The Media 's Influence On Girl 's Self Image

Under society’s norms for decades, young women have been put under the pressure and anticipation to have perfect bodies. That is, thin and curved, beautified by applying pounds of the makeup to their face but not appear ridiculously overdone. Who’s responsible for these standards imposed on young women? When a young girl picks up the model along the cover of Vogue being called flawless, it’s easy for her to then aspire to be a real-life imitation of the photocopy. These companies produce magazine covers shown with girls’ images daily. As if keeping the perfect body wasn’t hard enough our culture also forces girls into the forever expanding world of composition, however, body image is a pressing issue for young women. Advertisements and posters of skinny female models are all over. Young girls not only could be better but need to be more upright and feel driven to throw the perfect figure. Moreover, girls are evaluated and oppressed by their physical appearances. With supplements and apparel designed to enhance a facial expression; social media, magazines, and marketing campaigns and advertisements add to the burden of perfection. The fashion industry is a prime object of body image issues, as they believe clothes look better on tall and svelte women. Established on a survey participated by 13 to 17-year-old in the U.S., 90% “felt pressured by fashion and media industries to be skinny”, with more than 60% routinely compares themselves to models, while 46%

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.,

As girls begin to hit puberty, their bodies start to change. Their bodies will gain fat and move away from this ideal thin body image (Kerr 2010). In a study done by Clay, Vignoles and Dittmar they showed three groups of adolescent girls magazine images. Two groups viewed magazine covers with female models who were somewhere between underweight or a little below average weight, while the third group viewed magazine covers with inanimate objects. The researchers found that the first two groups resulted in a less likely report of body satisfaction and self-esteem than the third group (2005). This demonstrates that when adolescent girls are exposed to the media’s thinness they feel like their size and shape is not good enough.

Therefore, the commendation of such look and shape commercializes unhealthy body image and procreates eating disorders. Unfortunately, at present the commercialism of a perfect body is encountered by almost everyone on everyday basis. The public is bombarded daily with images of glamorously thin women in commercials, on billboards, in movies in magazines and etc?According to Melanie Katzman, a consultant psychologist from New York, the media has actively defined the thin ideal as success and treats the body as a commodity. (Rhona MacDonald, 2001) It is evident that the persistent advocating of the media and the society produced a constant pursuit of thinness, which became a new religion. A study conducted by Harvard researchers has revealed the effect of media and magazines on adolescent girls in high schools. The children were exposed to fashion magazines and television commercials, and a while after were given self-rating surveys. The study found that sixty-nine percent of the girls said that magazine pictures

Today, people seem to be judged on outward appearance more than ever. The people who face this judgement the most are young women. With the constant bombardment of beauty standards that must be met, many young women turn towards the advice of magazines. However, most of us don’t recognize the perfect girl on the cover, she’s supposedly the product of listening to the magazine’s advice. However, to the dismay of many young women, she is pure fiction, edited beyond realistic expectation, and yet our young women are expected to emulate this image. The result of such pressures can prove to be too much to handle and young women often resort to pathogenic dieting and experience body image and eating disorders. The increase in mental health disorders associated with body image in teen girls attributed to the unrealistic standards set in magazines targeted toward young women, therefore magazines need to use images that reflect the realities of the target audience and should not be heavily edited.

The media portrayed unrealistic images of models that send a harmful message to young women. It’s reflecting on our society by ‘inspiring’ young teens to achieve this look; as a result, the use of dangerous behaviours and extreme weight loss. Therefore, females are dominating the media and influencing young woman in the wrong areas. Therefore, The Fashion Industry is influencing young teens to compare themselves to other women. Young teens are becoming more interested in becoming like someone they admire rather than, become their best version of themselves. (Body size, Measurements, Meal Plans) The fashion industry is prompting extreme thinness and it’s confirmed in studies that unhealthy weight control is a severe issue in the Fashion Industry. (use of laxatives, Drugs, Extreme exercise, and Starvation) There are steps that can be taken to decrease the expectations of models. “Data shows that the American

“To be happy and successful, you must be thin,” is a message women are given at a very young age (Society and Eating Disorders). In fact, eating disorders are still continuously growing because of the value society places on being thin. There are many influences in society that pressures females to strive for the “ideal” figure. According to Sheldon’s research on, “Pressure to be Perfect: Influences on College Students’ Body Esteem,” the ideal figure of an average female portrayed in the media is 5’11” and 120 pounds. In reality, the average American woman weighs 140 pounds at 5’4”. The societal pressures come from television shows, diet commercials, social media, peers, magazines and models. However, most females do not take into account of the beauty photo-shop and airbrushing. This ongoing issue is to always be a concern because of the increase in eating disorders.

Teenage and college women are overly obsessing about their body images and constantly think that they need to be much skinnier, when they are not even fat. Many women today have the wrong idea of what the perfect body is, since there is no such thing as a perfect body. Every person is different and there can be no “perfect”. Being skinny is not the thing to strive for, but rather being healthy is. In this decade, women are constantly looking at models, T.V. shows and Instagram photos of girls that are stick-thin, or just very skinny, and they think that this is the way we as women in society must look. The problem is by excessively looking at these photos or T.V. shows, women become self-conscious, obsessive, unhealthy and simply unhappy.

By altering weight and removing any physical imperfections, eating disorders have sparked, creating a false image in young adults brains. In spite of this, starving and purging to have become increasingly familiar. In fact, “The National Association for Anorexia Nervosa reports data from a number of studies showing that 47 percent of middle-school and high-school girls want to lose weight because of images in magazines, while 69 percent admit magazine ads affect their perception of the ideal body shape”. Advertisements, the media, and corporations are creating a perception amongst consumers that it is possible to have the same physical appearance and

2.) It is unsure of what causes eating disorders, but it is suspected that psychological, genetic, social, and family factors are thought to be a cause. Eating disorders can be prevented by constantly saying "I'm fat," complain about exercise, and practice "yo-yo" dieting. This might make your kids feel like a distorted body image is normal and acceptable.

Mass media affects women’s body image in many ways. “Media images of ridiculously thin women are everywhere- television shows, movies, popular magazines” (Farrar). Starting at a very young age, girls are exposed to media suggestions about what the “ideal” female body image should be. “Concern over weight and appearance related issues often surface early in females’ development, and continues throughout the lifespan” (Serdar).

When someone looks at the new generation, eating disorders, self-harm, and other issues are recognized as things affecting the body; all of these things are becoming more prevalent. A large body of research proves the idea that altering photographs causes eating disorders. The “exposure to thin models results in greater body focused anxiety” (Halliwell). Girls and boys are feeling the need to match the flawless, thin stranger in the snapshot. The anxiety initiated in an adolescent’s life from not meeting the standards of the ideal person in a picture provided by the media causes one to do these horrendous things to the body. Young teens have a negative body image. Girls are being trained to obsess over their weight and appearance not their grades, family, or worth, which are more important. The teenagers do not understand “the gulf between image and reality” that the media generates, which is hurting them mentally and physically (Grundberg 36). The people presented in the photos are expectations, but the reality is that teenagers will never be as thin as a twig, will never have perfect airbrushed skin, and will never have the exact body type one longs for. The precious body one has may never provide enough satisfaction in

Today’s generation has been greatly impacted by the media through celebrities set as constant reminders of how everyone must follow in their footsteps. Many teens actually feel shame to these flawless celebrities which often leads to depression, self-esteem issues, and eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia (“AboutKidsHealth”). Even teen magazines pressure girls, young and old, to diet constantly. Many teens use runway twig-thick models as “thinspirations” (Hendrick). “60% of girls that diet, one in five develop and eating disorder” which means dieting, a result of negative body image, is convincing people to choose harm over health and fall into anorexia, bulimia, etc. (Hendrick). Even men are developing eating disorders although it is less than women (Derenne). Not only are people dieting and developing eating

The hyper-sexualization of women is beginning to start disturbingly young. Young girls are becoming increasingly aware of their body image through the image of models in advertising and image-centered ideals portrayed in the media. Researchers have proven that advertising and media all do indeed have negative influences on young girls’ self-esteem, body image and ideas of self worth. Unfortunately, this constant consciousness is pushing young girls to seek unhealthy behaviors such as eating disorders. At least 30 million people of all ages and genders suffer from an eating disorder, just in the United States.

The media negatively affects the self-esteem and body image of young girls. The media is known for broadcasting thin models and not taking into consideration the affect that it could have on millions of young women. When young girls see thin models that they aspire to be on TV increases their concerns about their bodies and that causes young girls to develop eating disorders, such as excessive dieting, bulimia and anorexia. It is very vital for every young girl to feel comfortable in her own skin and not be influenced by what the media portrays. These young women should not let the media, such as advertisements, cartoons, magazines, movies, and TV shows define their definition of beauty based on what society says.