Face It: the Impact of Gender on Social Media Images

The media plays a major role in creating our social norms, whether it be through advertisement, television, film, newspapers, or magazines. From a young age, gender roles are taught to both boys and girls. Young girls are given dolls, carriages, and easy bake ovens, while boys are given action figures, toy soldiers, and cars. Once those same young girls and boys get a bit older, the messages send through the media change. For females, these ads seem to focus on physical appearance, during a time when self-esteem is most important in their lives.

Society is obsessed with fitness and weight loss. Ever since I was in sixth grade I have had issues with my weight and self-image. The article “Fat Is a Feminist Issue”, by Susie OrBach focuses on how our society puts this unrealistic image of what women should look like into everyone’s heads. The media and magazines urge women to conform, at any cost, into a constantly changing expectation of what is beautiful. Women are taught to look at themselves from an outside view, to be a sex image for men and fuel the diet and fashion industries. Society thinks if women do not fit within the unrealistic image something is wrong with them. The highly glorified concept of beauty marketed by the media contributes to the concern

People are not born sexist, they learn to be sexist when they are a child. The media has a great impact on influencing children and teen’s views and judgements. If children and teens are learning sexist views, it is most likely from the media. Teenagers nowadays are growing up on social media. Their private lives become their public lives. Bullies and predators feel empowered harassing their victims behind the anonymity behind a computer or phone screen (Thompson, 2016) Sexism in apps such as Kik, Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram has made it’s way into the innocence of childhood. On these apps girls are called all kinds of names even called fat, shaming their body image. In social media sexism examples are man posting women with very little clothes on, etc. Girls see pictures that have the perfect women’s image. Perfect teeth, boobs, hair and body are many of the things teenagers crave for. Studies show as teenage girls see another teenage perfect image, it drops their self- esteem and girl tend to compare themselves to each other. Men think women are suppose to have the perfect hourglass shape, perfect teeth and face, which leads girls to become more insecure. These ideals from men is

To begin with, the media industry has the power to decide what reaches the public’s eye; therefore, they present to the public their versions of what “beautiful’ women should appear like. The media has created their version of what the “ideal body” should be. They continuously show the audience photographic images of models that appear extremely thin. Media meticulously chooses women with bodies which media calls “sexy”. Spectators rarely get a glance of women who are overweight. For example, all of the actress that make an appearance on television shows are below what is considered a healthy weight. Yet, this concept is what media has defined as beautiful, influencing many women to obtain a thin figure. As a result, of these messages sent by

Over time, the perfect body image has changed in many ways. This is very evident in the female sex, especially through media. “Americans spend about 68 hours per week exposed to various forms of media” (US Census Bureau 2009). This media exposure through outlets such as t.v., radio, music videos, movies, and the internet, all influence the way people think about gender. The media influence is very evident in the way people view women and think about women in different cultures. Media influence on women creates negative viewpoints with how women view themselves and even how men view themselves, in turn making it hard to break certain beliefs and stereotypes instilled on society.

Gender roles are reported to be generally defined "as sex-based categories that specify appropriate rules of conduct for males and females in a particular culture or society. Although grounded in biological differences between males and females, gender roles are social constructs. Simply put, based on the anatomical difference between men and women, each is prescribed varying and often stereotypical social roles that are reinforced at the individual level and by larger society." (Women's Health Encyclopedia, 2012) The work of Wood (1994) states that among the various influences on how society views men and women "media are the most pervasive and one of the most powerful." (p.31) Wood additionally states "Woven throughout our daily lives, media insinuate their messages into our consciousness at every turn. All forms of media communicate images of the sexes, many of which perpetuate unrealistic, stereotypical, and limiting perceptions." (1994, p.31)

Zoe Lawrie, Elizabeth Sullivan, Peter Davies & Rebecca Hill (2006) hold the view that many factors affect the body image that women create for themselves, however, they do emphasise in their work that the media is a significant contributor to the image of the percieved ideal female body in

A critical gendered lens is addressing the binary structures that people are placed in when they are portrayed in the media. Why is the man the rational voice of reason yet hyper aggressive and the woman is deemed emotional or crazy in every other sense. Women are seen as nothing, but a sexual object, whose sexuality is characterized as far as genuinely obliged thoughts of attractiveness (Markham, 2005). Western accepted cultural naturally unequivocally defined categories of gender with distinctive psychological and behavioral properties prediction from reproductive functions. Division between men and women, men’s work and women’s work, how men and women ought to act is a division perceived by biology (West aand Zimmerman,1987). Structural

Historically, social and feminist scholars have focused on media representations of gender roles and how they affect the lived experiences of women (Green, 2013; Soulliere, 2006). Gender is widely considered to be a cultural rather than strictly biological creation, and it is often constructed and represented through popular culture media such as advertisements, magazines, and television (Soulliere, 2006). While women have made great strides in expanding the culturally acceptable definition of femininity (or femininities), masculinity continues to be narrowly defined and policed by society (Soulliere, 2006; Tragos, 2009). This evidence of asymmetrical change in popular culture gender role portrayals suggests that more effort should be given to examining the representation of men and masculinities in media, and its influence on the lived experience of men.

Ever since we were little, humans were defined by numbers and sizes, and judged by the silent eyes of humanity, and trying to fit ourselves into the undefined definition of perfect. Though there is no correct or incorrect way to look, no two human bodies will look alike (Godsey, “Male Body Stereotypes”). Thus, defining a certain ideal body type to define males or females would not allow the population of girls or boys to achieve those views. Although the media’s intentions are not primarily to degrade any human’s current body state, the media and the people utilizing social media exploit people within a society’s views on an ideal body image that is both unrealistic and nearly impossible to attain. Through negative perceptions of the body, the media influences ideal body structures for each gender, body modifications, and mental and eating disorders.

There are women who are not comfortable and confident with their appearance. Body image is typically related to self-esteem; self-esteem is defined as the amount of worth and personal value an individual feel they have (Davidson, and Cataldo 222). Women have been proven to be critical in castigating their bodies in comparison to men, but recent studies have shown that there has been an incline of men becoming more self-conscience of their bodies (Davidson, and Cataldo 223). Women tend to have self-esteem issues because the media has lured them into believing that they need to have a certain ideal body image to be loved and wanted. Television, magazines, and movies present illusory expectations of beauty, weight, and physical appearance that target women. These media outlets are promoting a body image that embraces one acceptable type and attempts to conform every woman to alter themselves into this form. Women who are unable to meet these exaggerated demands

“In contemporary media and culture, women’s and men’s social desirability and gender have often been defined in terms of their bodies. For women, this has often involved comparing themselves to and even replicating the ‘‘thin ideal’’, altering their bodies to heighten perceived sexuality or youthfulness, or conforming to traditional definitions of femininity including qualities such as submissiveness or sentimentality. For men, gender-based definitions of success frequently revolve around presenting or

Media influence causes 69 percent of girls, in one study, to state that magazine models impact their idea of the perfect body shape. This drastic affect on a young person 's life creates a reality that women need to alter the way they look to be ‘perfect.’ Media also portrays women as helpless beings, needing a man by their side to complete easy tasks in which they can do on their own. There is also the aspect of strong women being sexy, and not the intelligent, intellectual women that they are. Throughout many girls lives, growing up, there are self esteem issues that will resonate with them for years to come. Commercials and advertisements feed on the implication that females believe they will never be flawless or beautiful, so they will do anything to get there. These impacts from media have catastrophic results. This is critical today because there are more eating disorders, health issues, and suicides than ever before. Women should be represented as strong, fearless individuals as opposed to the stereotypical ‘damsel in distress’ media pins them as today. Media limits girls and women from discovering possibilities they could have as leaders through objectificatoin and sexualazation.

In society, people are told to fit certain molds regarding how they are represented in the media such as movies, advertisements, and standards that are set by society. Both men and women are depicted in different ways in American society with unattainable standards that can only be achieved by photoshop or body surgery and alterations. Women are envisioned having the ideal body type that’s shown in media. They’re assumed to be emotional and delicate by much of society. Men are often expected to be muscular while not showing other people their emotions other than aggression and power. There are different ideal body types throughout the world, America for example has an unreachable standard that’s set through uses of photoshop and other alterations that can cause some people to develop emotional disorders. In the book, Composing Gender by Rachael Groner and John O’Hara, it explains how gender is a social construct and how people are often under set gender standards which plays into McDonaldization theory. The McDonaldization theory is explained as the use

As a female, I am extremely aware of the culture that has been developed around women throughout the world. I believe that as a female I should not have to experience the objectification by men that so profoundly conveys the false belief of the inferiority of women. I believe that I should not be discriminated against or evaluated because of my gender or physical appearance. This generalisation however does not only apply to women. Many men are also subjected to a culture in which they are evaluated by; one of which stresses the importance of a good body image and a sense of masculinity which emphasises strength, control and superiority over weak individuals such as women and children as ‘manly’. These are century old traditions and have stimulated