preview

Unrealistic Body Image Research Paper

Decent Essays

Julian Nino Professor Brittany Roberts ENC1101 31 July 2014 Beauty has become stigmatized in our culture. Women are starving themselves and men are abusing steroids in a never ending quest to achieve what is to be believed is the perfect body. This has led to an increase in cases of lower self esteem, body dysmorphia issues, and eating disorders. Popular culture has influenced what is to be perceived as beautiful, especially in women. All of this pressure is coming from magazines, movies, reality television, music, social networking, and peer pressure. The usage of certain software programs that are used to alter the body in most magazines, producing unrealistic expectations to general public. Visit any magazine stand and all you see gracing the cover are thin, curvy women with flawless skin, Almost all of these women have been digitally altered to achieve the look that media has deemed as beautiful. In recent years, there …show more content…

This form of media shows women who are at a body weight that is considered to be unhealthy and this is increasingly what is being shown to be the ideal body set and image. "One of the most empirically supported theories is the sociocultural model, which emphasizes social and cultural pressures towards slimness in women (Cusumano & Thompson, 1997; Fallon, Katzman, & Wooley, 1994). The predominant factor in this model is the media's portrayal of the ideal female form as thin (Spitzack, 1990; Stice, Schupak-Neuberg, Shaw, & Stein, 1994; Waller

Get Access