we must spend our time to strive to be like the women in these images and to feel ashamed and guilty if we cant live up to these incredibly unrealistic expectations. But failure is inevitable, when the women we are being shown are photo shopped and airbrushed to seem thinner, with faces so flawless that there is not a wrinkle or a line to be seen. This idea of beauty that society is showing us is so edited that it can’t be achieved. Not even the women in these images we are being shown look like this. The media is beginning to dictate our lives, influencing our thoughts, opinions, and actions. Through this use of magazines, advertisements, and social media, we are being shown by society what we need to look like in order to be beautiful. Society challenges women to be strong and independent, by showing us that in order to be seen as the ideal female we have to look like a woman that has been altered with on a computer for hours until she doesn’t even look like

Thus, audience were influenced by image of others, they learn from the images that what is expected of them, what they are to become. (Sanders 2009) According to ‘Reflections on body image’ (2012), which also noted that over one third of women want to look like the models they see in the magazine cover, even though

Today, we are always surrounded by a variety of media and we identify ourselves in parts of those images we see. Media believes women should look like Victoria Secret models: tall, lean, and tanned women, but lately there has been issue from women all over the world who are tired of having to be set at impossible types of female figures. Revolving around a certain type of body figure is horrible because bodies come in different shapes and sizes. The media has influenced the female body perception by showing that women need to have a “perfect body” to pass in society. These magnificence gauges, multiplied through the media, impacts affect women and their self-perceptions. The medias influence on female body image has led to eating disorders, dissatisfaction in women, depression, and substance abuse in women.

Social media has become one of the most popular sources of communication for the upcoming generation. For young people growing up in today’s society, social media outlets such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have provided pictures and news that have become the first thing that their eyes see in the morning and the last thing that they see before bed. These pictures have provided unrealistic standards as to what is considered beautiful in today’s society. As young people refer to these images as a form of comparison, it has created harmful circumstances. These influences on the lives of young people have forced them to take extreme measures and in some cases, has been the cause of death. Social media in today’s society has proven to

In today’s society, the public is exposed to technology at even younger ages than ever before. Everywhere you go these days you see kids even as little as three holding their parent’s phones or even their own, watching videos or playing games. But as said in the article Does Social media impact on body image by Philippa Roxby, as kids start becoming teenagers their technological uses advance and they start to rely on social media sites for new sources of communication, and their main channel to the outside world. Based on studies conducted by psychologists they have come up with a conclusion that social media has a direct relationship to body image concerns. I believe that in today’s society we should focus on promoting self-confidence as most of the adolescents have a very low assurance of their own bodies. Although a study conducted in the article The Upside of Selfies: Social media isn’t all bad for kids by Kelly Wallace says that a survey which resulted in 52% of the teens saying that social media positively influences them. Even though social media platforms have some beneficial aspects such as they make people want to go on diets, exercise, and eating healthy, the teenagers don’t really look/understand the negative aspects of it. The impacts that are carried with social media are mostly negative such as fancying teenagers to lose confidence in themselves and has become a toxic mirror to them. The visual platforms impact