Stereotypes And Beauty

“Appearance is more important in our society than ever,” said Dr. Thompson in the New York Times. Undoubtedly, self-image has become an important trait for people to have. Unfortunately, some people go to extremes to get the so called “perfect body” to attempt to look like the models shown in the media. “Researchers have believed that the media may play a central role in creating the phenomenon of body dissatisfaction and consequently, may be partly responsible for the increase in eating disorders” (Paediatr Child Health). In fact, girls who are average weight, believe they are overweight or actively trying to lose weight. With out a doubt, media is at the palms of our hands, considering that most people have cell

Body image has become a huge issue in society today, with magazines such as Shape, Covergirl, Vogue, Seventeen, or celebrities such as Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Aniston, Angelina Jolie, or Kylie Jenner. Women, especially teenagers, find themselves thinking that they have to look like the model they saw in a magazine, or on social media. The media is greatly responsible for the growing of the “ideal” thin women. Statistics show that diet and weight control advertisement appear ten times more in women’s magazines than men. Showing thin models next to them which leads girls to eating disorders, harming their bodies so they have an “ideal” image of what they think they should look like.

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.

Beauty standards in the media are one of many reasons feeding and eating disorders are a rising problem. The unrealistic body types of being extremely thin, in pop culture, are influential factors for many teens, especially teen girls. According to the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5), anorexia nervosa is a “restriction of energy intake, intense fear of gaining weight, and a disturbance in the perception of one’s body size” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Individuals diagnosed with anorexia tend to place a high value on their shape and weight, which can interfere with their daily lives. Individuals diagnosed tend to view of their body shape in a distorted representation. The motivation to become

Constantly seeing women and young girls with “perfect” bodies in advertising makes other women feel as though they should go to unhealthy extremes to try and achieve those same looks.

In Jonathon Raders article, “Does the media cause eating disorders?”, he argues that eating disorders, such as anorexia or bulimia, include a high mortality rate, higher rate than any other illness. The author claims that 69% of girls say that that photo shopped magazine pictures influence the perfect body shape to them. Rader also points out that the mannequins and models are growing thinner, even the plus size models are shrinking in sizes. The runway models are beginning to meet the body mass for anorexia, which, he argues, is a very unhealthy BMI level. The author also

The media is our source of constant information, and is presented in many forms such as, daily newscasts, social media like Facebook, and the magazines strategically placed in our doctor’s office. There is no surprise that it is also the dominant influence when it comes to society’s beauty standard either. Unfortunately media isn’t a positive influence all the time, and is the main force behind negative body image epidemic that plagues women, especially the 18-25 age group. In order to fully understand the severity of what some call a “Vanity” issue we must look into the facts of how exactly the media damages women’s perception of their own bodies, and then observe the extent of the damage done to the physical and mental states of these women

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

In the US, half of a million teens suffer from eating disorders (EDs). Eating disorders are a type of mental illness; they are related to a patient’s discontent with themselves (most notably a discontent with their own body), and can prevent them from living a normal and healthy life. Many are concerned that the images portrayed in the media and in society may be responsible for these eating disorders. While the media are in no way the sole cause of these disorders, they undoubtedly play a role in the development of EDs, as they certainly focus on the ideal of being thin. Additionally, the portrayal of mental illness in the media and society challenges treatment for those already afflicted. As such, the media does contribute to eating disorders,

The pressure on girls to have ‘perfect’ bodies has grown increasingly over time. Media exposure such as social media, billboards, magazines, television, all represent images of tall, skinny models that resemble perfection. And what exactly is perfection? “A quality, trait, or feature of ­­­the highest degree of excellence.” This is what many young women and teenagers aspire to be. What most people still don’t realize is that the majority of the pictures that they see in magazines are altered in some way. It is a setup for self-hatred. They believe that the pictures are reflective of the real world. NCBI conducted a study of the relationship between media and eating disorders among undergraduate college students found that media exposure predicted

The society’s standard of beauty is incorporated in our day to day lives. An overweight woman on her way to work may see an advertisement with a skinny, blonde, blue-eyed woman on it. It is clear that this woman has tons of makeup on and was photo-shopped and edited. This may cause her to want to look like that which will make her obsess over her appearance. This will also in turn cause her to feel bad about herself because of society’s constant scrutiny over fat women. In My Hot Girl Manifesto, Zoe Whittall says “Because even feminist magazines publish fat-phobic articles under guise of being a “health issue. Because anticapitalistic activists still use expressions like ‘Fat capitalist pig.’” This proves that a lot of people are brainwashed by the media to believe that thinness equals beauty. Body image is so skewed that even the most beautiful women are being altered to achieve these unrealistic goals. The media creates these ideals and puts it on covers of magazines and advertisements resulting in women feeling insecure and themselves. The creation of these ideas can have a negative impact on women and lead to many eating disorders. Some may even go as far as cosmetic surgery that is promoted by the media. The media also has an impact in children lives also because of Barbie commercials. Barbie conditions young girls for what is expected of their future appearance. This enforces the societal standard of beauty onto

The National Institute of Mental Health lists the multiple origins of the issue: “complex interaction of genetic, biological, behavioral, psychological, and social factors” (2). The elements of an eating disorder are mostly psychological; therefore it is difficult to prevent the mental causes of the issue. People’s behavioral state can construct an eating disorder, but social media plays a major role as a stimulator as well. The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders published that “47% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported wanting to lose weight because of magazine pictures” (Collins 12). Factors such as social media may not directly cause eating disorders, but they influence the public to lose weight. Unhealthy eating habits and a lack of self esteem can be affected by the outcome of media’s portrayal on the body. Eating disorders directly affect an individual’s self-esteem, but they also have an expanding effect on the rest of an individual’s

Hundreds of girls everyday begin some form of eating disorder. Dieting to purging are all dangerous, especially for adolescent girls. Many forms of media promote skinny, thin, and extra thin, not allowing girls to think about their own body shape and appearance positively, “Field et al. (1999) studied 6,928 girls aged 9 to 14 years and found that attempting to emulate the appearance of females on television, in movies, and in magazines was predictive of beginning purging behavior at least on a monthly basis and that the risk for this behavior increased per category increase in frequency of trying to look like females in the media” (Lawrie, Sullivan and Davies 356). Television, movies, advertisements, and magazine all promote thinness without mercy. Every magazine headline advertises some form of calorie burner workout or dieting pill right in grocery store isles, “Restricting calories and taking diet pills were associated with reading beauty and fashion magazines in female high school students 15 to 18 years of age” (Lawrie, Sullivan and Davies 356)

In the current media, women are idealized as skinny, airbrushed, and flawless. “The media has been harshly criticized for creating and perpetuating a cultural

All around the world there are different standards of beauty. American culture has made a standard for beauty in contemporary music, movies and fashion. Billboards and magazines feature celebrities and models that indirectly hurt young women's self-esteem. Women feel pressured to achieve a standard of beauty that is nearly impossible to obtain set forth by the media. The standard has reached to such an extreme that bullying other women because of their appearance has become a normal part of society and women will go to any measure to try to fulfill society’s expectations. Society has normalized the idea of a woman, being an object and is reflected through the media. These standards of beauty are influential and the exposure of the media to women is putting a lot of pressure for them to change their physical appearance. Society's emphasis on beauty damages women’s physical and emotional development which can ultimately lead girls to alter their appearance in extreme ways, therefore the media needs to be more responsible about how they portray women in the media.