Media Promotion Of Thinness

Furthermore, media surrounds teenage girls in today’s culture. It is impossible to escape the sight of media. The media’s constant idealistic beauty is ever present to a vast amount of self-conscious girls. This image of beauty causes girls to have low self-esteem (Clay, Vignoles, and Dittmar). Media defining this perfect body image causes many adolescent girls to feel dissatisfied with their bodies and become depressed. “Viewing ultra-thin or average-size models led to decreases in both body satisfaction and self-esteem in adolescent girls aged eleven to sixteen, with changes in self-esteem fully mediated by changes in body satisfaction” (Clay, Vignoles, and Dittmar).

In a recent survey done by the National institute on Media and the Family, fifth graders, ten year old boys and girls told researchers they were dissatisfied with their own bodies after watching a music video by Britney Spears or a clip from the TV show “Friends.”(4) If this isn’t shocking enough, the research group reported that at the age of thirteen, fifty-three percent of American girls are “unhappy with their bodies.” This grows to seventy-eight percent by the time the girls reach seventeen. Also, eating disorders are beginning to start at an alarming young age. Statistics show that girls are developing eating disorders at the age of six.(1) Young girls that are exposed to appearance focused television programs, and magazine shows feel that they need to look like the models that they see. Most of these girls are not even have fully developed bodies yet and are already trying to perfect themselves. One girl had even shared how one of her best friends discovered that her fifth grade cousin was bulimic. Girls at that age should not even be concerned with their bodies yet and eating disorders being developed is a harsh wake up call as to how young girls everywhere are being effected by the media each and everyday.

Eating disorders have become a major problem throughout the world, specifically in the United States. The key factor that has an influence on eating disorders is the media. Including people of all ages and genders, up to twenty-four million people suffer from an eating disorder in the United States (ANAD np). This is a huge problem in the world today but what makes it so much worse is the fact that it can be prevented and it is in our control to change it. Young adults look to these celebrities, which are often their role models, and try to look just like them. What they fail to remember is the fact that celebrities have a lot of money, money that can afford nutritionists and personal trainers. They also fail to remember the extensive measures the celebrities may have to go through to look the way they do. An example of extensive measures can be considered plastic surgery. Ultimately, this creates a false goal that is almost unattainable for the “average” or “regular” person. Overall, the media has overtaken a huge impact on what the “ideal” body image has become today. Eating disorders are still on the rise and it is proven that an eating disorder such as anorexia affects up to 5 percent of women from ages 15-30 years old ("Media, Body Image, and Eating Disorders | National Eating Disorders Association np"). This may not seem that significant but it is also not considering other eating disorders such as bulimia. All in all, eating disorders

In today’s society, many adolescent girls are dissatisfied with their body image due to comparing themselves to the media’s unrealistic ideal thin body. Since they grow up in a world filled with mass media such as television, films, magazines, movies, music, newspaper and the Internet, it is very easy to come across this ideal body image (Morris & Katzman, 2003). As teen girls associate with this ideal thinness they tend to be dissatisfied with their own body image, which can put them at risk for serious eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa (Kerr 2010). Depression also plays a part in the dissatisfied body image of adolescent girls as well.

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)

Ever since the development of the media such as television, the internet, various fashion magazines and commercial advertisements, society focused more and more on personal appearances. Not only were runway models becoming slimmer but the viewers that watched and read about them were becoming more concerned with their weight. In the past fifty years the number of adolescent girls developing eating disorders increased just as television, advertisements, and magazines were becoming a social norm that was easily and often available. Today, more than ever, adolescents are worrying about weight, shape, size and body image and. It does not help that these children are growing up in a world filled with media material emphasizing dangerously

The influence of the media on all aspect of society has spread like wildfire especially in the United States. One specific influence by the media is body image, large number of young women and girls look up to people in the media and are influenced by the way they look. Now days you’re appraised on your attractiveness, the way you look, the way you dress, and especially how thin you are. The media’s representation of body image has contributed to the social trend of an unhealthy lifestyle. Women and young girls today are fixated on trying modify the way they look to achieve the perfect body image set by the standards of society. Female’s worry about the way they look starting at young ages from the unhealthy image of the Barbie doll to the

There are four aspects that make up our body image; perceptual body image, affective body image, cognitive body image and behavioural body image. Perceptual body image is the way you see your body; even though it is not always a correct representation. Affective body image is the way you feel about your body; how content you are with your body. Cognitive body image is the way you think about your body. Lastly, behavioural body image is the behaviours which you participate in as a result of how you think you look (“What is Body Image?”). This paper will argue that eating disorders are caused by women’s negative self-views of their own bodies because of the predisposing factors that influence women; the impact of social media, cultural messages and parental relationships that influence

Body image is an important and influential topic in our society that impacts the self-esteem, good eating habits and body satisfaction of female adolescents. Magazines and TV programs use beauty and ideal thinness to connect with young ladies and persuade them to look as good as the models in magazines by purchasing their dieting products. As asserted by Dohnt and Tiggemann, in order to advocate for female adolescents, we need to introduce programs in schools and TV with a purpose of strengthening their self-esteem (935). Although I disagree with Dohnt and Tiggemann point about introducing preventive programs in the TV, I fully endorse with introducing preventive programs in schools because it helps young adolescents to build on their understanding of an actual body shape. The media is the most influential factor in the body image of a young woman because as insisted by Gallivan, “over 80% of Americans watch TV daily, 3 hours on average.” Overall, this demonstrates that TV programs, social media, and magazines play the major role in the perception and mindset of a young women because in our generation we dedicate most of our time to watch shows and commercials that influence the way we think about

It typically starts with body dissatisfaction or low self-esteem. Body dissatisfaction, the feeling that people may have that their actual physical appearance isn’t how they prefer to look or how society prefers they look, is often caused by the portrayal of body image by the media. Grabe, Hyde, and Ward explain “that approximately 50% of girls and undergraduate women experience body dissatisfaction (2008).” (Effects of the Media on Body Image) Not only does body dissatisfaction typically place girls in a great risk for developing an eating disorder, but it has also been linked to critical mental and physical health problems. The media’s consistent portrayal of the new “thin ideal” influences adolescent females in such a negative and degrading way that it’s taking a strong tole on the beautiful, young girls in our society.

Is there too much pressure on girls to have perfect bodies? People are worried about their body image,which is putting them in a dangerous position for anorexia,or using laxatives to lose weight.Media puts intense pressure on girls today to look like the “ideal” image.The medias harmful effect on self body image and self esteem has brought three damaging effects:eating disorders,mental depression,and physical depression.The media is always putting a new form of pills to lose weight.Many girls have been choosing the easy way to lose weight by starving themselves.Girls may try fasting or purging,because media-portrayed thin body ideal is related to eating pathology.Association between risk for disordered eating and subsequent thinnes expected

　　　Being constantly bombarded with these images of false perfection causes girls to have low self esteem. A persons body image is closely related to their self-esteem (Huebscher, 2014). During adolescence is when girls bodies go through puberty and they gain more body fat (Rierdan, Koff, 1997). During this time the rates of depression in adolescence increase (Rierdan, Koff, 1997). According to Huebscher paper,"concerns about the body have been documented as widespread among female populations, with adolescence considered an especially vulnerable period

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

What was first a diet to lose a few pounds was now a disorder resulting in drastic amounts of weight loss. She was already a normal weight pre dieting. Talking back with her now she shares, “I didn’t realize the stronghold dieting had over me. Every time I saw myself in the mirror I just saw a girl with excess fat.” She also shares, “It is still a struggle today with constant reminders from the media of standards I don’t meet.” A survey conducted with 185 students on a campus through the Nutritional Journal, 58 percent felt pressure to be a certain weight, and of the 83 percent that dieted for weight loss, over half were already at a normal weight pre dieting” (). Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are huge issues within today’s society. This creates a problem because it develops unhealthy patterns in women, so women begin self-starvation in the fear of being overweight or overeat and then crash diet. “13 percent of girls age 15-17 acknowledge having an eating disorder” (“The Dove campaign for Real Beauty”). Not only are girls turning to eating disorders in hopes to raise the decline of their self-image, but they are also partaking in alternatives like plastic

Over a period of time the media has portrayed body image in young women and the effects have been so damaging that majority of young women have developed eating disorders and self-oriented perfectionism. Magazines, social media, and television have been the linked sources of influence. You have to look like a Victoria Secret model or try to look like a “top” model (a television reality show). To look the “norm” is too be thin, and in the minds of some young girl’s, an eating disorder is the only way to become thin. Life satisfaction is when individuals evaluate the value of their life by their own standards. Young girls tend to struggle with social transitions which can affect their perception of their body image and their life satisfaction. Adolescence is a period in time of young lives where reflection on appearance and body image may take a toll on their life satisfaction.