Negative Effects Of Female Body Image

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.

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.

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.,

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.

Thin models and actresses appear to be the standardin today’s media, ever-present on television, and in magazines, movies,and Internet sites. Advertisements targetingyoung women feature thin and beautiful models in desirable circumstances in order to sell clothing, accessories, and other products. There is a mediated normfor body image in present-day culture, and it is characterized by bodies that are extremely thin (Hendriks&Burgoon, 2003). This mediated thin-ideal is present in mainstream media, and mainstream media are a source women turn to for information about how to look (Hendriks, 2002). Consequently, women who are heavy viewers of thin-ideal media may develop the attitude that thinness is socially desirable, experience greater body

We live in a media-saturated world especially, in western society that provides a significantly influential context for people to learn about body ideals and the value placed on attractiveness that influences the way they perceive themselves. Media invades our lives through television, radio, magazines, newspapers, cinema, advertisements and internet and is very influential on vulnerable adolescents who cannot distinguish what is real and what is not Lopez-Guimera, Levine, Sanchez-Carracedo, & Fauquet, (2010). Mass media contributes to the promotion of the thin ideal as a way to achieve social approval, recognition, and success; in addition, it promotes dieting and food restriction as a socially agreeable practice. In America, body dissatisfaction has reached normative levels among girls and young women. Approximately 50% of girls and undergraduate women report being dissatisfied with their bodies, these perceptions begin at an early age of 7 and exist

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

There are women who are not comfortable and confident with their appearance. Body image is typically related to self-esteem; self-esteem is defined as the amount of worth and personal value an individual feel they have (Davidson, and Cataldo 222). Women have been proven to be critical in castigating their bodies in comparison to men, but recent studies have shown that there has been an incline of men becoming more self-conscience of their bodies (Davidson, and Cataldo 223). Women tend to have self-esteem issues because the media has lured them into believing that they need to have a certain ideal body image to be loved and wanted. Television, magazines, and movies present illusory expectations of beauty, weight, and physical appearance that target women. These media outlets are promoting a body image that embraces one acceptable type and attempts to conform every woman to alter themselves into this form. Women who are unable to meet these exaggerated demands

As part of the female race on Earth, most of us are guilty of indulging in the dream of desiring and maintaining a thin figure. Though we all have our ways of accomplishing this idea, one goal remains similar— to present ourselves as the modern ideal form-- skinny. This way of thinking has been shared throughout generation to generation, a thought so important that leaves us wondering about its effects on our physical, mental, and social life. The trend of living up to society’s physical expectation has been encouraged in a variety of ways—including through the media, social standing, and self-acceptance. However, what we don’t realize is how unnecessary this obsession really is— because according to recorded body trends throughout history, the ideal American body image has been distorted several times before and shouldn’t be fussed over. So, why do we still believe that being thin determines our attractiveness in society?

Almost every girl when they reach high school feels the expectation to conform to a certain body type and if they do not conform, then they feel awful towards themselves. We have celebrities in the world with unrealistic body types that people try to achieve, such as Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Alessandra Ambrosio and Gigi and Bella Hadid. As the growth of celebrities ‘perfect’ bodies rises, it is easy to see how the focus on how we look can slide into the dark side – negative body image.

Have you ever felt disgusted or ashamed of your body? If you are a young woman and answered yes to this question, then you are not alone. In fact about 97% of young women have negative thoughts about their body image every single day (Dreisbach). Although accepting more “normal” or “ideal” body types has only become a trend more recently, mass media continues to have negative effects on the body image of women, especially young women; the media increases body dissatisfaction, eating disorders, and excessive preoccupation with appearance, simply by how it portrays success and beauty in women.

As we all go about in our everyday lives, we are all bombarded with messages concerning what we should look like. However, females are more concerned with body image in fact, 91% percent of women are unhappy with their bodies. So what should we look like, according to media surrounding us in magazines, billboards, tv, even books? The answer is thin. The models depicted are often 13 to 19% below healthy weight! As females across the United States are exposed to this media they are belittling themselves in more ways, only 5% of females naturally poses the body type we see in today’s media. When we can’t reach these unrealistic

The internalization of the “thin ideal” denotes a key cause of such dissatisfaction (Dittmar). Thin-ideal internalization is the degree to which a person will consciously accept a social definition of beauty, and in turn take action to parallel these values (Thompson and Stice). The mass media is viewed by countless body image experts as a “particularly potent and pervasive” root of thin-ideal internalization because of the notoriously unattainable idea of perfection it portrays (Boone et al.). Young girls and women are plagued every day by images of pin-thin, underweight women, not-so-subtle implications of the standard of attractiveness that they feel expected to meet, and are made to feel inadequate when they inevitably fail.

Throughout the twentieth century, mass media has helped shape American culture; however, not only culture is affected. Media has begun to change the way people view themselves and others. Body image is a significant part of a woman’s self-perception: it affects her self-esteem, her confidence, and her health practices. For generations since women gained the right to vote, media has taken an ever-tightening hold on body image. Women have been convinced for decades that in order to be a part of this male-dominated culture, they have to be able to do everything a man can do while wearing gorgeous clothes, staying slim, and doing other things to make themselves “beautiful.” Mass media has an immense impact on body image, and this relationship

Women’s idea of a healthy body image consists of her “social, emotional, cultural, spiritual, and physical well-being.” Body image is not just based on biological factors, but as well as their social, political, and economic part of lives. Sociocultural environment can be a factor of the way women and youth foster ideas about body image. Media, fashion industries, and cosmetic companies are the corporations who have anything to gain from women’s dissatisfaction with their body image (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953603007020: p. 1047). We live in a society that continues to prize thinness even though American people are becoming heavier than ever before (http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/eating.aspx: p.1). Everyone