Idealized Body and Social Media

Every time you flip a magazine, change channels, or go online, you are struck with images of models who are super skinny with flashy outfits and have excessive make-up on. Ads not only try to sell their products, but also promote how females should look like. These models are airbrushed and photo shopped which is false advertisement. The media progressively encourages a thinner body image as the ideal for women. We see advertisements every day. Some of these ads use manipulative strategies that influence our choices and spending habits. For example, “One in every three articles in leading teen girl magazines included a focus on appearance, and most advertisements used appeal to beauty to sell their products.”(Teen Health) To grab the viewers’ attention, especially females, they include

The media is one of the leading causes of self esteem and body image issues in not only women but men as well. This is due to the fact that thousands of advertisements contain messages about physical attractiveness and beauty. Examples include: commercials for clothes, cosmetics, weight loss, hair removal, laser surgery and physical fitness. The effects of advertising on body image have been studied by researchers, psychologists, marketing professionals and more. Researchers, Mary Martin and James Gentry found that teen directed advertising negatively impacts self-esteem. The advertising industry is setting unrealistic expectations for teens about their physical appearances by using models with "perfect bodies." The modeling industry today has put many pressures on models, causing them disorders of both mental and physical illness. These disorders then creating the look of the “perfect body” have now lead to unrealistic expectations of body image for society.

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 culture of media has now taken a large affect on young girls and their body images. Young girls are feeling dissatisfied with their bodies because of the way society views women. The media tells us what to look like, what clothes to wear, make-up, what cars to drive, and sometimes what to eat. Media is changing people constantly through advertising and by showing us the looks and fashions of celebrities. Advertising has negative effects on the formation of oneself as seen through the nature of the promotion of its’ products. This effect is particularly prevalent among young adolescent girls. Young girls feel the need to join dietary plans or result to eating disorders Advertising in society results in negative effects on girls through self-image that leads to harmful consequences. The media is the biggest factor contributing to girls’ dissatisfaction with their bodies, causing eating disorders.

There has been a growing trend of hypersexualization of women over the span of all forms of media. The women within these images are made to look perfectly flawless. They are extremely thin without a trace of fat or cellulite to be found. The people who consume this media are exposed to the idea that the women they are observing are models for true physical beauty. These standards are accompanied by an alternate message from the media that pushes the idea that women’s value comes from their beauty. While some women may understand that the messages about the ideal woman are unrealistic and false, it is found that adolescent girls are vulnerable to the media’s strategies due to their lack of media literacy as well as the search for their own identity during this developmental stage in their lives. The exposure to these standards of beauty can have several negative effects on the girls such as lower self-esteem, higher body dissatisfaction, depression, and eating disorders. SPARK and 4 Every Girl are two of a growing number of campaigns that are working to fight against the sexualized images of women in the media and the negative effects it can have on the viewers.

Images of female bodies are everywhere. Women, and their bodies, sell everything from food to cars. Women's magazines are full of articles urging women to fit a certain mold. While standing in a grocery store line you can see all different magazines promoting fashion, weight loss, and the latest diet. Although the magazines differ, they all seemingly convey the same idea: if you have the perfect body image you can have it all…the perfect marriage, loving children, great sex, and a rewarding career. The media, whether TV, print, or Internet advertising, seems to play a huge role in influencing women of all ages; from adolescence and teens, to women in their twenties and thirties, as well as

Femininity, on the other hand, is defined as the attributes and nature of the female sex (Merriam Webster/Femininity). Related words to femininity include “girlishness”, “womanhood”, “effeteness”, and “womanly” (Merriam Webster/Femininity). When images for “femininity” are researched, most depict beautiful, perfectly made up, extremely skinny women wearing pink clothing with long, flowing hair. This photo description is social media’s ideal body image for woman. Because of this, sixty nine percent of girls in fifth through twelfth grade reported that pictures on certain types of social media influenced their perception of the ideal body image and forty seven percent of girls in that same age group reported feeling pressure to lose weight because of a picture seen on a certain type of social media (ANAD). This perception often leads to eating disorders in young women (Media, Body Image, and Eating Disorders). About three percent of women suffer from anorexia nervosa in their lifetime (ANAD), and social media may influence the development of many cases.

The typical teenage girl wakes up each day and immediately opens her phone or electronic device to get online and check her various social media apps. During that time, she will start her day being bombarded with hundreds, maybe thousands of images of females throughout her day. In addition to social media, TV and magazine ads are using impossible standards of beauty to try to convince young girls that if they buy their products, they can achieve these levels of beauty and perfections. Because of these “flawless images” of perfect women, this can cause some girls to develop very negative feelings about their own appearance and it can sometimes lead to major health issues. Research and studies have suggested that when girls see all these ads

In today’s society, media has been accused for many issues which are leading young girls to have body issues, low self-esteem, anxiety, dietary issues and etc. Advertisements, commercials, magazines and music videos portray characters or models as the ideal image of how young girls should look like. Sadly, many young girls are fooled and have a lack of understanding by what the media is presenting to them, resulting in major depression. In today’s society, there are many negative effects on young girls, mostly from issues closely related to their bodies. “Media tend to display an unhealthy body shape as a beautiful body, while having a normal body shape looked as an ugly body”(Sarah Elaine Eaton). Situations like this have a serious negative

According to researchers, articles and advertisements in these magazines convey a clear message that attracting males by being physically beautiful is the road to true happiness for women. There is also evidence that spending a lot of time on social networking sites can increase girls’ body image concerns. Similar results are reported in studies of girls’ responses to appearance-related commercials on television and websites, which, like ads in fashion magazines, typically feature attractive, thin models, as well as reality TV shows about cosmetic

Over the years a debate over who is to blame over the decline in how girls perceive themselves has arisen. With Photoshop being the societal norm concerning the media, it has become difficult for many to understand where the line between real and near impossible standards lies. Youths see an image edited to “perfection” and strive to reach the standards that they imagine due to the images displayed on magazines, television and social media. From Disney to magazines like Vogue the mass media bombards audiences with fake beauty that they, as normal people, will never be able to achieve. The mass media is responsible for causing the rise in the number of people with a poor body image, eating disorders, and cosmetic surgeries.

Todays media portrays a standard of beauty for women of an unrealistic weight and an overall appearance which leads people to believe they need to have an “ideal body”. In particular, girls, 91% of teen girls are unhappy with their bodies (Article: 11 facts about body image, Do something campaign). The teenage years are a time when people are naturally self conscious. Teens can be more vulnerable to media influences about body image and how they “should” look. In as single day we can be subjected by up to 500 advertisements. These ads portrayed perfectly airbrushed models that are unrealistically thin and have zero “flaws”. There are also numerous ads assuming we want and need to look like the models. They

I did a survey of my class ages 13 -16 and got 42 responses, and asked the following questions and got the following responses.

The unrealistic standards of beauty is hurting this generation of what the media and society thinks a girl has to look like, for many years the media has been trying to construct the ideal image of what a “perfect woman” should look like. They believe there only beautiful if they have long legs, great hair, and curves in the right places (HuffingtonPost2017). Which is not the influence that we want to carry down to future generations of girls who feel like they must live up to the expectations of girls who have the “perfect body”. With media apps being popular in the 21st century, there was a survey done on some of the top media apps, their study #statusofmind surveyed almost 1,500 young people aged 14 to 24 on how certain media apps impact health ( CableNewsNetwork 2017). Body images statistics say 80% of woman say images,

Regardless of if they mean to or not, all teenagers of today’s generation are exposed to advertisements. Due to teenagers’ persistent attitudes, marketers know what to put in their advertisements in order for it to be successful. Teenagers and young children in today 's society are easily influenced by the numerous advertisements they watch. In our current generation advertisements of the perfect body image have been shown, which places a toll on certain teenagers. This exposure contributes drastically the desirable body types, to the use of weight-loss products and health and psychological issues.