The Body Image Movement Aims Essay

Body image and beauty standards have changed drastically over the years. By establishing impossible standards of beauty and bodily perfection, the media drives people tobe dissatisfied with their bodies. This dissatisfaction can result in disorders of behavior as people try to achieve unreachable goals with unhealthy

The first one features thin models, the second one shows average-size models, and the third one shows no models. The authors try to prove that the exposure of thin ideal bodies in the media does negatively impacts young women’s body images. It was concluded that women that were exposed to thin ideal bodies resulted in a higher body-focused anxiety than those who are exposed to average-size models and no models. This article will be able to support my thesis because it shows the negative effects of exposure of thin ideal bodies to the female public and my thesis is about the negative impacts of ideal bodies exposure on self-esteem and self-image. This article will be used in the psychology section of the

There are beauty standards all over the world, but America has one of the most highest and unreachable standard of the all. In the article “Whose Body is This,” the author Katherine Haines reflects the issue on how narrow-minded society, magazine and the rest of media is depicting the perfect body. The ideal body in America is established as skinny, tall, perfect skin, tight body are characteristics that destroyed majority of woman’s self esteem (172). As girls get older and into their teen years, they have been brainwashed to need to look like the unrealistic, and photoshopped models in magazines and advertisements. Girls don’t feel comfortable to be in their own skin, because they were not taught to love themselves for who they are right in the beginning.

Throughout their lives, women of all ages are constantly being bombarded with advertisements convincing them they must meet an ideal of the perfect body image. This is all thanks to companies that share a common goal to influence the mainstream population into believing they need to purchase certain products in order to compare to the impossible standards set by the beauty industry. In Dave Barry’s “Beauty and the Beast” he displays that it is planted in young girls minds that they need to look, dress, feel, and even act a certain way. However, men aren’t as affected by these capitalistic marketing schemes. In short, the media has affected the way women think of themselves.

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.,

Chronic dieting, low self-esteem, depression and, high levels of body dissatisfaction were among the major issues women face when addressing their body image (Gingras, Fitzpatrick, & McCargar, 2004). The severity of body image dissatisfaction have increased to such a dangerous state that it was added to the DSM-IV as a disorder now called body dysmorphic disorder (Suissa, 2008). One of the main reasons for the prevalence of these conditions in women was due to contemporary Western media, which serve as one of the major agent in enforcing an ultra-thin figure as the ideal for female beauty (Saraceni & Russell-Mayhew, 2007). These images and models presented by the media have become the epitome of beauty, pushing women who internalized these images to dangerous extent to attain these norms. According to evidence from previous studies, contemporary Western cultures have influenced women to an acquired normative state of discontent with their bodies, which have become the source of maladaptive eating practices, negative psychological outcomes, and, chronic health conditions associated with eating disorders (Snapp, Hensley-Choate, & Ryu, 2012). The seriousness of these body image conditions among youths and women have also led to congressional actions.

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

     "Just Be" is a familiar slogan to the current American culture. It is the slogan of a well-known designer, Calvin Klein, who, in his advertisements, supposedly promotes individuality and uniqueness. Yet, Calvin Klein, along with all known designers, does not have overweight or unattractive people on his billboard ads, on his runways, in his magazine pictures or on his television commercials. Moreover, the movie, music and the mass media corroborate with the fashion industry in setting and advertising a certain standards for a physical ideal of a human body. Such propaganda promotes the public into depriving themselves of needed nutrition and generates eating disorders within people in order to fit the

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.

A female should not feel insecure with her body when she is comfortable in her own skin, whether or not she weights 130 pounds or 150 pounds at 5’5”. According to Rehab’s study of the evolution of the female figure over one hundred years, “the body shapes of the most admired models have remained consistently slimmer than that of the average American woman.” Due to the significant increase in mass media throughout the twentieth century of the United States, there has been a noteworthy impact on the popular image of women. A woman being dissatisfied with their body is a everyday trend around the world where as

Often, people of all ages, race, and gender catch themselves gazing into mirrors for hours, blaming themselves for the way they look, not realizing that the media is actually the one to blame for many people’s body image. Body image is the way people see themselves, or how they assume other people see them. It is not likely to see a plus sized model in a magazine or a model on the runway with blemishes on her face. A person’s negative perception of their own body is not because they think it is wrong to look and be healthy; it is because the media is telling them that being a size 2 with flawless skin is healthy and beautiful.

In today’s society, we are constantly hearing stories of how social media negatively effects self-esteem of women and young girls. Unrealistic expectations of women are the reason that many women thinking poorly of themselves, or compare themselves to other women around them. Magazines and television ads continually cause young girls concern about their appearance. Pictures of small, beautiful, airbrushed women can generate feelings of physical inadequacy in young girls. Signs of body dysphoria are showing up at younger ages, because of the media’s unrealistic images of women. The media also seems to have no concern of the images they are displaying of men. In magazines that are geared towards men, we see images of men with perfectly sculpted

Women and girls no longer feel that pursuing beauty is a choice. Instead, many females feel a pressure that they must achieve the standard of beauty presented to them, and even use beauty to define themselves. Today, we are bombarded by the media, trying to sell products related to beauty, fashion and dieting products. The influence of the media conveys that individuals must improve the way they look in order to be accepted by society. People need to be educated on this problem because these unrealistic beauty standards are harmful and can cause “a schema that integrates three fundamental components: idealization of slenderness and leanness; an irrational fear of fat; and a conviction that weight and shape are central determinants of one’s identity” (McPhail 102). While societal beauty standards have been used by overweight and obese individuals, as motivational tools to lose weight, they are mainly the reasons for an increase in eating disorders and low self-esteem issues.

Between movies, TV shows, magazines, and fashion everyday women are being bombarded with an ever-present ideal and standard of unobtainable beauty. In today’s society it is especially easy to stay connected to the media and the outside world through the internet and its various social networks. This kind of access provides a nonstop stream of women being exposed to perfect bodies, perfect people, and what seems to be perfect lives. With the constant exposure to all of this it can be hard for women to not compare themselves to the people they see online, which can leave to devastating effects on the woman’s self-esteem, self-worth, and overall wellbeing. Marika Tiggemann and Jessica Lynch conducted a study where they found that body dissatisfaction remains as a constant for women throughout their lifespan and can impact a woman at any age (2011). Body dissatisfaction is something the majority of women have to deal with at some point or another, it is important to identify factors that can trigger this insecurity such as the media, celebrities, and subliminal advertising in order to bring more awareness to the issue and make changes that can lead a woman to having a healthier outlook on her outward appearance and an overall higher satisfaction with her body.

Culture, molds an ever-changing body image body-image standards for centuries, with each centuries body-image standards differing from the last. There are many differences in the body ideals that we have now compared to the 1930’s to the 1950’s where a beautiful body was considered curvy; whereas now a skinny body is being promoted. With girls obsessing over thigh gaps, waist size and body weight we can see how damaging the media can be. Encouragements from the media is something we see every day all around us, while supposedly promoting a healthy body, the opposite has occurred. With magazines covers displaying a size 0 model on the cover, next to a not so subtle title reading “Slimmer, Fitter, Sexier!” while promoting brands that only sell to skinny women. We are bombarded with standards of what a beautiful body is and isn’t. As the media seeks to reap a profit, they are damaging a woman’s view on their body. Today many would acknowledge the negative effects of body image in the media, so why has no one done anything to fix it?