The Perfect Body Image

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.,

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.

In recent decades, acquiring the body image and figure popularized by mass media and popular culture is becoming a rising and prevalent concern amongst people. Apparent increases in the efforts to achieve, match, and maintain the ideal body gathers attention and worry that it might impact perceptions on what sort of body stature is acceptable or not. Even some youths are beginning to pick up the idea that a body type that is not ideal to the type popularly portrayed by society is unfavorable. This desire for the ideal body is becoming immensely widespread that some people have even come to sign it as a priority, making this matter as an issue of concern. Susan Bordo expands and discusses in her essay “Never Just Pictures,” the development of

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.

Many people who are immersed in modern society are interested in or affected by the issue of body image and how media affects not only how we as individuals view ourselves and others, but how we as a society treat, tuck, and trim our bodies to fit the imagined requirements of how the human form should look. Body image is an important topic that has become more frequently, analytically, psychologically, and scientifically debated and represented in the past decade or so. After critical analysis of the article, per your request, I have come to the conclusion that, although Susan Bordo mentions some major issues pertaining to body image within her article, this article’s cultural context is too outdated and many of the celebrity references will

Demi Lovato once said, “I’m not going to sacrifice my mental health to have the perfect body.” However, today we find that many individuals are doing the completely opposite. In Susan Bordo’s, “Globalization of Eating Disorders” essay, they fall into the media trap, the self-image trap, where they are concerned of what people may think about them. Americans nowadays have pageants, modeling, and media to thank for this absurd notion. Fit women, along with strong men give this motivation to others to want to be like them. Most people should be comfortable with their own bodies. Americans are mesmerized with media and enthralled by one’s body image, and ,as a result, face ramifications like eating disorders and anorexia.

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.

“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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.