...Media Research Assignment: Body Image “If your hair isn’t beautiful, the rest hardly matters” (an ad for shampoo). A woman in a diet ad exults, “I’d probably never be married now if I hadn’t lost 49 pounds.” Society never noticed beauty because it is too busy trying to create it. What role is media playing in the effects it has on people? Today's media in America affects social standards, and many often identify the media as their primary source of information. The mass media serves as a mediating structure between individuals and how we address identity by sending a powerful message to society: only a determined physical stereotype of beauty is valued. Reiterated by other primary agents of socialization, such as families, peers and schools, the idea is taken seriously by individuals. Body image is a complicated aspect of the self-concept that concerns an individual's perceptions and feelings about their body and physical appearance. Media negatively affects body image through ideal appearance, health issues and self-esteem. Effects of Advertisement: Society is extremely immersed in media. Media portrays the ideal body image negatively and impacts ideal appearance through magazines, commercials, and advertisement. The mass media's depiction of women portrays a standard of beauty that is unrealistic and unattainable for a majority of women in society. For example, Amy Finley, a community leader advocating advice for women, discusses a healthy message that women shouldn't...
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...Body image article- Eimear Langan Body image is the picture or mental image of one’s own body. Both teenage girls and teenage boys are concerned about body image along with new mothers and also some men and women. This is due to the pictures of skinny people in magazines who aren’t even real people as they have been photoshopped in every possible way, which makes these people want to look like something that is physically impossible. Models have the biggest influence on our body image as we aim to look like someone that’s not realistic. People ask the question “why don’t I look like the models on the television or in magazines?” we don’t look like models that we see in the media because the average model is taller and weighs 23 percent, or almost a quarter less than the average woman who Is 5'4" and weighs 148 lbs. In the dove ad that we watched in school we learned that people see themselves differently to how others see them. For example the artist drew a picture of a person describing themselves and another picture of the same person described by someone else. When we saw the two pictures we could see that how we portray ourselves is different from how other people see us. Studies show that people can be so insecure that they will get several plastic surgeries and eventually become addicted. I read about one girl who’s a model and who got lots of plastic surgery done and started to get addicted, she was unhappy with the way she looked and to make things worst she was being...
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...To Be or Not to Be: The Male Body Image In his article, “The Man Behind the Mask: Male Body Image Dissatisfaction,” Steven Gregor states that in the past, body image was thought to be a concern that affected only females resulting in negative consequences on their psychological welfare. For a long time, due to body image dissatisfaction, women have suffered from illnesses such as eating disorders and depression. Until recently, men weren’t believed to have concerns with body image dissatisfaction. However, research shows that not only is body image a growing concern for men, but it affects a larger number of males than previously thought. Throughout history men were seen in society as being strong through security and being defined by their jobs. This no longer holds true for males today. With men and women being nearly equal in the job market today, men feel that to distinguish themselves from women they need to exhibit their strength through physical strength. Men’s body image dissatisfaction has greatly increased over the past 25 years, and like women, it is having a negative effect on their psychological welfare. Cosmetic and grooming productions were at one time thought to be more of a female based industry. In today’s society along with the help of the media, we are seeing a rise in the production of cosmetic and grooming among males. As with the ideal female body image, the media supports what it sees as the ideal male body. Women want to lose their wait to...
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...affect on Body Image Images of female bodies are everywhere. Women and their body parts sell everything from food to cars. Popular film and television actresses are becoming younger, taller and thinner. Women’s magazines are full of articles urging that if they can just lose those last twenty pounds, they’ll have it all the perfect marriage, loving children, great sex, and a rewarding career Why are standards of beauty being imposed on women? The roots are economic, by presenting an ideal difficult to achieve and maintain the cosmetic and diet product industries are assured of growth and profits. Take Kristen of River Edge, New Jersey, just like most girls at the age of 15 “she started to develop curves; she was disappointed that breasts did not follow” (Sweeney). Girls rose in a culture of celebrity obsession and makeover TV shows believe that a “shapely bust line” and a thin body will let them have it all. Women who are insecure about their bodies are more likely to invest in beauty products, new clothes, diet aids, and plastic surgery. It is estimated that the diet industry alone is worth 40 to 100 billion a year selling temporary weight loss, 90 to 95% of dieters regain the lost weight (BBC). American Society for Aesthetic Plastic surgery shows that the number of operations performed on 18 or younger have more than tripled over a 10 year period from 59,890 in 1997 to 205,119 in 2007 (Sweeney). On the other hand, research indicates that exposure to images of thin, young...
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...Media Effects of Women’s Body Image This paper aimed at to help 15-30 years old women to build a healthy and positive attitude toward their body image. The research question that I raised is how do TV advertisements and fashion magazine affect 15-30 years old women to build their self-esteem and body image view in the U.S.? More specifically, I will examine the various aspects of negative effects that the television and fashion magazines bring to the 15-30 years old women. I proposed that the negative effects that television and fashion magazines bring to young women is more serious than people expected. I do intend to cite the relatively few statistic data and clinical studies that have been conducted on media’s negative effects on women’s body image. My audience will be the 15-30 years old women who do not aware enough of the problem that I describe or who was struggled by the problem that I describe for a long time. Nowadays, a woman’s identity is linked strongly to her physical appearance. In this situation, coverage of women in media mostly concerns women’s appearance and set them as sexual objects. Most social commentators agree that the media reflects current social norms (Grogan, 1999). Body image is the picture of the size, shape, and form of people’s bodies that people see in their mind’s eye (Honigman & Castle, 2007). It is also central to the self-concept and to self-esteem, influencing psychological functions and diverse behaviors (Cash & Pruzinsky...
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...the untouched photographs of the model saying, “Look! She has stretch marks!” You could hear it in her voice how surprised she was as she showed her daughter. Girls who shop with their mothers become influenced by the images around them; a survey of girls’ ages 9 to 10, shockingly resulted in 40% of those young girls begin to lose weight. It is very damaging that the media has critical effects toward a women’s self-esteem, which may trail from adolescent age to middle age. Tall, thin, curvy and leggy with big breasts, flowing hair and toned bodies would be how you would describe a perfect ideal body, however that is not always the case. Over the past few centuries, Media has increasingly lead young girls into internal conflicts upon their image. From the latest TV shows, magazines and now the use of social media; Female celebrities exemplify this perfect ideal image. Adolescents visualize these female celebrities as their role models and begin comparing their own body image to theirs, forming discrepancy of unrealistic body shape. Bell states, Negative body image may be defined as the psychologically salient discrepancy between a person’s perceived body and their ideal body (479). This definition is the truth in what many girls experience when comparing their body shape to female role models. The photographs of models raise attention of unrealistic beauty being celebrated by the media, these models have airbrushed skin or effortless hair. However, we tend to forget that makeup...
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...“Body Image” Have you see a fashion show on the television or read a magazine? If you have then you have been exposed to the media revealing models as beautiful. What you don’t know is that a decent percentage of these models are suffering from eating disorders. I trust the media is to blame for our country’s epidemic of eating disorders because, not only do magazines and television portray skinny to be in, but also songs in our nation deliver the attitude. The burdens to encounter the world’s demands to reaching self-satisfaction with one’s body image emotional have influenced the impression of eating disorders. As people are exposed to countless forms of media not only just on television or in a magazine but on the radio, internet & part of our everyday life media being a huge method of communication has been characterized as the leading reason of why people suffer from eating disorders. The role of media profoundly adds to the increase of abnormal eating behaviors within an individual. Without society and the media generating a fabricated image of attractiveness, the calculation of women suffering from eating disorders would decline extremely, women would discontinue trying to grasp a body weight that is unnatural also practically unmanageable to accomplish. Body image has been an ongoing issue in the world and eating disorders are frequently developed, especially in females, in an effort to keep their bodies “fit” and “in shape.” The physical appearance of a person...
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...Images of the unobtainable thin body can be seen anywhere. The media has many different outlets; television, movies, magazines billboards, and the internet. I myself can attest to watching television and thinking why isn’t my body like that. I know what it feels like to not feel beautiful because the image of beauty that the media portrays is the complete opposite of myself. The media portrays tall and thin as the “ideal” image of beauty. The National Eating Disorder Association (2012) reports that the media and its portrayal of beauty is acknowledged as one of the factors contributing to the rise of eating disorders. In our culture, the media portrays tall and thin as the ideal image of beauty. Magazines, television , movies, commercials, and more portray attractive women as being extremely thin. It is nearly impossible to escape the influence of the media and children today are being exposed to these portrayals earlier and earlier in life. Since we have immediate access to all sorts of media, could the constant reminder of the “ideal” body type cause a negative body image and low self-esteem? Body image as defined by Dina L.G. Borzekowski and Angela M. Bayer is “the internal representation of one's own outer appearance which reflects physical and perceptual dimensions.”(Borzekowski & Bayer, 2005) They also state that body image is closely related to self-esteem and self-concept. During one’s juvenile years, poor body image is especially harmful, because all of the rapid...
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...Kirk S. Pineda Dr. Mace English 201 May 4th, 2015 Body Image The idea and concept of body image is a topic that is continuously reviewed as to what is acceptable, what is attractive, and what is abhorrent. In the article “Kate Winslet, Please Save Us” by Terrence Rafferty, Rafferty discusses how his own views of proper body image is not congruent with the standards that appear on movie screens. From voluptuous, fuller figured women to the bare-boned, almost-anorexic women, the image of beauty when it comes to women—and men, too—is of fickle nature. While many celebrities and people do their best to capture it, I find that the idea of body image is the media’s legal, yet cruel way of taking control of the public. In Laura Fraser’s article, “The Inner Corset: A Brief History of Fat in the U.S.,” Fraser discusses the changing standards of beauty since the 1800s to the postmodern age. As Fraser and Rafferty describe, it is clear that the change in bodies that are acceptable is frequent and drastically changes with time. However, in the past it seems as though fuller, heavier figures were more sought after due to the belief that with more weight you carried, the more food you had. And the more food one had, the richer one had to be. Although once the years at carried forward and food became more plentiful and thus, cheaper, being overweight was seen as a lack of self-control. In the array of pictures on Blackboard I have come to see that women like Marilyn Monroe to Diana...
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...emphasizes the message that nobody’s opinion about your body should be more powerful than your own. Self-worth is not determined by social acceptance but rather self-acceptance. In today’s culture we are impressed with the belief that size is what determines beauty. These ideas start with the waist size of run way models and then are reinforced by the size 2 mannequins standing in department windows. Instead of having a positive effect on the perception of body image, it instead breeds unhealthy eating habits that deny the body necessary nutrients causing detrimental health damage for those who want to achieve this look. It is completely unrealistic that every person can be a size 2; as human beings we are all born with our own unique genetics that develop our individual size and shape. In the article “Discover the Art In You” by Stephan Boyle an image is shown of a female body that is rail thin wearing only short skin tight shorts with the words “UGLY, MUST BE SKINNIER, TOO BIG and SCARY” on the arms and legs and in bold black letters “NOT FLAT” written across the stomach area. This is a great representation of the negative psychological effects that develop when society pushes subliminal messages of what is considered beautiful and what is not. For those that are effected by the superficial interpretation of beauty, mental and physical health becomes endangered. Although our culture encourages the mindset that body size defines beauty it must be established for all rational...
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...The Media’s Effect on Women’s Body Image Women and young girls are obsessively trying to alter their appearance just to look like the perfect body images we see in movies and magazines. What is body image? Body image is how people picture themselves and how they think other people picture them. It is basically how you feel about your body, and it includes your imagination, emotions, and perception. Images portrayed by the media tend to make people strive to be someone else's idea of perfect, while ignoring their own goals. The media influences us through television, health magazines, fashion, music videos, film, commercials, and various other advertisements. Sadly, as a result, this frequent exposure, the "thin" ideal, can lead many young girls in triggering depression, stress, low self-esteem, and suicide. The media's ideal body image has led to wide-ranging effects including, surgical procedures, body dissatisfaction, and clinical eating disorders. In “Body Image of Women” by Tabitha Farrar, she points out that the “thin-ideal media” concept highlights thinness as a desirable thing to be even if it comes to the point of damaging a person’s health. Farrar indicated that marketers will do anything that they can to sell a product and make a profit. She also mentioned that poor body image can lead to depression, anxiety, problems in relationships, unhappiness, and various health problems. Farrar suggested that people can focus on their good qualities, work with self-esteem...
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...The Tainted Body Image Media Puts On Young Women Women come in all different shape and sizes, but today’s media sets an image of what beautiful women in America are supposed to look like. Beauty by society and media is characterized as women with a “perfect hourglass shape, no excess fat or cellulite, white teeth, bronze skin and thin legs” (HubPages, 2010, p. 1). However, women of this description are not normal. The average height and weight of a woman is 5’4” and 145 pounds. Beauty is subjective, but women of all ages strive and compare themselves to models who are 5’10 , 115 pounds. Images of flawless females are seen all over through advertising, motion pictures, television, and magazines. Media has a negative effect of women, pressuring girls to look a certain way, which can be both physically and emotionally damaging. Times Are Changing In the 1800s rubenesque woman were considered to have the ideal figure . Early 1900s voluptuous women with extra weight were considered to be wealthy and have good health. The 1920s started the shift of women being thin; consumer customs embarked on the newly designed female body image by way of fashion, cosmetics, advertisements, and Hollywood. Being thin was the new indication of wealth . Marilyn Monroe, size 14, in the 50s was a sex symbol, but the biggest change in female body image came from Twiggy Lawson in the 60s. Twiggy was an underweight supermodel classified as the ideal body image. In 1992, Wiseman, Mosimann, and...
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...Body image is a complicated aspect of the self-concept that concerns an individual's perceptions and feelings about their body and physical appearance (Cash & Pruzinsky, 2002). Having a positive body image means that, most of the time, you see yourself accurately and you feel comfortable in your own body. Many women of all sizes and ages struggle with issues involving confidence and body image. Whether it’s the size of your nose or the size of your lips, hair or skin color, More than 90 percent of girls – age 15 to 17 years – want to change at least one aspect of their physical appearance. Body weight of course ranking in at the highest. Images in the media today project an unrealistic and even dangerous standard of feminine beauty that can have a powerful influence on the way women view themselves. Young girls are buying into waist training belts and lip injections just to fulfill the image of celebrities that they admire such as Kylie Jenner and Nicki Minaj. Images of Women in the Media Thinness is idealized and expected for women to be considered “attractive”. The media is bombarded with images of women who fulfill these unrealistic standards. Making it seem as if it is normal for women to live...
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...representatives have very similar features. Whether they have predominant cheek bones, to chiseled abdomens, they all seem to be very “slim” and “fit”. It seems to me that being slim or fit is what is defined as attractive, and anything else that does not fit this description is considered unattractive and will not appeal to consumers. For instance, the advertisement I choose does not show a person in particular, but shows a inanimate object which is an hour glass. We have different names for different body shapes, with an hour glass (full on top, thin waist and full on the bottom) being one of them. The advertisement immediately starts of by saying in big bold letters “This is no shape for a girl” (the hour glass). The ad’s message continues to state that if you have this shape, there is no need to worry because there is the Warner’s Body-Do. The Warners Body-Do is a girdle that “equalizes you”, as the advertisement puts it. Basically, the ad is saying that, if you have another type of body shape (besides the ideal slim no curves) you are disproportionate, and that it is something that should be corrected because it is not seen as beautiful. This ad gets very descriptive as well...
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...understand of each must be known. Media Imaging is defined as images created by media; for example the media creates an image for women to look flawless and skinny. Theses images that the media creates has an affect on people who look at these images, as these images made by media carry message through them. These media images can can a positive message that foster a high self esteem, positive body image, healthy eating, a relationship with God, encouraging words, and even a reason laugh. Likewise, media images can can carry a negative message to individuals as well, such a negative body image, mindless consumerism, lust, hatred towards others cultures, negative stereotyping, and bad eating habits. Gender is defined as the sense of self, as identity, and sexuality is defined as the biological distinctions determined by our genitals. How on earth is one topic affected by the other topic? It is simply, and a great concern to this society; likewise, to me. Media imagining has a great affect on a specific sex, females. Media imaging has brought death to the sex of women through negative messages of an unrealistic body image of how a women of this generation should look. Young teen girls look at media images and strive to be skinny, and perfect without a flaw; however, these images are not realistic because technology contributes to editing the flaws of the models portrayed in these mages. Furthermore, these images push young teen girls and young women to an eating disorder which...
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