Female Body Misconceptions

My volume of choice was TIME magazine Volume 153 which was published from March through April 1999. One particular TIME magazine I chose to analyze and present was called, “The Truth About Women’s Bodies” because the title and the cover of the magazine really stood out to me and it made me curious to see what this cover story is about. This magazine was published on March 8, 1999 and the author of this cover story was named Barbara Ehrenreich, who is a best-selling author and a political activist. There were other major stories in this magazine that stood out to me as well because they were related to racism such as, “Prejudice? Perish the Thought” and “The Lynching of Emmett Till”. Based from these major stories, it seemed like people

In today’s society, people tend to focus a lot on females and the problems they have concerning their body image based on popular culture, stereotypes, and other generalizations of how a woman “should look.” What we do not realize however is that males struggle with their body image as much as females do and are often not recognized in their fight to meet the expectations of society. Males struggle with all kinds of eating and body disorders just as females do and the expectations pushed on them by the media, women, and even other guys. There is a frightening lack of treatment because guy’s hardships are ignored and even overshadowed by women’s struggles. Males also go through the harmful effects and risks that come with the efforts they

In longing to reach the norm many people fall victim to these detrimental illnesses. Sadly, women are more subject to these eating disorders than men, the number of men suffering from eating disorders is on the rise. Our culture puts pressure on each of its inhabitants to attain this ideal body type that is unrealistic for most people. The images that pollute television and magazines make us all feel inadequate if we don't meet the credentials of slenderness; therefore, continuing the role of our society in the development of eating disorders.

Chronic dieting, low self-esteem, depression and, high levels of body dissatisfaction were among the major issues women face when addressing their body image (Gingras, Fitzpatrick, & McCargar, 2004). The severity of body image dissatisfaction have increased to such a dangerous state that it was added to the DSM-IV as a disorder now called body dysmorphic disorder (Suissa, 2008). One of the main reasons for the prevalence of these conditions in women was due to contemporary Western media, which serve as one of the major agent in enforcing an ultra-thin figure as the ideal for female beauty (Saraceni & Russell-Mayhew, 2007). These images and models presented by the media have become the epitome of beauty, pushing women who internalized these images to dangerous extent to attain these norms. According to evidence from previous studies, contemporary Western cultures have influenced women to an acquired normative state of discontent with their bodies, which have become the source of maladaptive eating practices, negative psychological outcomes, and, chronic health conditions associated with eating disorders (Snapp, Hensley-Choate, & Ryu, 2012). The seriousness of these body image conditions among youths and women have also led to congressional actions.

The amount of males that are unsatisfied with their bodies has tripled in the last twenty-five years. According to Helen Fawkner, doctor of philosophy, it has increased from fifteen percent of the male population to forty-five percent. It is an extremely severe problem that most people are not aware of. It can lead to suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and eating disorders, but the majority of people think that males do not have to worry about it as much as females. However, they have the same amount of pressure to have the perfect figure as females, it is just not delineated. Body image and eating disorders are not just female problems, men go through the same issues.

Research has shown that half the population of young women are unhappy with their body image which will lead to low esteem levels, depression and eating disorders for example Anorexia Nervosa. (1)

Most of the research studies that are related to body image seem to focus primarily on the negative elements of the construct. Such would include body dissatisfaction as well as weight concern among others. As such, when such constructs, are evaluated, with the view of them as poor body image, then you realize they result in some really negative outcomes like symptoms of eating disorders, threshold eating disorders among others. However, there are also some positive elements related to body image. Such include the body esteem as well as an appreciation of one’s

As women strive to achieve the perfect body, they can negatively affect themselves in many ways. Although having a healthy, fit body is good for one’s self, there are many ways to achieve this look. The majority of ways that females attempt to change their body are unhealthy. The number of women developing eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating have increased as well as the number of obese people. Many of these harmful disorders are caused by the inability to reach society’s perceived perfect

The media, today, continues to falsely portray the image of the ideal woman. This misrepresentation adversely affects the self-esteem of women and young girls. After evaluating their physical appearances and comparing them to edited pictures, females develop unrealistic expectations of how they should appear physically to others. This misconception can cause great concern about their bodies and very low self-esteem. Young girls will abuse their bodies by starving themselves to be thinner and properly proportioned according to society’s expectations. Body Dysphoria has become a growing concern in very young girls because of unrealistic images of women. The media also seems to have no concern of the images they are displaying of men. In magazines

In Gullone and Kostanski (1998) study what is found is that body mass and psychological variables are significantly related with the perceived body image dissatisfaction. Their findings also support how the general public can perceive their body image to be negative due to gender, self-esteem, and body mass.

In today’s society, people tend to focus a lot on females and the problems they have concerning their body image based on popular culture, stereotypes, and other generalizations of how a woman “should look.” What we do not realize however is that males struggle with their body image as much as females do and are often not recognized in their fight to meet the expectations of society. Males struggle with all kinds of eating and body disorders just as females do and the expectations pushed on them by the media, women, and even other guys. There is a frightening lack in treatment because guy’s hardships are ignored and even overshadowed by women’s struggles. Males also go through the harmful effects and risks that come with the efforts they

The meta analysis conducted by Dina conveys the idea that the body types and images that are projected by the media encourage decreased body satisfaction in adolescents. It is however, important to note that body dissatisfaction does not always lead to eating disorders.

This has led to most women showing favor towards a body weight that is well underneath the recommended weight for people in their age group (Vitelli, “Media Exposure and the ‘Perfect’ Body”). More than half of girls say that their ideal body is thinner than their current body. 33-35% of boys say that their ideal body image is thinner than their current body. Weight is the most common dissatisfaction between boys and girls (Common Sense Media, “Children, Teens, Media, and Body Image” ). Women have started seeing themselves as objects to be looked at and judged by their appearance, and that their body is used to attract others. (Dittmar and Howard 477). Due to this many girls’ unhappiness is based on the way that their bodies look to others (Raydon, 1).Women are being taught that nothing, not even surgery, is too extreme to make one’s body look the way they think it should (Raydon, 3) So, this teaching has lead to girls often complaining about facial features they are not satisfied with and being very ready to fix their imperfections

This study also found that 3 out of 100 females are bulimic and 1 out of 100 females is anorexic. Another study on the negative effects of body dissatisfaction was completed in 2013 by Quick and Bryd-Bredbenner, which involved College students in the United States of America. They found that 25% of women engaged in dietary limitations, 1 out of 7 regularly engage in bing eating and one third use certain behaviors, such as intentional vomiting, over exercising or mistreatment of medicine, to offset the effects of eating and to control weight. This verifies that the media is influencing a large number of women negatively, resulting in harmful actions both mentally and physically. These behaviors commonly emerge when young women are transitioning between different phases in life. Other health risks include eating practices such as restraint, emotional eating, night eating, extreme dieting and more. When women partake in these practices, they often do not reach the recommended daily intake of certain nutrients such as folic acid, calcium, potassium, fiber and iron (Quick & Bryd-Bredbenner, 2013). Failing to meet the daily-recommended dosage of these nutrients can cause more serious illness and long-term health problems for these young women. In general, women commonly overestimate the size of their bodies (Birttchnell, Dolan, & Lacy, 1987), however women affected by anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa overestimate their body weight to excessive degree. This can cause an

Over the decades, many women of all shapes and sizes have struggled with body image and low self-esteem which has been affected by media’s portrayal of beauty. In a study performed in the United Kingdom, researchers “examined whether young women who make implicit associations between underweight models and positive attributes report elevated eating disorder symptoms” (Ahern). An eating disorder is evidence of an individual’s lack of positive body image. The person believes that he or she has to fit a certain ideal in order to be accepted and liked by others. The article states that, “societal pressure to be thin is thought to be a major contributor to the high levels of body dissatisfaction,” which once again demonstrates how much