Effects Of Negative Body Image

1620 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: body image and its affects

Humans have always been interested in beauty and attractiveness, but what is perceived as being beautiful? What do individuals see when they look in the mirror? Individuals begin developing their perception of their body’s attractiveness in early childhood. As they get older it is natural for body comparisons to be made. It is actually almost inevitable. However, the feedback received from family and peers, as well as the media and social pressures, greatly influence the constantly forming view individuals have on their bodies. Although men struggle with poor body image, negative body image and its effects are most commonly seen in women. Women suffer from depression a great more than men do. Females also are more likely to develop an eating disorder and focus on their body image more than men do. However, the big issue is understanding the causes of a negative body and more importantly the effects of having a negative body image. Everyone undergoes life …show more content…

Although many people think of depression as just simply sadness, individuals that do not receive treatment for their depression or low self-confidence are at a much higher risk for weight gain, weight loss, poor dieting, substance abuse, and in some cases suicide. Depression can be overwhelming to the person dealing with the disorder as well as the individual’s family. Sure poor body image may make an individual feel sad, however, when a person finds themselves stuck on the negatives, and loses interest in activities or friends, then it is beyond just feeling sad. Without help this effect can last months or even years. The longer depression goes untreated the more difficult it becomes to overcome. Treating depression is a long process. It is not something that can be cured overnight. However even individuals who suffer from deep depression can conquer the disorder over

Show More
Related

  • The Sociological Impact of Media Body Induced Image on Women

    1905 Words  | 4 Pages

    Body image is the perception, both thoughts, and feelings concerning an individual’s physical appearance. Research has suggested that exposure to an ideal standard of what it may mean to be beautiful is the norm for the media to expose a woman to. The results of an idea of feminine beauty can be disastrous for women, leading to depression, and an unrealistic body image. According to Posavac & Posavac in the article titled Reducing the Impact of Media Images on Women at Risk for Body Image Disturbance: Three Targeted Interventions...

    Read More

  • Media and Body Image

    1147 Words  | 3 Pages

    We hear sayings everyday such as “Looks don’t matter; beauty is only skin-deep”, yet we live in a decade that contradicts this very notion. If looks don’t matter, then why are so many women harming themselves because they are not satisfied with how they look? If looks don’t matter, then why is the media using airbrushing to hide any flaws that one has? This is because with the media establishing unattainable standards for body perfection, American Women have taken drastic measures to live up to these impractical societal expectations. “The ‘body image’ construct tends to comprise a mixture of self-perceptions, ideas and feelings about one’s physical attributes. It is linked to self-esteem and to the individual’s emotional stability” (Wykes 2). As portrayed throughout all aspects of our media, whether it is through the television, Internet, or social media, we are exploited to a look that we wish we could have; a toned body, long legs, and nicely delineated six-pack abs. Our society promotes a body image that is “beautiful” and a far cry from the average woman’s size 12, not 2. The effects are overwhelming and we need to make more suitable changes as a way to help women not feel the need to live up to these unrealistic standards that have been self-imposed throughout our society.

    Read More

  • Body Expectations Essay

    1094 Words  | 3 Pages

    In a society similar to the one of the United States, individual’s body images are placed on a pedestal. Society is extremely powerful in the sense that it has the capability of creating or breaking a person’s own views of his or her self worth. The pressure can take over and make people conduct in unhealthy behavior till reaching the unrealistic views of “perfection.” In an article by Caroline Heldman, titled Out-of-Body Image, the author explains the significance of self-objectification and woman’s body image. Jennifer L. Derenne made a similar argument in her article titled, Body Image, Media, and Eating Disorders. Multiple articles and books have been published on the issue in regards to getting people to have more positive views on themselves. Typically female have had a more difficult time when relating to body image and self worth. Society tends to put more pressure on women to live to achieve this high ideal. Body image will always be a concern as long as society puts the pressure on people; there are multiple pressures placed and theses pressures tend to leave an impact on people’s images of themselves.

    Read More

  • Negative Body Image Leads to Eating disorders

    587 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Many kids — particularly adolescents — are concerned about how they look and can feel self-conscious about their bodies.” Eating disorders have the power to affect everyday life. Not only in just teens but all ages. They are able to cause extreme weight changes. As well as, it could affect your health for the rest of your life. (Source 1) By having an eating disorder everything becomes based off of that, if it isn’t helped or stopped it could become serious and damage your health permanently.

    Read More

  • Male Body Image

    632 Words  | 2 Pages

    Body image is what you believe about your physical appearance. Images of beautiful men and women are displayed everywhere from billboards to television advertisements. Fortunately, everyone does not look the same. Looking at models and movie stars often can create a negative self image of oneself in relation to these images. Approximately 46 percent of men of normal weight think about how they look constantly or frequently (Cloud, 46). The emergence of men’s new obsession with body image is connected to pressures from the media, plastic surgeons, and peers.

    Read More

  • Negative Body Image Essay

    1608 Words  | 4 Pages

    The way a person see’s oneself and imagines what they look like is one’s body image. One can either have a positive or negative connotation regarding their own body appearance. A positive body image means that most of the time one is comfortable and satisfied about the way they appear. In a sense, that means they feel good about the way they see themselves in mirrors or pictures. Having a negative body image is a common struggle for individuals. This means they are unhappy with their physical appearance and constantly want to change something about him or herself. Negative body image leads to serious mental problems such as anorexia or bulimia. Not only do we have a personal view on our body image, but society also has an input. Society

    Read More

  • The Beauty Myth Essay

    1718 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the early 1990’s, it was reported that eleven million women in the United States suffer from various eating disorders. At the same time, at least ninety percent of people struggling with eating disorders are female (Stephens). Many researchers tried to figure out why so many women today were suffering from these terrible conditions that destroy people from the inside out. After thorough amounts of research were done, it was concluded that today’s society generates intense amounts of pressure on women to fit an “ideal image” of the models they see in various ways. Thanks to false advertising, false images of women, and the changing “desires” of society, the Beauty Myth gives women an image of themselves that is physically impossible to achieve.

    Read More

  • Negative Effects Of Body Image

    1529 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Body Image is something both men and women are concerned with” says Luke Lyons. In addition, young girls are more scared of becoming fat than losing a parent. Everyone has a different perspective on body image, based on experience. Body image impacts the world daily for both men and women of all ages. Many things impact the way we look at body image, also. Like, social media showing good and bad sides. Body image is controversial because it can be very beneficial for some people, but also can be very harmful.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Self Shaming

    1862 Words  | 4 Pages

    “...8 out of 10 women will be dissatisfied with their reflection, and more than half may see a distorted image” according to the Social Issues Research Center, and the statistics of self-shame and negative reflection are increasing worldwide. A person who shames their own body learned how to do so from someone else, and took it as that body shaming is acceptable if it is to oneself. This self-shaming pandemic has become far worse over the past few decades, where people are striving to look like their role models in unhealthy ways. Our society can push for and encourage a healthy way of life without body shaming people and putting them down in a negative way.

    Read More

  • Reasons Why Women Develop a Negative Body Image

    1161 Words  | 3 Pages

    In modern society there is more and more digital editing without the knowledge of consumers. Currently there are various reasons for why women develop negative body image, low-self-esteem and eating disorders. According to Naomi Wolf in her novel “Beauty Myth”, one of the many reasons women obtain concerns with their bodies is due to the universal images of young female bodies presented through advertisements in fashion magazines. Advertisements in magazines are altering and shaping the desires of men and women. Magazines sell viewers images of beautiful, skinny, flawless confident young women. When people are constantly antagonized with the magazine industry’s ideal of “perfect beauty” the viewer’s then, subconsciously believe these images to be true and begin to form biases about what they themselves should look like and what other people must also look like. People who view magazines get mislead by advertisers because they are unaware that all the images displayed are digitally altered through Photoshop and airbrushing. Today’s magazines are formed completely on false ideals of flawless beauty and unattainable body images, to prevent women and men from falling victim to the magazine’s deceitful images we as a society need to become aware and educate ourselves.

    Read More

  • Peer Competition and Women's Body Image

    1084 Words  | 3 Pages

    Body dissatisfaction refers to any "negative self-evaluation of one’s own appearance and the desire to be more physically attractive." The problem of body image has long been shown to be a conern for the American Psychiatric Association or APA, (Muñoz & Ferguson, 2012, p. 383). It raises so much concern because an unsatisfying body image has been know to cause problems such as eating disorders, depression and self-esteem. Scholars have argued that an unsatisfying body image can be caused by a mix of different social and personal factors, yet media and peer pressure stand out as the two factors with them most impact on body image. Muñoz and Ferguson, (2012) considers both of these influences in exploring body image based on a "Catalyst Model" for body dissatisfaction, which prioritizes the influence of peers over those of the media.

    Read More

  • The Effects Of Feminist Theory On Body Image Among Women

    1427 Words  | 3 Pages

    The sociocultural approach to the issue of body image among women states that women receive harmful and negative cultural messages about their bodies. These messages can come from the media as well as from family and peer influences (Swami, 2015). By promoting the thin ideal for attractiveness, the media contributes to women rating their bodies more negatively and thus increases their likelihood of developing eating disorder symptoms (Spitzer, Henderson & Zivian, 1999). In a meta-analysis studying the effects of media images on female body image, Groesz and Levine (2002) found that women’s body image was significantly more negative after viewing thin media images than after viewing average or plus size models. Harmful body messages from family can be direct, such as verbal criticism or teasing, or in...

    Read More

  • Effects of Media on Women’s Body Image

    689 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this age, media is more pervasive than ever, with people constantly processing some form of entertainment, advertisement or information. In each of these outlets there exists an idealized standard of beauty, statistically shown to effect the consumer’s reflection of themselves. The common portrayal of women’s bodies in the media has shown to have a negative impact on women and girls. As the audience sees these images, an expectation is made of what is normal. This norm does not correspond to the realistic average of the audience. Failing to achieve this isolates the individual, and is particularly psychologically harmful to women. Though men are also shown to also be effected negatively by low self-esteem from the media, there remains a gap as the value of appearance is seen of greater significance to women, with a booming cosmetic industry, majority of the fashion world, and the marketing of diet products and programs specifically targeting women.

    Read More

  • Has the Media’s Portrayal of Women Negatively Affected the Body Image of The Wykeham Collegiate Senior School Girls?

    3125 Words  | 7 Pages

    The media’s portrayal of the female body image has a negative effect on the female population, as shown in both literature reviews and this research. The dominant factors which affect body image are that of the frequent comparison to others, seeing models, celebrities, in the media as well as the general society around. The supposed ideal physical appearance and what is considered to be the ideal body plays a great role in the nega...

    Read More

  • Physical Beauty Versus Inner Beauty

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    How many times have we heard or said the clique “don’t judge a book by it’s cover,” yet we focus so much of our attention on our physically appearance. Everyday we encounter images in the media that make us believe we have to look a certain way. Physical beauty is portrayed as important and essential in order to find love and acceptance. Although physical beauty is moderately important, it is less than inner beauty for it diminishes with age.

    Read More

More about Effects Of Negative Body Image

Open Document