High Prevalence Of Body Image Concerns

The media has become a powerful source for changes in our society. There are so many factors and reasons for our society changing. Today I find most people obsessively worried about their body image. We all have a body and at one time or another, we worry about it. Women and men are both being affected by media sources such as television, advertising, magazines, music, and video games; not to mention the photo manipulation that goes along with it all. Questions can be asked; such as, “Is this the way our society should be leaning [obsessing over our bodies]? What could happen from here? Are there any solutions?”

The body image movement aims to improve the relationship between women and their bodies in a more positive manner (Dove 2014). Currently, women are suffering from an increase in body self-consciousness as a result of medias role regarding beauty ideals. Researchers have found that women worldwide do not view themselves as beautiful and are consistently troubled about their appearance and concluded that six out of ten girls are concerned about their appearances (Dove 2014). As a result, anxiety and self-consciousness are all contributing factors producing significant health concerns among women (Aubrey 2007). Media has developed a reputation in society for women to be held to unachievable beauty standards as they promote a “thin culture” (Hesse-Biber et al. 2006). This promotion of beauty standards has inspired the body image movement to educate and encourage women to love their bodies in order to achieve more self-esteem and confidence (Dove 2014). As well as, corporations are beginning to

Thesis: The media puts pressure on women of all ages to conform to their standards of what looks best, and this pressure results in women having a negative body image.

A teenage girl gazes into the mirror only to be disappointed. She only sees what she believes is important, her weight. The only outlook she has on her body is how overweight she thinks she is. She suffers from body-image issues and becomes ashamed of what she sees. In all reality, she is skin and bones, without a single ounce of fate. This scenario is only of one example that every individual in America could face today. It is because of this fact alone, everyone should prioritize both their physical and mental health.

Body Image is how we see ourselves, whether good and bad, it is essential to our confidence. So many people, both young and old are insecure about some characteristic of their body, these people are suffering from bad body image. This is a distorted perception of what they might really look like, it sometimes includes over analyzing small imperfections leading to low self esteem,eating disorders and other harmful effects. Bad body image affects so many people today, and this is greatly because of the media and its common standard of beauty: young,skinny and white. Tackling body image is a tough issue that feminists are trying to address but perhaps those who can really make a difference, is the industry that is perpetuating these unrealistic beauty standards.

The body is often seen as something naturally given. Different types of bodies can be seen in shapes, sizes and physical build. However there is this idea of what aesthetically is socially acceptable. With women in the media industry being promoted in a certain way it is important to recognize that social construction of the body is a global issue. With this idea it could be said to have largely contributed to the fact that most if not all women are dissatisfied with their bodies. Media as an industry depicts that slenderness is preferred. This factor no doubt has impacted the rise in eating disorders and women's willingness to have cosmetic surgery in order to fit such ideal of slenderness which are depicted in magazines and television programs.

Body Image is a main issue though out the world. Man and Woman what to look like that people we see on TV, Facebook, Instagram and etc. The causes that i’m going to be talking about in Body image is Media, health product and peer. In the Butterly Foundation states that almost 1 in 20 Australians are thought to have an eating disorder, with one in diagnoses of anorexia being a man.

Why does America have so many girls who struggle with body image? Body image is the way one sees oneself and how one imagines how one looks .(7)Having a positive body image means that, most of the time one sees oneself accurately,one feels comfortable in one’s body and one feels good about how one looks.(7)In today’s time Americans are vain in one’s appearance,meaning we feel having a thin body we are more accomplished, successful and beautiful. Growing up in a time where appearance is everything to an individual can easily make a young girl self-conscious of her body image. There are three parts that make up body image: the mental picture one has of oneself: our belief of how others see us; and how comfortable and confident one is in one bodies. (DiBattista)In our society people associate thinness with beauty, power, and health, as well as self worth.(DiBattista)In America there are too many girls who have negative judgement on their bodies, which causes low self esteem and other dangers such as eating disorders.

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.

Many people in modern culture have developed what has been termed a normative discontent with their bodies. Women are particularly vulnerable to this development of body dissatisfaction, which has been shown to create numerous negative heath issues. These health issues are a direct result from trying to achieve the unrealistic ideal image media has created. This idea on how the body should look floods modern media and women are discriminated upon if they are unable to meet these strict physical requirements. However, unknown to the masses, the majority of the physical characteristics portrayed are achieved from digital enhancement and not only the product of weight loss. It is my goal within this paper to discuss the populations affected

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.

These influences have a great impact on the self-esteem of women, since achieving the thin ideal is unreachable for most women. Images of women in the media today are thinner than images of women from the past, thinner than today’s female population. and thinner than the criteria for anorexia (Schooler et al., 2004). The media teaches society what is acceptable and normal. Botta (1999) identified the media as the strongest predictor of body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, and behaviors associated with eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia). Images of the perfect body are everywhere, whether it be in a physical form or a virtual one. These images do not represent the majority of women and many of these glamorizes images have been altered to embody the ideal woman. With the use of modern technology, a model’s appearance can be easily altered. The use of cosmetics, airbrushing for a flawless complexion, and using Photoshop are used to change the facial features and proportions of the body. These changes can be small, from simply changing an eye or hair color to completely alter the model’s body type and her

Recently in media, there has been a focus on the hyper-sexualization of the female body, as well as very specific body images which have been presented as the perfect body in society. Both of these issues enforce ideas of unrealistic, and even unhealthy beauty standards among teens, and even adults in today’s society. Though it may not be the sole cause of society’s body image issues, media has certainly had a very clear impact on these issues. Media today has a profound impact on the perception of the human body and how it should be as a result of increased use of modification softwares to distort society’s image of the human body, the use of social media to give

Everyday women suffer more and more from body issues which result from the media amplifying standards of beauty which are unrealistic and having both men and women enforce these impossible standards. Even though it is easy to think that these standards are the media's fault Derenne & Beresin explain that this trend is not new “Throughout history, the dominant political climate and cultural ideas always have shaped the public's perception of the ideal female body” Beresin and Derenne pg 57. This quotation supports the fact that the problems of body expectation goes way back and that this is not a new problem, it is just an evolution of a monster. An example of how the cultural and political ideas change is “ Society valued competent, strong

ideal body image way too much. Media shows unreasonably ideas of body images and causes