The Effect of Media Images on Women’s/Girls Self- Perceptions
People are more likely to judge the image of themselves by what they see in the media. The mass media surrounds us with images of the “thin ideal” for females, an ideal that has become increasingly thin since the 1950’s and thus increasingly unrealistic for most girls and women” (Stice, E. & Shaw, H.E., 1994). In the past and present, the mass media has been surrounding girls and women with the ideal thin image for females. This affects the majority of female’s self-esteem and confidence in a negative way.
Brief Review of Literature
Eyal and Te’eni-Harari (2013) studied the relationships between the extent of media exposure and early adolescents’ body image. For the adolescents, their favorite television characters serve as a character they idolize and this character determines the motivation for the adolescent to compare themselves with the character. This study examined two types of variables that were associated with the favorite characters: the parasocial relationship (PSR) and the incentive to compare themselves with the character (Eyal,K., & Te’eni-Harari, T, 2013). The method used to conduct this research were questionnaires that were distributed to 391 seventh and eighth graders in two different middle schools. The participants were asked to state the average number of hours that they spend watching television, using the internet, and playing video games. The study shows that exposure to media is related to motivations of self-compare which leads to a body shape inconsistency and a lower body image perceptions. “In relation to the study the favorite television character serves as an important comparison target – extending past research on more general social ...
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Stice, E., & Shaw, H. E. (1994). Adverse effects of the media portrayed thin-ideal on women and linkages to bulimic symptomatology. Journal of Social and Clinical
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Media is infamous for having a tremendous effect on teenage girls. The mass media have long been criticized for presenting unrealistic appearance ideals that contribute to the development of negative body image for many women and girls (Harrison & Hefner, 2006). Whether it’s the influence on their choice of friends, school, or their self image, media has played an important role in affecting those decisions. A growing number of experimental studies have demonstrated a causal link between acute exposure to "thin-ideal" images (i.e., images of impossibly thin and attractive female beauty) and increased body dissatisfaction (Hargreaves & Tiggemann, 2003). It has recently been brought up that media influences girls in preadolescence, which is highly likely since most young girls idolize Barbie (Rintala & Mustajoki, 1992). “Were Barbie a flesh-and-blood woman, her waist would be 39% smaller than that of anorexic patients, and her body weight would be so low that she would not be able to menstruate” (Rintala & Mustajoki, 1992). Most young girls wish that they could look like Barbie when they grew up, but if they knew the reality of having her measurements their perceptions would probably change. Children frequently fantasize about who they will be, what they will do, and how they will look when they grow into adulthood.
In recent years, sociologists, psychologists, and medical experts have gone to great lengths about the growing problem of body image. This literature review examines the sociological impact of media-induced body image on women, specifically women under the age of 18. Although most individuals make light of the ideal body image most will agree that today’s pop-culture is inherently hurting the youth by representing false images and unhealthy habits. The paper compares the media-induced ideal body image with significant role models of today’s youth and the surrounding historical icons of pop-culture while exploring various sociological perspectives surrounding this issue.
Brit, Harper, and Marika Tiggemann. "The Effect of Thin Ideal Media Images on Women's Self-Objectification, Mood,and Body Image." Sex Roles 58.9/10 (2008): 649-657. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.
Morris, Anne M., Katzman, Debra K. “The Impact of the Media on Eating Disorders in Children and Adolescents” 8.5 (2003): 287-89. Pulsus Group, May-June 2003. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.
Researchers have used various abstract foundations for examining the relationship between media and body image ( Holmstrom, 2004). Here I review the theory that has been used by researcher in the area. Bandura’s Social cognitive theory (1994) assumed that “people learn and model the behaviors of attractive others”. The supporters of this theory suggest that young women find slim models in the media attractive and try to imitate them through dieting which leads them to eating disorders.
Finally, we need to understand that the review might not be everything related to the relationships between mass media and females’ perceptions of body image. In particular, most studies that were featured in this literature review were conducted not from a local context but it will be able to aid us in the formulation of our survey questions for our specific sample group of a particular population.
While women have made significant advances over the past decades, the culture at large never fails to place a strong emphasis on the way women look. The new standards for beauty are ultimately causing dramatic influences on adolescent females and their body image. Anyone who is familiar with American culture knows that these new standards for beauty is proliferated through the media. No matter the source, we are constantly surrounded by all kinds of media, and we continue to construct ourselves based on the images we see through the media. The more young girls are surrounded by the “thin ideal” kind of media, the more they will continue to be dissatisfied with their bodies and themselves. Thi...
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.
Today’s culture has placed women across the globe in a position where they are constantly flooded with idealistic images that depict what the media perceives as the “perfect body.” Quite often, young university-attending females, those who are involved in social identity formation, are exposed to numerous forms of media that fabricate various experiences relative to body image. In the past, researchers have surveyed women who are exposed to body-related standards using multiple forms of mass media as a unified entity, which has caused for limitations since each means -such as magazine advertisements- differs in relation to how a thin idealistic image is portrayed. In light of prior research, Harper and Tiggman established that about 94% of North American women magazines implemented images of thin-idealized models on the cover; this lack of diversity exhibited the media’s support for slenderness as a norm for women (Harper & Tiggemann, 2009). Similarily, Murnen et al. not only uncovered that magazines were the most popular amongst females and was strongly associated with body discontent as compared to other mass media, but also that women often compared themselves to those seen in the images (Bell & Dittmar, 2011). Despite these numerous studies, the mechanism behind if and how women are affected negatively by such imagery is still unclear (Ferreday, 2011). This report’s research question resolves to uncover any parallels and causal impacts that may exist between university-aged females’ body perception and short-term exposure to idealistic body-related images within beauty related magazine ads. Based on the stated preceding studies, it is easy to hypothesize that female students may exhibit meager body images. However, i...
This means that young children and adults are being exposed to media and advertisements several hours every day. Due to the fact that the brain does not fully develop until the age of 24; children and young adults are the most vulnerable class citizens to the proliferation of medias messages. Today younger girls starting as early as age’s six to eight are becoming more concerned about their physical appearance, because it is more emphasized and reinforced. Media is portraying to children and young adults that their value and worth lies in their youth, beauty, and sexuality. When children are watching TV they are constantly exposed to the unattainable and unrealistic standards of beauty, criteria that only a small percentage of women meet. Media’s unrealistic models send an implicit message that in order to be considered beautiful; you must be “unhealthy.” Many children and young adults are also exposed to reality television. In reality TV the media portrays that every women is catty, bitchy, manipulative, vindictive, and not to be trusted, they are on display to be judged and objectified by men (documentary). Researchers are unclear of how exposure to images in the media affects their physical appearance; although there are many different perspectives on how they may be affected by it. Some of these perspectives include social comparison,
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...
Yamamiya, Y., Cash, T. F., Melnyk, S. E., Posavac, H. D., & Posavac, S. S. (2005). Women's exposure to thin-and-beautiful media images: Body image effects of media-ideal internalization and impact-reduction interventions. Body image, 2(1), 74-80.
The media have been criticized for portraying the thin women as “ideal” .This research plans to look at the effects of media on the body image of women. This cumulates the findings of empirical studies that observe the effects of media on body image. This study will also look at the different social comparison theories that relate media and body image. It will also investigate the different sources of media that have an impact on the body image of women. It also scopes to find out which sources have a greater consequence than the others. Furthermore it also researches about how the women could be prevented from comparing their body image from that of the models and actresses portrayed in the media.
The pattern is similar for the portrayal of women on television, magazines, and other parts of the media. The way media represents women are for them to be thin-like models and other women on television to be the high standard of “attractiveness” to others. The advertising involved targets young teenage women and feature these models that are portraying desirable items, and the “norm” is for these women to be slender and beautiful (Vonderen & Kinnally, 2012). Research has been done to prove that media’s pressure on being thin causes women to be depressive and negative feelings about themselves . Women’s view are skewed and perceived incorrectly of what the typical female body should be (Haas, Pawlow, Pettibone & Segrist, 2012).