The Sexualization Of Girls Is Harmful

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

“People often say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder,” according to Salma Hayek. Society should have a positive outlook on body image, rather than face a disorder that can change one’s whole life. Negative body image can result from the media, with photoshop and editing, celebrity fad diets, and society’s look at the perfect image. Negative body image can lead to dangerous eating disorders, such as bulimia and anorexia. It can also take a risk to unhealthy habits, such as smoking, alcohol, and drugs. It is important to stress the effects of body image, because the world still struggles with this today. Society should not be affected by

A body image is a subjective combination of all the thoughts, emotions, and judgments that an individual may perceive about his or her own body. Each individual has a unique perception of his or her own body. This image is strongly influenced and often times skewed due to the increasing pressure created from outside, societal factors. With a world that is continuously creating new forms of social media and entertainment, individuals are constantly exposed to images that supposedly define bodily perfection and are then expected to resemble these images in order to fit in and/or please society. The expectations that have been put in place by society has created unwanted pressure on individuals who feel as if they need to resemble these images to get society’s approval.

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%

“They look like prostiTots!” Christi Lukasiak, famous mother on Dance Moms, exclaims as her 8 year old daughter struts across the room in her bright blue bra. Lukasiak, and the other eccentric moms of the hit TV show, dress their daughters every week in little bikini sets and have them dance on television for thousands of viewers. The moms, like many others in the media, recognize that girls in skimpy clothing sells. But this sexualization of kids is very dangerous. Studies have shown that girls as young as six believe their value comes from how sexy they are. And where else do they learn this than from the hundreds of advertisements, TV shows, and movies featuring girls their age in proactive attire (Davis). The impact of this sexualization

The common reoccurring intersectionalities that are shown in media are upper class people, people of the white race, able bodied, young to middle aged, thin and fit body figures, and assumption of heterosexuality. All of these intersectionalities are sexualized in American culture. “Ads use women’s bodies to sell products also sell ideas of sexuality,”. The media has shown these social categories in a specific way for several years in hopes of selling products but it has also has gathered many more negative outcomes when including sexualized people leading to effects like unrealistic expectations of reality, eating disorders, body shaming, and depression. The culture of America has changed in ways that females as young as 7 years old are self conscious of body types.

Researchers have discovered that “ongoing exposure to certain ideas can shape and distort our perceptions on reality.” (Mintz 2007) Because young girls are subjected to a constant display of beautiful people in the media, they have developed a negative body image of themselves. Those who have a negative body image perceive their body as being unattractive or even hideous compared to others, while those with a positive body image will see themselves as attractive, or will at least accept themselves and be comfortable in their own skin. During adolescence, negative body image is especially harmful because of the quick changes both physically and mentally occurring during puberty. Also, young girls are becoming more and more exposed to the media and the media keeps getting more and more provocative. Young girls are looking to women with unrealistic body shapes as role models. It’s hard to find, in today’s media, a “normal” looking

Body image may be viewed as the way people see themselves and even imagine how they make look based off how they may feel about themselves. Yet it could also be viewed as the way other people see you. Body image, in medicine and psychology refers to a person 's emotional attitudes, beliefs and views of their own body (Positive and Negative Body Image). According to Positive and Negative Body Image, a negative body image develops when a person feels his or her body does not amount up to family, social, or media standards. Many people feel as if they don’t measure up to the belief of others. People who have accepted the way they look often feel good about their image and would be considered to have a positive body image. One’s appearance may not be measure up to how their family expects it to be or how it is perceived to be in the media, but once people learn accept and be proud of the way they look they’ll be better off in the long run. When a person is measured against the standards of the beauty seen frequently in the media and it doesn’t compare to how they feel about themselves it become discouraging. Having said that, long-lasting negative body image can affect both your mental and physical health which could lead to eating disorders down the road.

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

Reading this made me remember how I saw my body image throughout the years. During middle school, everyone seemed so interested in comparing themselves to what they see on the television, magazine, or in person. Honestly, it's difficult not to engage with others for the sole purpose of not being left out in the conversation. But hearing their self-criticism, I start to see myself slightly different. "My arms do look quite big, my thighs are way too thick compared to hers." As the years progressed, how I saw myself worsen as the conversation about body image was brought up more often. I has low self-esteem and distance myself because of the anxiety of being criticised by family and peers. I thought that wasting all my time thinking about my

Females everywhere are obsessively trying to alter their appearance to mirror the perfect body images surrounding us in today’s media. Body image dominates media everywhere you look, every time you turn your head we are pestered with beautiful women and perfect figures. The overwhelming urge for women to have a body just like the perfect models and idols we see plastered in media has spilled over into our children. Despite the outer shell of innocence, the psychological and sociological effects of Disney figures misrepresent the ideal body image as distorted to perfection and airbrushed to unrealistic; the iconic body image warping an adolescent mind into aiming for unobtainable goals.

On all platforms of media, women and even young girls are oversexualized; thus leading to men viewing women as no more than breasts, vaginas, legs, or any other body part they prefer. Even in current television shows, movies, comic books, and advertisements, women are still depicted as sexual objects, which can damage a woman’s confidence. The oversexualization of women 's bodies can degrade a young woman’s confidence, and when girls try to boost confidence by dressing or acting like the women they see in the media, they are reprimanded for it. Girls cannot be blamed for their sexualization; they are just emulating what they see in the media.

With the emphasis on the human’s exterior body, especially in females, the unrealistic and unfeasible beauty standards, such as the thigh gap, as well as standards set by models, is the primary cause for the rise of anorexia and malnutrition, as well as insecurities about their bodies.7 From a research from the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, ninety-five percent of those with eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25, and this is primarily fuelled by the desire to achieve unfeasible societal standards of attraction. The depiction of beauty all across media is the underlying factor contributing to this phenomenon of mental disorders fuelled by the desire of societal

Today we live in a society that manipulates the way we view ourselves. Many women struggle with their body image because we are constantly being overwhelmed with the idea of being a size zero. It is not realistic to base your feelings of self-worth and self-image on the models in ads and magazines. Lets face it; it is nearly impossible to find a woman who is confident in her own skin. All women have flaws and learning to love yourself for who you are is difficult when things are being falsely advertised to you about what the “perfect” body image is exactly. Body image by definition is a “subjective picture of one’s own physical appearance established both by self-observation and by noting the reactions of others” (Webster 2016). One well known example of the effect media has on women is through the 2014 Victoria’s Secret: The Perfect Body campaign that caught a lot

In today’s society we let the media decide everything in our lives from what clothes we should wear, music we should listen to, and how we should look. One of the biggest problems that both men and women face is body shaming, because the media sets standards for young kids and young adults., they often times try and fit the description of “perfect” which leads these people to either be depressed because they do not look like people want them to look or harm themselves in order to achieve the desired look. The most common ways the media shames both men and women are by celebrities and how they are the “perfect” body, publishing magazines of what is the ideal man and woman, and by the people who believe being “too” fat is bad and being “too” skinny is bad.