The problem with this is the media has a specific way of doing things and can be negative to a susceptible teenage girl. Media’s way of portraying a woman can be skewed and unrealistic way from what reality is. Teenage girls then have a desire for this look or way. In this essay the three ways I will describe as to why the media can negatively affect a teenage girls body image is by showing unrealistic bodies and women, women whose bodies are desirable by a mass number of people, and lastly not allowing all body types to be equally shown as “attractive.” 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 Medias standard of perfection puts stress and pressure on young girls to become skinner. Eating disorders, excessive exercise, and depression are a result of the Medias influence on their self image. The media have negatively influenced the self image of young girls by forcing their unrealistic perception of what women should look like onto them . Deanne Jade believes that the media does its part to keep us informed on "valuable information on health and well-being," (Jade 8). I agree however I feel that is done in such a manner that girl feel as if they must exhaust the media’s advice on fitness and health and use these methods in order to obtain the picture perfect body image that they see on TV and in magazines.
Media depicts women as ultra thin actresses and models, with this came an increase in women's concerns with their bodies. As teens grow up watching these images and depictions of women, they idolize them as something that they want to turn into. “The sexualization of girls and women in the media is a growing concern” said Emma Stydahar “It creates a limiting idea of beauty in our society.”(Nackman) We idolize these women that have been continually photo shopped and done up as if they were dolls. Teen girls are being continually subjected to magazine articles telling them that they should not be happy with themselves and to change their appearance. The media has changed the way women are now seen by both women and men alike.
Throughout the years, the connotative definition of beauty has gone through constant change. In today’s world, young women are constantly under the impression that they have to fit the current definition in order to fit in with society and be recognized by men. Many girls feel they need to fit the mold instead of being their true unique selves. Every single individual is different in their own way, however the media has drilled it into every young girl’s mind, that they have just like a Barbie doll in order to be happy. Furthermore, these same girls are resorting to extreme methods in order to feel like they fit in such as taking unhealthy weight loss pills and developing eating disorders.
The extremes that women and young girls place on themselves and their bodies to attain perfection can cause massive s... ... middle of paper ... ...y women and adolescents as they go to tremendous lengths to achieve what the media has defined as beautiful. Though neurobiology, genetics, personality traits, and personal environment may play a role on bodily dissatisfaction and eating disorders, the influence of the media's depiction of perfection has only intensified this growing epidemic. The media, and the distorted images they parade, is causing women and adolescents to become dissatisfied with their bodies, but by educating ourselves and others, we can eliminate bodily dissatisfaction caused by the media. As well as educating ourselves, we should demand the ideals of perfection in mass media to be attainable and naturally beautiful; not digitally altered. We should be able to communicate, effectively, the false conceptions of beauty that the media portrays, thereby igniting feelings of bodily satisfaction.
Since the media’s creation of the “ideal” body type, which is known to be tall and thin, body objectification has become a serious issue. Any women who do not fit the specific mold start to internalize their desire to change how they look in order to fit the thin ideal. Thin women are not only constantly shown in magazines and television shows, but have also made their way into children’s programing. This paper will look at how the media uses specific techniques in order to persuade people to critically examine their bodies in order to turn a profit. It will also look at the mental, emotional and physical abuse that women place upon themselves in order to achieve the media’s ideal image and how it is not only hurting the current generation but also future generations to come.
The idea of “self improvement” gets so exaggerated, it causes women to believe that they always have to do more, or go a step further to be beautiful. Thus, women are ruin their own self esteem and body image. The unattainable image of women that society allows to be true is causing women to go to these unhealthy degrees. For example the famous Barbie doll, with her “tiny waist and big bosom” (Cloud 79). Girls are basically told from the beginning that in order to be “successful like Barbie” you need to have a small waist, a big chest, skinny legs, and little, perfect “heel-fitted feet.” Images like this allow for women to participate in harmful acts, such as plastic surgery, anorexia, and bulimia, in order to become what they “should be.” Women are so concerned with having that perfect figure, they are no longer able to see themselves for who they truly are, which in some cases isn 't as bad as they make it to be.
As prom season goes by, I realized there’s a problem with our society. If women have an hourglass shape or thin shaped body there being rated high on the scale of “the perfect body image." The media manipulates women by establishing an unachievable standard of beauty and body perfection. This manipulation has led women to dissatisfaction with their bodies.The media’s influence on body image has established an unachievable standard of beauty and body perfection.Images of women in magazines and on the television have impacted a woman's sense of body satisfaction.This has created an unhealthy obsession with images of beauty and the idea of perfection in our society.The media that controls the magazines and television has caused social pressures that mentally urge women to maintain the image that pertains to their ethnicity and culture. This has set a trend, indoctrinating female from childhood and adolescence which later on brainwashes them into maintaining a specific body image causing negative effects in adulthood.
When mothers exercise obsessively, diet constantly, or make derogatory comments about their own appearance it influences the daughter because mothers are the most influential role model for most girls. Fathers also need to be more cautious of how they respond to the media images of sexy, thin women. There have been campaigns started by companies about real beauty that try to teach girls that they should appreciate who they are. The campaigns try to reject the ideal body image and explain that some beauty in the media is not attainable. The company Dove has created a great campaign about Real Beauty.
Women are bombarded with a constant stream of social networks and media paraphernalia telling them how to look and how to act. They then develop a socially based view on their appearance rather than an individually based one. While displaying some good qualities, media has an overall negative impact on women by creating problems such as a desire for conformity, eating disorders, and body dissatisfaction. Media has a heavy influence on women’s perception of themselves and conforming to the world has grown into a normal occurrence. Girls want to be deemed beautiful by society so badly that they will conform to any idea presented by the media (Piercy).