Preview

Media's Influence On Body Image And The Media

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
928 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Media's Influence On Body Image And The Media
Body Image & Media The media promotes an unhealthy body image that is damaging to both society as a whole and individuals. As a whole to individuals ,promoting an unhealthy body image,and damaging to society makes people feel less of themselves. According to these critiques the combination of two trends,the technology enabled media saturation of the american public and the promotion by this media of highly unattainable body types (Gerald Wagner ). “While mass media has been subject to the strongest social critique about factors leading to eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorders. Clinical researchers have begun to document the consequences of relentless exposure to such imagery of different stereotypes of body images. The american …show more content…
Since media has spreaded their has been a broad situation on how it’s impacting people in their life. Media is the print and electronic vehicle for the mass dissemination of information or entertainment. Media includes magazines ,newspaper,and book publishing. Such as film, radio , television and recording industries. It's driving the public's perception of ideal body image has been influential since the early twentieth century,although the ideals themselves have evolved overtime.It gave rise to a boyishly,narrow hipped,and flat chested ideal feminine body image (Geraldine). Due to body image and media it’s been a widespread of people changing their body image in many factors. Some felt that being slim and narrow hipped was a style but it’s really just as everyone is walking around looking alike. According to critics of that trend is that "glamorization of gaunt" has led many girls and women to unhealthy and unrealistic body perseverance. Now in society many teenage girls of this current generation wants to be barbie dolls wearing weave different hair color finest outfits etc. Researchers have found out that many people suffer from starving themselves to have the …show more content…
Society has complained about it and they have many concerns. Some black oriented television shows may serve a protective function of higher body satisfaction. Young men seem to be more negatively influenced by the the media than adolescent boys are affected.Now in society the media has took over teens widely spreaded to have a different mind function they’re basically in the fantasy world. Anorexia nervosa, body dysmorphia,bulimia nervosa and muscle dysmorphia are other factors of the body image. In conclusion the topic body image & the media is clearly explaining how the media has took over and impacted our society today. How many people are trying to look exactly like supermodels and celebrities. I think people should try being themselves because everyone is beautiful they way that they’re made to be and nothing shouldn't change their mindset among how they look at all. Self esteem also really plays a big part in how people are unhappy with their body. My point of view media has damaged individuals ,society as a whole and it’s an unhealthy promotion to many people in society today. There are many complaints to the way the media is impacting many people in modern day.Eating disorders, anxiety,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Mass media is very powerful. The industry has its finger on the pulse of the world. Twenty-four hour news cycles, readily-accessible entertainment and social media have all greatly affected the psychology of society. There is no better example of this than of body image.…

    • 2007 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the Psychological report that I read, the authors really accentuated the point that media has made unattainable expectations for girls, adolescent girls, and young women and their bodies. Starting at the age of seven, young girls of all race and body have been thrown into the idea that their bodies aren’t as great as those in media. The media has forced many people to feel body dissatisfaction, causing physical and mental health problems. In this modern day and age, thin women are dominating media, such as movies, magazines and television. Being thin is consistently a more emphasized and rewarded aspect. While being thin is over-represented, overweight characters are underrepresented, and much more frowned upon in media. Most people don’t recognize that modern women in media are thinner than the population, as well as thinner throughout the decades, and because of this, the criteria for anorexia has become thinner as well. Fashion models, cartoons, movie and television actresses, Playboy Bunnies, and Miss America Pageants have all instilled the thought in women that media portrayals are reality. Because of media portrayal, body dissatisfaction has been the core aspect behind consistent eating disorders in women, such as bulimia, as well as low-self esteem, depression and obesity. Modern day media is showcasing bodies that are otherwise out of reach. These bodies are skewed and ingrained in women’s brains to adopt them into reality. Decreased satisfaction in bodies result in some negative eating behaviors such as dieting, bingeing and purging, as well as skipping meals. As mentioned in the report, different test have proven that such constant exposure to thin, or ideal, body images “shapes young women’s…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    One common consequence of the media’s representation of the body is that the audience (more particularly women) may turn to an eating disorder known as anorexia nervosa. This eating disorder involves fasting; self-starvation; vomiting; fear of being overweight; an obsession with calories, nutrition and fat grams; and dieting, despite being thin. This is merely one of the ways in which the media impacts social ideologies of women and influence women’s perception of what constitutes the “perfect” physical body. Malson (1998)…

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another type of media is a magazine. What seems to be the most popular and influential thing about magazines in today’s society is who is on the cover. The most common type of person that is seen on the cover of a magazine today is a young, skinny, white woman. With the amount of diversity that is in the United States, when a young girl sees a woman on the cover of a magazine that does not look like her, she is made to feel as though she needs to look like her in order to be considered beautiful. This causes a lot of insecurities with skin color, gender, and body size. This is also what plays a role in what influences young girls to develop eating disorders. They feel as though even if they cannot change their skin color, or gender, they can…

    • 845 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Several studies have shown that there are many ways in which a woman’s body image, eating patterns, and self-esteem is negatively affecting what audiences see and hear from the media. In 1996, an article titled, “Body Image: A Cognitive Self-Schema Construct, by Altabe and Thompson, indicates that “social endorsements” are inherent in how the media is portraying the “ideal body.” This has created a sense in women to examine the image of their body to determine if they need to radically alter their eating habits in order to offset that undesirable body. This, in turn, may have led to eating disorder. Also, Heinberg and Thompson (1995) indicated that females who were exposed to appearance-related media were less satisfied with their body shape than females who were exposed to non-appearance related…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is an obvious correlation between the media and the mass’ distorted views on body image and what beauty really is. This much is clear. Because everybody looks at celebrities, and judges how they look whether they are skinny girl or a ridiculously buff guy, and compare it to how other people and they look this has been going on for a quite some time. But the more important question is does the media’s depiction of the ideal lean/muscular body lead to the increased use of radically unhealthy tactics in order to change body image by the general public? It is common knowledge that everybody strives to improve his or her body image because appearance is important; it is simply part of human nature to want to look better. But when striving…

    • 1101 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After stating my points, it is proven that the influence is mainly negative. All us humans, are all lured into comparing ourselves to others and putting ourselves down. Our sense of happiness, values, and self-worth, all of which are defined within self-esteem drop. We all go through many stages, trying to figure out ways to make ourselves look better, but these actions can be harmful and can cause larger issues. Media is a major cause, firstly, displaying the skinniest and most beautiful models on advertisements, and Photo-shopping and modifying some of their images to attract more customers. Society should be portraying more realistic images of beauty! Having said that, many inspiring body image stories, posted on media, have also changed people’s…

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In America, it is extremely hard for anyone to feel confident with themselves because they are always being bombarded with images and ideas of these beautiful, perfect people plastered wherever you go. Having to see this all of the time can really put a strain on people when they look in the mirror and don't see the same thing(The Influences 15).Although, the media doesn't directly cause eating disorders or body issues. It puts the idea that there is something wrong with your body if you do not match the images you are staring at on a screen, magazine, etc. "They exert powerful influences on values, attitudes, and practices for body image, diet, and activity”(The Influences 54). The media has an enormous image of conforming young minds by telling them what is pretty, desirable, or how to look. Cultures are judging people based off appearance rather than intelligence or character(The Influences 9).Author Wen-ying Sylvia Chou of the U.S. National Institutes of Health states that we should change the face of social media. Instead of breeding vicious comments and cyber-bullying, we should create a supportive…

    • 1737 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    My name is Linda Davies and I like to eat; a lot – it’s in my nature. I would much rather sit home on a soft cushioned couch watching Vampire Diaries then go to a foul, sweat filled environment, and exercise – it’s in my nature. But according to Vogue, I’m living life the wrong way. Instead of eating Pop tarts, orange juice and cereal for breakfast, I should have a banana. Instead of eating chips and a sandwich for lunch, I should skip lunch completely. For dinner? No lasagna with garlic bread, and desert. No, instead, I am told to eat half a piece of lettuce and call it a salad. To be beautiful means being, 5’11 and weighing in at 117 pounds. The average American woman is 5’4 and weighs 140 pounds. How can any woman, according to vogue, become beautiful then? In a survey, researchers found that at the age of thirteen 63% of American girls are “unhappy with their bodies.” That percentage increases to 88% by the age of sixteen. Fun fact for you, puberty isn’t over until you’re about 19; if you don’t get what I mean by that, it means your body is still growing and changing – trying to modify and alter normal bodily functions is dangerous.…

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Kinnally W, Vonderen, K. “Media Effects on Body Image: Examining Media Exposure in the Broader Context of Internal and Other Social Factors” American Communication Journal. 2012 SPRING (Volume 14, Issue 2).…

    • 1559 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Body Image vs. Media

    • 1882 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Perfection is the ultimate addiction, in the eyes of the media. Body image is a problem that women and even men have been struggling with for as long as the media has been around. The media constantly puts pressure on young men and women brainwashing them into thinking that the ideal body image for women is small and slim and the ideal image for men is muscular. The media uses interesting standards to define beauty. There are different aspects to beauty that a lot of times, the media does not exhibit. For instance true beauty comes through dignity and character, not necessarily through how a person looks. Nevertheless, there is no denying that ads do affect some of us. Women and young girls all around the world are suffering from eating disorders because they are dying to have the perfect bodies, like supermodels. Flip through a few pages of a magazine and you will surly come across seductive looking models. Turning on your television you can find shows that gladly promote skinny people. Music videos are filled with scandalous women dancing seductively. There is no denying that the media does not promote healthy, realistic physical role models for young men and women.…

    • 1882 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The media is a powerful tool with a huge place in today's society. However, in a society filled with young women crazed to look like super models, movie stars, and Barbie dolls, the "thin ideal" is silently advertised through various television shows, movies, and magazine articles, projecting the idea that women need to look a certain way in order to be accepted. With such a strong effect on the lives of people, today's media has had a prominent influence on eating disorders among young women.…

    • 274 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Media Eating Disorders

    • 1935 Words
    • 8 Pages

    We are constantly surrounded and influenced by the media no matter where we go. With all of the great improvements the media has provided to our lives, it is hard to recognize how much the media has negatively impacted us as well. Media advertises body images that are deemed to be “perfect” which pressures individuals to change their appearance to meet the standards of society’s view of “perfection.” Not everyone can achieve self-satisfaction with his or her appearance. Body image is the mental image of one’s own body based on self-esteem. Since the media does not provide a realistic standard of beauty, it does not help self-esteem and can even worsen one’s body image. According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), in the United States, 20 million women and 10 million men will suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder at some time in their life. Out of those men and women, low confidence and self-esteem are already a problem especially since research has shown that those individuals are the most influenced by the media and society. Exposure to the media can strongly contribute to the development of an eating disorder.…

    • 1935 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Body Image

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Did you know that 80% of women say that the images if women in television and in movies, fashion magazines, and advertising makes them feel insecure? Body Images is a growing problem among our society today. Some people believe that Body Image is something that come purely from the mind. they day its not influenced by media. Others believe that Body Image is something that can be influenced easily by media and magazines. They say society is influenced by the pressure to be skinny. I believe that media has a negative affect on body image. Media does things like show advertisements, that says "Skinny is beautiful", they encourage eating disorders because fashion models have eating disorders to become skinny, and the media can also influence females views using popular television series and movies.…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Everyone has a different view of what is beautiful. Why then can we not transfer that to how we view ourselves? Why can we not be happy with how we look? The simple answer is the media. They show images to millions of people of what they think beauty is. Those images affect society and they view themselves about how they look. Most of these images are unrealistic, and send unhealthy expectations to women on how they should look. This causes body images to be skewed. Which in turn causes women to spend more money to make themselves look like what they think is normal. In severe cases it can cause eating disorders.…

    • 1299 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays