The Effects Of Beauty Standards On Body Image

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 media has become a powerful source for changes in our society. There are so many factors and reasons for our society changing. Today I find most people obsessively worried about their body image. We all have a body and at one time or another, we worry about it. Women and men are both being affected by media sources such as television, advertising, magazines, music, and video games; not to mention the photo manipulation that goes along with it all. Questions can be asked; such as, “Is this the way our society should be leaning [obsessing over our bodies]? What could happen from here? Are there any solutions?”

There are no questions to whether the media has influenced the self-consciousness people have on their body or not. Whether it is the front of a magazine cover or in a film or television show, the selection of models or actors are primarily thin or fit leading readers and viewers to worry or want to change the way their body looks. Body image is the way one sees oneself and imagine how one looks. Having a positive body image means that most of the time someone sees themselves accurately, and feels comfortable in their body; negative body image, what the media exemplifies for the majority of the time, is just the opposite. The media uses unrealistic standards of beauty and bodily perfection to drive ordinary people to be dissatisfied with their body image which can result in the search to obtain these unreachable goals.

Mass media is effective in teaching us what we “should” look like. Women should be thin. Men should be muscular. The skinny and muscular ideals portrayed in advertising encourage men and women to look a certain way. The depiction of the female ideal has helped shaped society’s perspectives about beauty. The media pushes you to “improve your body” by buying their products but soon the road to a skinny and toned body leads to a self destructive path of self hatred. The powerful ideas that the media transmits through words, images, and movement can have lasting impacts on the human brain, affecting how we think and

Kover, A. (2009, April 30). Effects of the Media on Body Image. Retrieved March 21, 2017, from

Brumberg mentions the vanishing of body hair in the 1920’s which fed into the stereotype of a hairless body which is unrealistic because body hair has a purpose. Often removal of body hair causes genital irritation which leads to scarring. Pubic hair protects against friction and bacteria. Despite these benefits pubic hair provides girls with, society has created cultural norms which dispels the want for pubic hair. The creation of thongs and bikinis reinforced the hairless standards that women still believe to be true. Consequently, the body became a body project. Something that was once so revered and appreciated became normative discontent. This normative discontent continues to make beauty the billion-dollar industry it is today. Eyelash extensions, waxing, laser hair removal, shaving, as well as other methods for achieving maximum beauty have become the catalyst for being more feminine or more of a

Picture the world controlled by the media. Could you imagine how ugly, scarce, and hateful it would be. What would you do if a magazine or a television show told you that your body weight had to be twenty pounds lighter to be all most perfect? Would you actually consider the fact or let ignore it? Teens, mainly girls, will be sucked into these magazines. (National Eating Disorders Info Centre 15) These could be magazines like Seventeen and Cosmo Girl. In addition with many others of course. All though, the media is a bad example at times it is not precisely the main issue for negative body image. (National Eating Disorders Association 1) All though, these constant screaming messages the media produces

The results make things perfectly clear: the media needs to stop promoting unrealistic body images. A newsletter writer named McGiffert, conducted an interview and found that many people say “they may not see themselves as they really are." They often feel self-conscious, awkward or shameful. A negative body image can cause depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, shame, trouble concentrating, taking risks with sexual health, anti-social behaviors, and mental health problems such as anorexia, bulimia.” (Lockwood). Furthermore, the ideal image can affect the way people think, their emotions and the way they perceive themselves in their daily lives. The impact of images that the media uses just blur the boundaries between an ideal image and reality. Therefore, the ‘ideal’ images that are represented in the media are not only unreal, but also very misleading to our

Beauty standards are portrayed everywhere: on magazines, social media, ads, commercials, and even flaunted among peers. While the ideals are supposed to promote health awareness, fitness motivation, and self love, it unfortunately results in many unfavorable consequences. Women are constantly “penalized for not being beautiful and at the same time are stigmatized, even pathologized, for not feeling beautiful, for having low self-esteem, for engaging in behaviors like dieting and excessive exercising, or for having eating disorders” (Johnston and Taylor 954). Beauty standards are unrealistic and unhealthy to pursue, and misinforms the public on what true beauty is. While not all beauty image ideals promote negative feelings and dissatisfaction, many believe that the negative effects far outweighs any positive effects.

The way people behave and think is the final product of socialization. From birth we are moulded to become the person we are today and therefore the sexualisation and objectification of women through modern media has a subsequent impact on female body image. This is especially insidious because of the media’s ability to create culture rather than reflect it.

Today we know that the media and body image are closely related. Particularly, how the body image advertising portrays affects our own body image. Research documented adolescents as they are more at risk for developing unhealthy attitudes toward their bodies. They are at a time where they 're focused on developing their individual identities, making them susceptible to social pressure and media images. A major reason many people have a negative body image is because of the impact that the media has had on our perception of body image.

- risk factors for body image disturbances are experienced by gay men at higher rates and are thought to be exacerbated by the challenges of navigating their sexual identity (Bozard and Young, 2016)

The last position involves those who are neutral in this issue. The general public is confused with where to stand with this topic. On one hand, the media’s influence concludes in modest self image for millions of people all around the world. You can’t be born with a negative outlook of yourself, but can occur after contact with social outlets, such as pop culture, trends; all results of the media. Furthermore, the idea that it affects body dissatisfaction in both men and women can be diminished with the right education. “It’s better to talk about bodies in terms of their strength and abilities rather than their appearance” (Russo 234). The media has taken over our lives, however we can’t justify its effect on disorders triggered by body dissatisfaction.

Also, beauty standards have dangerous effects for teens, such as physical and economical effects of the increased cost of beauty and cosmetic surgery. Beauty is not cheap, and the reflect is this high cost. Increased sales of beauty products are due to people trying to abide to the beauty standards. “Americans now spend more than $40 billion dollars a year on weight loss products and programs” (The Body Project, 2017, para. 3). Television commercial and magazine ads showcase trendy products that will guarantee to show weight loss or to change one’s appearance. The idea is that a beauty is just a credit card buy away, so buying the product will result in instant beauty (The Body Project, 2017, para. 2). Teenage boys are also in this economical effect. It persuades them to buy grooming products and fragrances to transform them into a man (The Body Project, 2017, para. 7). In addition to the forty million dollars spent on weight loss products and program, Americans spend fifteen billion on cosmetic surgery, with the numbers rising each year (The Body Project, 2017, para. 5). The cosmetic industry suggests with the use of their products will make skin look flawless. This industry is worth twenty million dollars of airbrush skin (The Body Project, 2017, para. 6). Teens buy into their industry while using their allowances to buy products to even pores and to cover flaws. Their ideas that buying these products will make them more

and all around the world has been changed. Now in 2015, everywhere you look in magazines and advertisements there are these thin, beautiful  women and strong muscular men with six packs. Body image is something which girls struggle with on an almost daily basis. Societal pressure to be thin has caused many females to resort to extreme dieting, excessive exercise, eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia and self abuse (Cutting, and Binding). Body image directly affects sexuality as well as our perception of it. According to studies at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts, found that 70% of college women say they feel worse about their own looks after reading women’s magazines. A 2006 study published in the journal of Psychology of Men and Masculinity showed that not only did watching prime-time television and music videos appear to make men more uncomfortable with themselves, but that the discomfort led to sexual problems (Brown.edu). Personally I struggle with body image and have since I was 7. Usually I would look at the people in magazines, but also I would look at my friends, who could eat anything they want, and never gain a single