Essay on The Media's Pressure on Women to Maintain a Slender Figure

Body Image evolves from one look to another. According to The Peel Heritage Complex (www.region.peel.on.ca/health/commhlth/bodyimg/media.htm) we began in the 1890’s with a beautiful “plump body, pale complexion, representing wealth, an abundance of food and a refined indoor life style.” That would be about 5’8” and 132 lbs. Now, a model is no shorter than 5’7” and weighs no more than 115 lbs. Many people need to be reminded that most pictures of the models are airbrushed, possibly to the extent that it does not look like them anymore.

According to Ann Marie Paulin in “Cruelty, Civility and Other Weighty Matters”, the mass media are discriminating against overweight people, which creates a society where being fat is looked down upon. Paulin argues that, “the media are notorious for getting things less than accurate” (243), therefore we shouldn’t believe how they depict fat people on tv, magazines and other media sources. The author believes that not all overweight people are like, how the media portrays them, but rather their lifestyle is influenced by the culture we live in. She claimed that, “Sugary or fatty foods are often available in grab and go packages that are so much easier to take to work or eat in the car than making a healthy snack” (245). She believe there are evidence to show that humans are naturally attracted to unhealthy foods, but society continue to manufacture them to make people eat more (243-249). I agree with Paulin about how the media need to stop fat shaming because it’s not only making people feel bad, but it is promoting obesity.

Recently, a hot topic has been the effects of media on body image. There has been speculation that media can lower an individual's satisfaction with their body. Scott Westerfeld portrays this same idea in his book Uglies. All Tally Youngblood wants to do is be a Pretty like her best friend Peris (Westerfeld, 2005). In Tally's world this is normal; at sixteen everyone has a surgery to them into beautiful human beings (Westerfeld, 2005).

In the article “Distorted Images: Western Cultures are Exporting Their Dangerous Obsession with Thinness,” author Susan McClelland’s mainly focuses on how many young women idolize the women they see on T.V. The media is making many women feel as if they need to look a certain way to fit in with the world. Also the fact the western culture is spreading to other countries is a big issue because sicknesses, like bulimia, were not an issue before. Many women in other countries are starting to look at the women in the United States and want to be just like them. In this article, the author says that television, magazines, and media show

In the article, “Skinny Models In Ads Cause Immediate Anger, Depression In Women” it says, “Led by Dr. Leora Pinhas, researchers asked 118 female university students about their mood, body satisfaction and eating patterns. One week later, the women were asked the same questions immediately after viewing a series of ads, with half of the women being exposed to ads from popular women's magazines while the others looked at images which contained no pictures of people. ‘The experimental group responded immediately with depression and hostility after viewing the "ideal women" shown in these ads,’ says Pinhas, a lecturer in U of T's department of psychiatry. ‘And this was only after viewing 20 pictures..”’ CNN also states, “One study found that one in four people is depressed about their body, another found that almost a third of women say they would sacrifice a year of life to achieve the ideal body weight and shape, and almost half of girls in a recent survey think the pressure to look good is the worst part of being female.” This demonstrates that after an experiment conducted by Dr. Leora Pinhas, researches found out that after women viewed 20 pictures from magazine ads they felt depressed when they saw the “ideal woman” in the ad. One in four people are depressed because of the way they look. This can go to the extremes. Women would do anything they can to look a certain

From the mid nineteen hundreds to present times the media has greatly influenced society's acceptance on body image. Even today, women are still mocked for being obese. Heavier women are a continued target in today's society by magazines containing headlines such as "How to lose weight." and "How to be skinner". The number of dieting and exercise articles in popular women's magazine increase every year. (Wykes & Gunter pg.67) These magazine articles may be helpful to some people but to an adolescent it leaves them

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.,

Thanks to fashion magazines, fast food and size-0 actresses, American women live in a crazy funhouse mirror -- the more the obesity rate rises, it seems, the tinier and more unrealistic our idealized standards of beauty become. But is it that way all over the world?

Today’s culture has placed women across the globe in a position where they are constantly flooded with idealistic images that depict what the media perceives as the “perfect body.” Quite often, young university-attending females, those who are involved in social identity formation, are exposed to numerous forms of media that fabricate various experiences relative to body image. In the past, researchers have surveyed women who are exposed to body-related standards using multiple forms of mass media as a unified entity, which has caused for limitations since each means -such as magazine advertisements- differs in relation to how a thin idealistic image is portrayed. In light of prior research, Harper and Tiggman established that

Advertising agencies are by far the ones that spend the most money every year, spending close to billions and spending more every year on making their advertisements present a clear evident message. The media can be so powerful with its images and messages that it impacts our women significantly. The media creates a false idealized image of how a woman should look, making it impossible for women to love themselves. All these perfect, thin, flawless women depicted in the media harm our women's self-esteem and make them question themselves whether they fall under what society and the media believe is beautiful; it goes so far that women are self-conscious about themselves and in some cases gets out of hand.

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

Another problem mentally and physically is eating disorders. An eating disorder is a psychological disorder characterized by serious eating problems (Google) ; there are three types of eating disorders Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorders. An article written by Mayo Clinic talks about causes of an eating disorder and one of these causes is society, as you read on the Mayo talks about how the “modern Western cultural environment often cultivates and reinforces a desire for thinness. Success and worth are often equated with being thin in popular culture. Peer pressure and what people see in the media may fuel this desire to be thin, particularly among young girls.” (Mayo Clinic Staff ,Eating Disorders,MayoClinic.com) With that information shared to us by the Mayo Clinic shows that the Media plays a huge role in eating disorders. According to the American Psychological Association when you have an eating disorder you suffer from low self-esteem, feeling of helplessness, and intense dissatisfaction with the way they look. The article also talks about how eating disorders mostly affect teenage girls and woman.

People everywhere especially young girls, and women look at magazines and dream to one day look like the models in the pictures. They do this because thin, beautiful women are what they are used to seeing everywhere. There are rarely advertisements with curvy, real looking women on them. Plus size models are also scarce and compared to the ultra skinny models, they are not looked up to. What is happening to society? Size ¾ is no longer considered thin. There are double zeros and negative sizes that are taking over the clothing racks. Changes need to be made with the media and the fashion industry immediately. The rampage of being so thin that your rib cage is clearly seen and you suffer from many health issues is not in. Thin is not in! Healthy, real looking girls and women who are happy with their figures is what's in. Being active and enjoying a normal lifestyle is in. There is no need to conform to the so called "perfect body image" when there truly is not one. Psychologists say the fashion industry has gone too far in pushing dangerously thin image in that women and even young girls try to imitate. In recent surveys 40% of first, second, and third graders want to be thinner. 80% of ten year olds are concerned that they will become fat. 50% of children ages eight through ten are unhappy with their current size and more than 50% of nine through fifteen year olds say that they exercise to lose weight and reduce

An individual’s body image, body satisfaction, self-esteem and confidence are affected by unrealistic, digitally altered, and stereotyped images used by the advertising and fashion industries. In the United Sates 94% of female characters on television are thinner than the average American woman (Yamamiya et al. 2005). By associating these images with happiness, desirability and success and stating that women can attain thin bodies by dieting, exercising, and surgery the media encourage female consumers to believe that they can and should be this thin (Yamamiya et al. 2005). While not all women are susceptible, exposure to images in the media of thin-and-beautiful women can lead to body image dissatisfaction which can be accompanied by social anxiety, depression, eating disturbances, and poor self-esteem (Yamamiya et al. 2005). According to studies, women become more body dissatisfied after viewing thin-and-beautiful images than after viewing average-size, oversize, or non-body images (Yamamiya et al. 2005). Due to the media’s emphasis on women’s thinness and attractiveness, females in our society are more body dissatisfied than males (Yamamiya et al.

Additionally, the average bust-to-waist ratio of actresses from the 1960s and 1970s was significantly smaller than that of actresses from the 1940s and 1950s. Similar results were reported by Morris, Cooper, and Cooper (1989) in their study of British fashion models. Taken together, the findings of Garner