The Perfect Body Image

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.

Film, television, and the media are a huge part of our culture. Especially in the modern age of technology, it is impossible for us to avoid being exposed it. It is on our phones, computers, and TV. It is our entertainment, a part of our education, and it serves as a reflection of our society. The problem with media, however, is that has the power in manipulating us to feel certain ways. The most problem of which is the way we perceive our own bodies. Leading media industries such as Hollywood sets. An example of the ideal body that we are expected to have in order to look good and be perceived as handsome or beautiful by society, but, behind the scenes, actors and actresses of Hollywood go to extreme lengths in order to attain that ideal look.

Why are Americans so fascinated with body image? Americans have media and various types of internet to rely upon when it comes to body image. TV screens with pageants and internet pictures with models are some of the many illustrations out on the media today. Pageants are constantly televising little girls posing in full makeup, and lovishly embellished (Cartwright). This confesses for parents to put themselves in the action, yearning to either put their children in the pageants for bragging rights of their children or for their children to be the “popular” one. Internet pictures with models pushes individuals, men and women, developing a thirst to be like them in some aspect. Men and women begin workouts, begin their journeys, and then it becomes an obsession.

When females realize they will not be able to accomplish the same body that the famous acquire, they come very self-conscious and some even develop eating disorders. The media’s role in self-images has greatly affected the way people preserve themselves in today’s society.

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

The study of body image is a broad topic that touches many subjects including gender. However, the study of body image has been focused mainly on females. This is because the physical shape and image of male bodies have not changed over the history. From the ancient Greek until the modern era, the masculinity is the predominant stereotype for men. Masculine traits include courage, independence and assertiveness (Judith, 2001; Murray, 2000). In contrast to the male body, the female figures have been varied over time and across culture. In the modern era, the thin shaped figure is the ultimate desire of most women because it reflects the beauty and attractiveness of women according to our modern culture (Thompson et al, 1999; Thompson and Stice, 2001). Therefore, failing to meet the societal expectations of being muscular male or thin female may lead to a separation between virtual and actual social identity.

Media institutions should begin combatting unrealistic body image by discontinuing the practice of photoshopping and airbrushing models. Over the course of the past decade in particular, as the influence of the media has increased at a steady rate, the epidemic of photoshopping and airbrushing models, often past the point of recognition, has proven to be harmful in its lack of attainability. Many institutions have relied so heavily on these methods of obscuring natural beauty that they have corrupted their own models into viewing themselves negatively. A former Sports Illustrated model, Ann Simonton, recalls the moment that she realized the

Mass media shapes the world and the ‘perfect’ female is depicted through magazines, TV, music, internet, billboards, toys, movies, commercials etc. on a daily basis, impacting women and girls on how to perceive their own bodies, how to look and how to behave. Beauty standards have changed throughout the decades, even centuries, and has always placed immense pressure on females. From 1400s-1700s, an overweight body was considered attractive and the ‘perfect’ shape. Through the 19th Century, the curvaceous body was the ‘ideal’ body shape – large hips, large breasts and slender waist. The thinner ideal was eventually fashionable in the 1920s but was replaced again to the curvaceous shape in both the 1940s and 1950s. By the mid 1960s, successful model icon Lesley Lawson ‘Twiggy’, influenced the new ‘perfect’ body image with a slender shape, short cropped hair, long eyelashes, overstated makeup and wore daring, skimpy clothing. The super thin ‘ideal’ was once more the beauty standard and still remains to be the fashionable body image today - the image is of an unrealistic appearance – a slender figure, tall, a large bust, caucasian and light coloured hair.

Take a moment and think of the perfect woman. Does she have scars and stretch marks? Are her teeth brilliantly white or tinted yellow? Is she a size 00 or size 12? The perfect woman probably doesn’t exist. She is, however, the ideal of media producers to make women believe that they are imperfect. In today’s society, the media has been allowed to corrupt the minds of young and old alike. This problem persists throughout all age groups including fit adults and hefty adolescents. Though it may be impossible to find an exact number, one could confidently propose that negative body image affects thousands, if not millions, of individuals across the globe. The problem is that one’s body image often suffers due to outside forces; to combat this, he or she needs to be able to be self-aware and self-confident when opposed.

Preview of Main Points: I will begin by explaining how the perfect body image shown in the media is unrealistic, then, I will talk about how the unrealistic images lead to both men and women to have a low self-esteem and eating disorders that develop due to people wanting to look like the images shown in the media. Lastly, I’ll talk about a solution we can do to stop the portrayal of an unrealistic body image.

I often find myself criticizing my physical appearance, especially after looking at some online pictures, which I see through Instagram or Facebook. I find myself adoring the pictures of perfectly thin women that are depicted in the media and asking myself the reason of media’s depictions and presentations of those women as “better” compared to women who are regarded as average-weighted. This “perfect body image” has been created by the media and has been affected many women in regards of their perspectives about their physical appearances and relatedly their worth to themselves and to the society. It is extremely crucial to understand the importance of the manipulation of the media instruments on women and realize the relationship between those perfect body images and women’s self-esteem and self-worth to themselves.

This article is similar to a small, yet concise essay on the topic of negative body image. The author first states how common place body image concerns are, and then address how society’s opinion on the term fat, and what that term means to a person individually. The author then speaks on how fat is not a feeling, but a way for individuals to express or displace the uncomfortable/ painful feelings that come from not feeling of not meeting society’s beauty standard. Symptoms of negative body image, and ways the reader could “check” if their body image currently positive or negative, and then the definition of a positive body image is then addressed. The article also lists results from multiple studies of body image, the study group of each study

The ideal body image changes over time: “Every period of history established its own standards of what beautiful means, and every contemporary society has its own distinctive idea of the ideal body. But with

America’s fascination and exposure with celebrities’ lives have caused an obsession with body image (10). Bodies have become the latest and biggest pop cultural obsessions (10). People tune in on the internet or turn on the television and are subjected to the newest photo or videos of celebrities. This is a constant that is unlikely to change. Media shows impractical role models which lead to dissatisfaction with body image

Society has an ongoing obsession with body image ideals, especially as it relates to what is considered healthy and fit. Being toned, a certain weight, and having perfect curves and proportions in areas of your body has become as important, if not more important, than strength, speed, and functionality as an athlete. These outside opinions directly affect athletes’ confidence level, and the more society pushes images of what is considered perfect, the more difficult it becomes to maintain self-confidence when we don’t see society’s definition in ourselves.