believe that the perfection of the celebrities presented on the screen were real. As Healthy Place America’s Mental Health Channel (2014) noted, “advertisers purposely normalize unrealistically thin bodies, in order to create an unattainable desire that can drive product consumption”. These actions may be viewed as a marketing strategy that widely utilize by the television presenters and advertisers as an attempt to sell a product but little did they know that it has somehow adversely impact female’s body image, which possess high possibility that can lead to inaccurate and unhealthy mindset which can ultimately caused one to have potentially life-threatening disordered eating conditions, like anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, as due to …show more content…
While the media constantly featuring and complimenting on the luxury goods, they are at the same time showering the public with wrong values which would potentially boost the initial opinion of the individuals that the luxuries is a necessities. While the media are promoting the unrealistic ideal of body size, they are also at the same time reinforce on the public’s mindset that one has to be thin in order to be perfect. Thus after consuming large amount of television programmes that portrayed celebrities with the so called “ideal body” over a long period of time, the individuals would subconsciously adsorbs the distorted reality of physical perfection. And according to Healthy Place America's Mental Health Channel (2014), “Women frequently compare their bodies to those they see around them, and researchers have found that exposure to idealized body images lowers women's satisfaction with their own …show more content…
As Lee (2014) puts it, “Cosmetic surgery reality shows, a subgenre of reality television focusing on participants’ surgical transformations, have successfully attracted audiences since 2002”. In the reality shows cosmetic surgery often depicted as an effective and beneficial enhancement to one’s appearance. The programmes’ structure normally starts by showing how the participants are unsatisfied and feeling insecure over some part of their body, and how the body issues may have caused significant stress and other psychological problems. And then they will showcase the after result of the success surgery and emphasize on the physically and emotionally differences before and after the surgery and they will then implies that the issue have been solved by merely adopting the surgical procedures. As Furnham and Levitas (2012)
Media has a negative impact on females’ body image by promoting artificial beauty. Women often become dissatisfied with their bodies, which cause them to develop eating disorders. Body image affects a woman’s perceptions and feelings about their physical appearance when looking in the mirror. The media portrays unrealistic beauty of women who are thin with perfect hair and make-up. Many women who expose themselves to the unrealistic standards of the media often idealize, covet, and become very insecure. The many women who do not expose themselves would influence others to perceive their physical appearances as beautiful. “Many popular magazines for females tell women to focus on their physical, outer attributes (i.e. body shape, muscle tone, bone structure, hair, makeup, clothing, etc.) and rarely mention the importance of being smart, sophisticated, funny and/or possessing many other positive attributes that have nothing to do with physical attributes” (Sparhawk 1). Obviously, the media’s representation of the thin ideal connects to the majority of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders. In other words, the media’s use of unrealistic women sends a hidden message that in order for women to be beautiful they must be unhealthy. The importance of physical appearance is encouraged at an early development for most girls. For these reasons, the connection between media and body image is very important because low body image will lead to eating disorders and potentially death.
In every magazine and on every page there is another source of depression, another reason to skip a meal or two or a reason to be self-conscious. In present society people are overly focused and determined on the perfect body that both the fashion and advertising industry portray and promote. Through diction, pictures and celebrities presented they are trying to convey a message to their viewers that is “suppose” to be used as a source of motivation and determination. The message they are truly conveying is self-conscious thoughts, depression, and the promotion of eating disorders. It is estimated that millions of people struggle with depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem; concentrated on dissatisfaction with their body image (Ballaro). The advertisement and fashion industry are conveying a message that creates an internal battle for their viewers, though they should be creating a fire in their viewers that provides motivation to be healthier, take better care of themselves and a source of inspiration for style.
Due to the woman’s obsession to have a look of perfection, when the media shows beautiful women with long hair, amber colored eyes, thin body shape, and a flawless skin-color/complexion, the average women starts to think and find ways so she can come to have the same body perfection. In the article about women self-objectification found that “women who viewed images of a thin model exhibited greater body dissatisfaction than women who viewed images of a full body model” (Tiggemann, Harper
The media can impact people’s lives in many ways, whether it’s fashion, movies, literature, or hobbies. One of the impacts is how women view their bodies. Movie stars and models feel pressured to catch attention and to look good in order to have a good career in their respective field. People tend to judge how someone looks based on their body composition. The result of this “judgment” is that Hollywood is getting skinny. Since models and actresses serve as role models for people, people tend to want to look like them. The result of this seemingly harmless model of behavior is in an increase in eating disorders.
Mass media is designed to reach large audiences through the use of technology. Its purpose is
Eating disorders are described as an illness involving eating habits that are irregular and an extreme concern with body image or weight. Eating disorders tend to appear during teenage years, but can develop at any age. Although more common in women, eating disorders can affect any age, gender or race. In the United States, over 20 million women and 10 million men are personally affected by eating disorders. There are many different causes of eating disorders such as low self esteem, societal pressures, sexual abuse and the victims perception of food. Eating disorders are unique to the sufferer and often, their perception of themselves is so skewed, they may not be aware they have an eating disorder. Media, for quite some time now, has played a significant part in eating disorders. Magazines with headlines ‘Summer Body’, or ‘Drop LB’s Fast!’ attract the attention of girls who may be insecure with themselves. Television productions such as the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show or American’s Next Top Model, show airbrushed and photoshopped women who have body types that may be unachievable. Those who are suffering from eating disorders can suffer dangerous consequences, and it is important to seek help.
Kasey Serdar (2005) argues that only a small number of women can actually fulfill the characteristics of what media defines beautiful. Yet, women are constantly being exposed to the ideal women image. Serdar (2005) illustrates that “models shown on television, advertisement, and in other forms of popular media are approximately 20% below ideal body weight, thus meeting the dia...
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In our society today, people would rather see what celebrities are up to than what is going on with our health plan. Watching the news makes us aware of the latest trend, new gadget, who’s in rehab, or who has an eating disorder. In the eyes of society, women like Eva Longoria, Kim Kardashian, and Megan Fox are the epitome of perfection. What girl wouldn’t want to look like them? Unfortunately, this includes most of the girls in the US. Through TV shows, commercials, magazines or any form of advertising, the media enforces a certain body type which women emulate. The media has created a puissant social system where everyone must obtain a thin waist and large breasts. As a society, we are so image obsessed with the approval of being thin and disapproval of being overweight, that it is affecting the health of most women. Women much rather try to fit the social acceptance of being thin by focusing on unrealistic body images which causes them to have lower self esteem and are more likely to fall prey to eating disorders, The media has a dangerous influence on the women’s health in the United States.
The media is a fascinating tool; it can deliver entertainment, self-help, intellectual knowledge, information, and a variety of other positive influences; however, despite its advances for the good of our society is has a particular blemish in its physique that targets young women. This blemish is seen in the unrealistic body images that it presents, and the inconsiderate method of delivery that forces its audience into interest and attendance. Women are bombarded with messages from every media source to change their bodies, buy specific products and redefine their opinion of beauty to the point where it becomes not only a psychological disease, but a physical one as well.
According to Maggie Shiffrar, Ph.D., body dissatisfaction is defined as “a negative subjective evaluation of the weight and shape of one's own body.” Body dissatisfaction develops in both men and women. In an article written by Christopher J Ferguson, women experience more dissatisfaction with their bodies than men. Men suffer from muscular dissatisfaction, whereas women suffer from weight dissatisfaction. This article deems the media as one of the explanations for why this occurs. Women who already suffer from body dissatisfaction are more likely to experience negative outcomes when exposed to the models in fashion
At no time in history have women been so pressured to be thin. Inner beauty and personality is no longer enough. Women all over the world look at themselves and can only find imperfections. Media constantly shows thin, youthful, and “perfect” women, whom in reality have just as many imperfections as the average woman. Body image in the media tends to be a controversial topic on whether or not it has a negative effect on women in today’s society. “. . . this obsession has contributed to an increase in eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression among women in the United States” (Point: Body Image In The Media Is An Unhealthy Picture). What the public sees as beautiful has constantly changed over the decades. These changes have transformed the messages of the media to “you must be this size or you are not beautiful.” Many women have spent and wasted their lives with diets and starvation in order to reach the standards the media sets. A controversy has evolved from the question as to whether media is the real cause of these problems. Women now see themselves in a negative light due to the change in what is seen as beautiful in society and a constant use of airbrushing in advertisements. This has resulted in an increase in eating disorders and self esteem issues.
A tall, glamorous runway model is every girl’s dream. Long beautiful legs, lean body, and beautiful shiny hair is what an average young woman views as an ideal image for a female. If you don’t resemble the images of those stunning Victoria Secret models and Fashion Week models, you suddenly become ashamed of your own body. It is a great life to have with the high pay, fame, drinking champagne on a yacht with famous celebrities and even being on the Vogue cover page. Fashion Modeling Industry has been the most influential source in our young women’s lives. Young girls and young women are seen eating as little as they can, even starving themselves at times to resemble those models. What they don’t realize is that they are contributing to the 2.7 percentage of 13- 18 year olds suffering from anorexia and bulimia. Susan Albers, a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic said exposure to thin models is a great trigger in maintaining an eating disorder. When watching America’s Next Top Model or flipping through a Fashion magazine, these young women don’t apprehend that those models are either naturally slim or they are suffering from an eating disorder themselves, in other words, hostages in the dark hell hid behind those runway curtains. The growing number of young anorexia and bulimia patients, and the number of websites such as thinspiration, where girls put up pictures of their thin bodies clearly suggest that the fashion modeling industry do not at all bear any responsibility in providing healthy, realistic physical role models for young women.
Turner, L. (2004). Cosmetic surgery: the new face of reality TV [Electronic version]. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 328(7449), p. 1208. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.328.7449.1208
For decades, there have been magazines, television shows, movies and internet websites that have made its consumers believe they should look a certain way. Although it is good to wish to live a healthy life, the media has lead people to take unhealthy routes to become “thinner” and “better looking.” According to The Crimson White, “The average American woman is 5 feet 4 inches tall and 166 pounds, according to research that is used nationally by the University of Texas at Austin. In contrast, most female models are 5 feet 11 inches, and usually, wear a size double zero to zero at around 107 pounds ” (Crain). The issues surrounding body image is the media.
Susan Bordo states in her article “Never Just Pictures”, that children grow up knowing that they can never be thin enough. They are thought that being fat is the worst thing ever. The ones responsible for this are the media, celebrities, models, and fashion designers. All of these factors play a big role on the development of the standard and how people view themselves. Everyone at one dreams about being the best they can in any aspect. But to achieve that most believe that one of the big factors is outer beauty. So people look at celebrities and fashion designers, and believe that to be accepted they have to look like them. That’s when they take drastic measures to change their appearance because they’ve been influenced by the Medias idea of “beautiful.” This feeling mostly happens in women but in recent years the gender gap has become smaller. Now men also feel the need to look good because of the media. On the TV, instead of having infomercials ...