Media has a large affect on how people, especially women, view themselves and their bodies. This is particularly due to television, advertisements, movies, and social media. All of these outlets give specific images and descriptions of what the “perfect” body is supposed to look like. These unrealistic examples provoke women to seek out unattainable goals causing body dissatisfaction and, for some, even eating disorders. Many studies have shown that the power of media in our current generation encourages women to pursue unachievable targets creating low self-esteem and sometimes even physical damage to themselves.
Body Image: The Media Lies from the Boston Women’s Health Book collective discusses how researchers have found how exposure to certain ideals can shape and distort our perceptions of reality. The article discusses how our ideals are changed due to the fake, perfect images we are constantly exposed to. “It’s not surprising that in our media-driven culture, our views of what women should look like are warped. Real women with pubic hair and breasts that aren’t perfect round orbs begin to seem unnatural compared to the altered images we see in the media.” The article further explains how it is unimaginable for us to live in a world where we do not worship the perfect body image. We see it constantly. What we do not see is imperfection and disability so when it is seen we view it as “wrong” or ugly. Female Body Images and the Mass Media: Perspectives on How Women Internalize the Ideal Beauty Standard examines sociocultural standards that are present in popular media. It focuses on how people, mainly women, rely on these images to portray the “ideal body”. The models and actors/actresses used on television and advertisements are usually well below the average body weight and have been air brushed and heavily edited to look “perfect”. These unrealistic images send a message that if you want to be considered perfect and beautiful then you must be unhealthy to achieve this goal. The article then goes into discussing female body image itself. Females of all ages are known to be dissatisfied with their images and researchers have chosen the term “normative discontent” to describe it. The article also points out that females have been known to experience body dissatisfaction at a much higher rate than males. This dissatisfaction develops into a psychological disorder, which can lead to physical abuse as well. Many researchers have linked this to how eating disorders develop. The images portrayed in media have dangerous impacts on women because of these unrealistic standards they are influenced to seek after. It is still unclear as to why women internalize these standards and seek after such high expectations that the media gives. While research obviously reveals the effects media has on women it does not, however, reveal why women do not admit to this. There are many theories that have been formed based on how women internalize and translate these media messages into body dissatisfaction. Some include: social comparison, cultivation, and self-schema. Social comparison is the theory of how people evaluate and compare themselves to their peers. They choose groups of people that are similar to them to compare with. Cultivation theory argues that images portrayed in the media that show women who fit the socioculture standard of beauty are repetitively exposed and influence women’s perception of reality. What is actually normal is seen as abnormal and vice versa. The self-schema theory states that women use three points of reference to construct their perception of physical appearance. They include: the socially represented ideal body, the objective body, and the internalized ideal body. Each plays off of each other to affect a person’s perception of self image. |
Most, if not all, women face an internal battle with the desire to be thin. Modern day society has taken an all time low with the stereotypes and twisted ideals they give about women. Society perceives women as weak and submissive. Today, thinness has become a requirement for what it means to feel and be beautiful. It is nearly impossible to escape American’s obsession with being thin because it has become such a permeating issue. Every form of media surrounds us with pictures of beautiful, thin people—inadvertently influencing our opinions of ourselves. Among different cultures throughout history, the idea of beauty has been manipulated depending on what is visually appealing for the time period. However, a person’s body has always been a way to measure their attractiveness. “The rise of industrialization and mass production in the 19th century significantly influenced America’s perceptions of the ideal body type.”
The rise of technology and stress on modernistic innovation and efficiency has placed a higher value on a slender body because of the countless studies relating to obesity and premature mortality. “While slenderness had been associated with sickness and fragility, now many health authorities cautioned against overeating and excess weight,” (Hesse-Biber, 2007, p. 40). Dieting and exercise were introduced in the late 19th century as a form of “body management” in efforts to influence this thin prevailing beauty. The ideas of diet and exercise occupied the middle class (Bordo, 1992). According to Bordo, “the current era has witnessed a comparable shift (from the hourglass figure of the fifties to the lanky, ‘adrogynous,’ increasingly elongated slender look that has developed over the past decade)” (Bordo, 1992, p. 84). The onset of the 19th century has set the pace for a trending thinness that has radically shrunk present day body proportions (Ramirez). There has been an increase in curiosity on the effects of media images on the self-esteem and images of men. Present day popular culture puts a substantial amount of importance on the muscularity of men. Throughout the past few decades’ research has been done to prove that the average body type for men has become increasingly more muscular in advertisements, on tv, and even for action figures. “Consequently, some, but not all, research has shown that males who feel pressure from the mass media have decreased self-esteem” (Muris, Meesters, Van de Blom, & Mayer, 2005,) “decreased body satisfaction,” (Agliata & Tantleff-Dunn, 2004) “and decreased body esteem,” (Bartless, 2005). A male’s negative feelings of their body have been significantly tied to negative behaviors that could potentially lead to health issues. The use of steroids and increase in food supplement intake and even the development of eating disorders in men are becoming more prevalent (Barlett). Each of these articles describes how the media effects people’s perception of oneself regarding body image. The false imagery portrayed in the media influences low self esteem and, for some, physical damage such as eating disorders due to the effort put into perfecting one’s body. Pressure from mass media from advertisements on television, to billboards, to the increase in technology over the past centuries has overall negatively impacted the perspectives of men and women ubiquitously. The idea of standard beauty has been defiled because of the need and want to be unhealthily thin. |
Works Cited
Barlett, Christoper P., Christopher L. Vowels, and Donald A. Saucier. "Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Media Images on Men's Body-Image Concerns." N.p., 2008. Web. 17 Apr. 2013.
"The Media Lies." Our Bodies Ourselves. Boston: n.p., 2005. N. pag. Print.
Ramirez, Ximena A. "Thin Is In: An Analysis of Media Endorsed Ideals of Physical Attractiveness and Their Affects on College-Aged Women." Boston College, May 2007. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.
Serdar, Kelsey A. "The Myriad: Undergraduate Academic Journal." Westminster College: A Private Comprehensive Liberal Arts College in Salt Lake City, UT, Offering Undergraduate and Graduate Degrees in Liberal Arts and Professional Programs, including Business, Nursing, Education and Communication. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.
Barlett, Christoper P., Christopher L. Vowels, and Donald A. Saucier. "Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Media Images on Men's Body-Image Concerns." N.p., 2008. Web. 17 Apr. 2013.
"The Media Lies." Our Bodies Ourselves. Boston: n.p., 2005. N. pag. Print.
Ramirez, Ximena A. "Thin Is In: An Analysis of Media Endorsed Ideals of Physical Attractiveness and Their Affects on College-Aged Women." Boston College, May 2007. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.
Serdar, Kelsey A. "The Myriad: Undergraduate Academic Journal." Westminster College: A Private Comprehensive Liberal Arts College in Salt Lake City, UT, Offering Undergraduate and Graduate Degrees in Liberal Arts and Professional Programs, including Business, Nursing, Education and Communication. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.