Gutierrez Case Study

Media has become a significant component within society. While media provides many pros, it supplies various cons as well. One very prominent fault that the significance of media has is its visual depiction of women. There is an abundance of media portraying women to have ideal bodies, and this undoubtedly has a negative effect on adolescent girls. Two of the many effects of media on females are depression and self esteem issues, as well as eating disorders. Unfortunately, body dissatisfaction caused by media is becoming more and more common.

A very prominent and controversial issue related to media-idealized images is that of eating disorders and eating problems. Eating problems include binge eating, purging, and unhealthy eating problems. These disorders are seen in young adolescents who are at a very fragile stage of life. Teenagers experience bodily changes as well as peer pressure and new experiences of going into high school. According to Dakanalis et al. the media portrays individuals with an extremely thin build for females and a slim-muscular build (i.e., muscles along with minimal body fat) for males is considered to be the cause of body displeasure and eating pathology. There is no solid evidence to prove that the media is to blame for the degree of eating disorder symptoms and negative body-image feelings that many feel, hence the reason it continues to be a highly debated topic. There has although, been continuous research and theories comprised over objectification. This occurs when men and women are sexually objectified. A person is treated as a body, where beauty and attractiveness of a person are important and valued. This theory can be found nearly anywhere because of the amount and variety of social interaction. It is common because of the way media represents body images. The media has ideals of men and women’s body images and individuals are compared to how well

The article Must See TV or ESPN: Entertainment and Sports Media Exposure and Body-Image Distortion in College Women by Kimberly L. Bissell and Peiqin Zhou examines how media promotes an idealization of thinness in college-age women. The study by Bissell and Zhou takes place at a southern college university in the United States, and compares and contrasts the entertainment industry and sports media on disordered eating and body dissatisfaction in college-age women. The article explains that there have been inconclusive and contradictory studies in the past examining the impact the entertainment industry has on the thin-ideal for women, as well as the correlation between sports media and women’s body image.

Evidence: Cultural deficit models attribute students’ lack of success in school to cultural differences. What this does to poor and minority students is set them up for failure. These students are considered “substandard in their socialization practices, language habits, and familial orientation toward scholastic achievement.” (Pg. 33) The reasons these models are so ineffective and damaging is that they are often misunderstood and lead to the misuse of the concept of culture. “First is the misunderstanding that culture is composed of a set of static and bounded traits and values evenly attributable to all members of the group. (Pg. 34) When you

NEDA. (2016). Media, body image, and eating disorders. Retrieved March 20, 2017, from NEDA. Finding Hope website: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/media-body-image-and-eating-disorders

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,

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.,

The results of this study indicated a low effect size for all studies. The participants who were shown pictures in the media of thin models tended to think there was something wrong with their body weight. Other participants who viewed models who were overweight tended to have a positive outlook on their body image. Another study that was conducted by Han, 2003 looked at female Korean college students and the way in which media exposure affected the way they perceive body image. This experiment was conducted by using 42 college female college students who were exposed to images of thin models in magazine ads. After viewing the images for about 5 minutes the women were then asked to fill out a questionnaire. This questionnaire was built to see their indication on body dissatisfaction and eating disturbance based upon the pictures that were shown. Then an upward comparison was used to see whether they agreed or disagreed with the images of the models shown. As these results stated the females that were exposed to the pictures of the thin models showed a higher level of upward comparison then those who were not shown the models. Participants in the experimental group also perceived the thin models to be more practical than those who were participants of the control group. A second part of this experiment used 75 female college

Cultural influences are cited as a significant factor associated with eating disorders in women due to the belief that “they must be as thin as the actresses and fashion models that dominate the media”, and “young women are dissatisfied with their weight because of the societal ideals promoted by the media are unattainable for most of them” (Weiten p473). However, according to a recent meta-analysis over 204 studies a conflicting viewpoint was raised which indicated that, “effects of thin ideal media appear to be limited to a subgroup of women with preexisting body dissatisfaction susceptibility” (Ferguson 2013).

To conclude, I believe that the media does play a role in the cause of eating disorders in women however other factors such as peers and the family have an impact on the issue too and can help cause it. Yet the media, a form of secondary socialization, didn’t portray women as being skinny females may not feel threatened by it and wouldn’t want to become the females portrayed by the

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.

On Thursday, June 11, at approximately 10:00 am, in a hot, sunny day at JFK International Airport Terminal 1, a male who appeared on his late thirty’s was weary a heavy and soiled-looking parka arrived at the primary booth of Customs and Border Protection Officers (CBPO’s) Gutierrez. While interviewing the male, CBPO Gutierrez noticed that the male skin was pale, hair was greasy-looking, and he had large circles under his eyes. In addition, he seemed nervous, his eyes moved back and forth rapidly, he was sweaty with a noticeable body odor. When the male was asked for his documents, he presented a doctored-looking border-crosser card to the Primary Officer Gutierrez. Based on the presentation of the doctored border-crosser card, CBPO Gutierrez

The female body image is highly influenced by the mass media and the media’s portrayal of women, ‘70% of college women say they feel worse about their own looks after reading women’s magazines’ (University of Massachusetts & Stanford University, 2006), the portrayal of women in the media has an unrealistic approach and brings out body dissatisfactions and this results in eating problems and disorders.

Throughout history, there have been many factors that contribute to the increase in eating disorders amongst women. The media is the devil’s advocate of eating disorders. Doctor Kathrine Henderson researched the history of eating disorders and the media to understand the reason behind its origin. Early studies provide evidence that claims the media’s main focus is on the decreasing weight in celebrities plastered on magazines and many other models and women who are the ideals of beauty. There has been a variety of studies proving the increase in thinness amongst women in magazines and TV shows (Henderson 2010). The media creates body dissatisfaction in young women, which leads to this psychological disease. Henderson found a significant increase in advertisements for diet foods and diet products for the years 1970-2000s (Henderson 2010). In comparing pressures on women and men, Henderson showed that “women’s magazines contained 10.5 times as many diet promotions as men’s magazines” (Henderson 2010). Overall, research has shown that there has been an increase in the promotion of diets, and thin bodies for the female society. The women are pushed further into believing that they do not have model thin, or acceptable bodies in order to be a part of society. Magazines, websites, and famous women have exploited their bodies to show how the female society should look.

86). according to researcher Shelly Grabe at the University of Wisconsin, body dissatisfaction is very common affecting 50% of girls and young women (Grabe, Ward, and Shibley 479) is another example of advertising/the media not being responsible to community concerns or society. One last example of how unreal women’s image is explained by research from Cheryl Haas indicating that thin ideal portrayals lead to depression and lower self-esteem among women (Haas, 2012, p. 405). Again, this is a clear indicator that the media has a strong responsibility to society and should act accordingly.