Media Influence On Women 's Body Image

The influence of the media on all aspects of culture and society has been a issue around the world. One of the social cultural aspects particularly influenced by the media is body image. A surprisingly large number of individuals, the majority of which are young women, develop their body image in with the ideas advanced by the media, which judge women’s attractiveness based on how thin they are. Body-image plays a very important role in our individualistic society. Modern beauty image standards which favor thin body image create an unrealistic expectation on young women, often resulting in eating disorders and other destructive practices, like self-harming, unnecessary or elective cosmetic surgery, decreased self-esteem and the use of harmful substances, like diuretics.

Although it is not easy to admit, there is a hidden pleasure in watching stick-thin models parade down the runway wearing the newest and hottest lingerie. As secretly amusing as this may be, should we really be supporting industries that make their revenue by exploiting women’s bodies in the media? Companies such as Victoria's Secret spend large amounts of money each year broadcasting these types of images on TV, in magazines, and on billboards. With the widespread access to media that exists today, Victoria’s Secret’s target audience is very large. In this paper, I will prove that the body image portrayed by Victoria Secret in the media changes body image ideals in society, supports racial stereotypes, and causes confidence issues in young women.

The author attempts to establish credibility. The 3 major contributors to this article are San Francisco State University psychologist Deborah Schooler, Monique Ward of the University of Michigan, and University of North Dakota psychologist Ric Ferraro. Each bringing with them insight as to how the media has warped and mangled the way men see their bodies.

Ultra-thin models are plastered all over the media today, but have these influential sources thought of the negative outcomes that could change society forever? The notions represented by the media silently incline girls to conform to an ideal that is impossible to reach. Due to their malleable brains, adolescent females are subjected to the image of a perfect body through media’s adverse influence of what a quintessential girl is supposed to look like and the permanent impact it has on a girl’s life.

Today I’m going to talk about the Media and a women’s body image, and how the media could be harming you and your children. Have you ever read a magazine or watched TV and say wow I wish I look like her? The media sets out tons of images and videos of a way an average woman should look like when in reality what the media is showing is unrealistic goal to achieve. Whit the media showing off only one body image or what they would say “perfect,” body image they can cause serious problems mentally and physically in a women’s mind and body.

Most of the population of women in the world suffers with being unhappy with their body shape. They tend to see themselves as fat and overweight, all due to the women being publicized by infamous magazines and advertisements shown on the television. The media tends to use thin models, and Photoshop or airbrush their images to make them look flawless so their magazines sell in stores. All of the editing makes the women look as if they have absolutely no fat on their body, nor any wrinkles on their face. When women see these images, their ideal image is what is being portrayed in the media, and not what they look like or the people around us may look like. Airbrushing and Photoshop has impacted the women in our culture, in the wrong ways, and

We are constantly affected by the media and sometimes even unconsciously. For example, as athletes, we mostly have more muscular bodies than normal people. But everyday, we see the way models or celebrities look through social media and this influence our perception of our body image. We want to have skinnier legs or less muscle in our arms. Because now days this is what we see as normal and beautiful. That is why we are curious of how the commercials or magazines influence our thoughts and our ideal body image.

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.

What is body image? Body image is the way someone perceives their selves and imagines how they look. Having a positive body image means that most of the time a person views their selves accurately, feels comfortable in their own body, and feels good about the way they look. However, many people ranging from all ages have a negative or distorted body image, some more severe than others. People can develop a warped body image from media influences, or viewing people around them who have different body types. Having a distorted body image can lead too many different dangerous mental or physical health conditions that are difficult to overcome. The way beauty and or body image is portrayed in the media affects the way people interpret how they should look physically.

Ask a group of women how they feel about their body. The majority of women will be quick to identify some aspect of their body they feel is flawed. They will point out that their legs are too skinny or too fat, their skin is splotchy or rough, or that their hair is too curly, too straight, or even the wrong color. So, why are most women dissatisfied with their appearance? According to Allan Johnson's "Why Do We Make So Much of Gender?" and Elline Lipkin's "Girls' Bodies, Girls' Selves: Body Image, Identity, and Sexuality", women's view of their body is influenced by media images, consumer commercialism, and patriarchal ideas.

Society and the media play a big influence on body image and self esteem, which are two big reasons why people look to cosmetic surgery. Women make up for a really big majority of all cosmetic procedures. Of the 7.2 million cosmetic procedures in 2008, women make up 87 percent of those procedures. (Driscoll and Griswold). Why is this statistic so high? The reason is that the media and society pressure women to look a certain way, and if they do not look that way, the women look to cosmetic procedures to conform to society's expectations. Doctors and surgeons will even use societal influences to rack up patients. Doctors use advertising that connected cosmetic surgery to improving self-image, and that attracted people who had aesthetic insecurities.

Through my research I have discovered also that teen’s social groups play a role on influencing body image.

(Why would something like the Tv, magazines, or pictures effect a way girl thinks or sees herself) It affects girls because it's basically all they see, polluted all over the world like waste. In media today they somehow find a way to interject body image into everything. “It’s like welcome to the dazzling world of social media where today’s youth are often living their lives out loud and on full view of an online audience.” We should restrict the aspect of appearances out of the media, even if it’s a bit. The media makes girls want to change themselves. Girls mental understanding of what they look like is disoriented by their thoughts, because of the media..Younger girls are getting ideals presented and pushed onto them

What is beauty? Is it having a skinny body, a blemish free face, and long blonde hair? For some girls it is. Beauty is a main concern for many girls, especially as they are growing up and going through adolescents. They admire women in magazines and on television, dreaming to be just like them. Unfortunately, what they do not realize is that no one has the perfect smile, perfect skin, or perfect hair.

Media such as the internet, broadcasting, and publishing is a way to express opinions and keep up to date with the latest fashion trends. While these trends continue to go on, new trends are thought of, the trends may be a little tricky to keep up with even for celebrities. While the thought of being perfect for society, cause many adolescents to breakdown for following the false beliefs of society. Some people may use the media to be updated on important news. On the other hand, others believe the media is a horrible setting, resulting in adolescent to do whatever it takes to become just like them, poisoning their minds to become something they are not. The media produces bad influences for body image and messes with adolescents’ minds.