Positive Body Image

Media fuels this unrealistic image and convinces women that in order to be accepted and considered beautiful, you better be fat-less, have silky hair and a flawless complexion. Unrealistic media images of women are so prevalent that it seems that females who fulfill such a standard are more the norm than the exception. The Cultivation theory argues that images that portray women who match the sociocultural ideal of beauty are extremely prevalent in pop... ... middle of paper ... ...ded) to possess society’s sick vision of beauty. Due to the portrayal of specific beauty standards in the media, women have re-imagined true beauty, causing drastic impacts that affect the lives of women both physically and psychologically. In order to reach the societal standard of this “ideal body”, women of all ages go to drastic measures to achieve it (extreme dieting and plastic surgery).

Mass media influence has expanded since its inception during the 19th century. Media has become a direct influence on people today by shaping social identity and giving people a false sense of contentment. Today mass media has become more influential to society because it sets the standards of what a person’s appearance should look like along with what is beautiful – especially in women. Women have become a focal point for the media to target; media have used a female insecurities to promote products and establish a false perception of beauty. Today, mass media have defined beauty for an ideal woman, and established this ideology across the globe.

The cultural messages that we are receiving from these ads do affect young women immensely. To be aware of this issue is important to everyone. As author and lecturer Jean Kilbourne says “These days, self-improvement seems to have more to do with calories than with character, with abdomens than with absolutes, with nail polish than with ethics.” References Calvine, Howard. (1999). Depicting Women as sex objects in television advertising: Effects on body dissatisfaction.

As the mass media uses unrealistic models to advertise its products and services, this sets the idea that the “ideal” woman must been unhealthily thin and blemish free. Advertisements of these “perfect” women negatively affect the way women feel about their physical appearance and therefore affect women mentally as well. Advertising companies should strive to portray the “ideal” women as that of real women today and create the message that all women are beautiful. Should mass media chose to change the way they advertise and portray the “ideal” women? What if they used healthy, more realistic women to advertise products and services?

With that being said, studies have shown that a good number of women are dissatisfied with their body in some way contributing in poor self-image. It’s just like Claudia Barriga, Michael Shapiro and Rayna Jhaveri said, “… our judgments of the realism of media images of women are biased not only by the over-representation of thin women, but by the gender role context in which they are presented (139). The media is one of the highly influential sources that give reasons to this problem. Their unrealistic views of women create a sense of perfectionism that is unfeasible. By making the necessary alterations in advertisement, women would appear beautiful, alluring and desirable.Instead of women feeling uncomfortable in their own bodies, these solutions would create safe, healthyself and body image for women.

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.

Web. 6 March 2014.

As body image start to change rapidly it becomes more of a problem for girls in society today to become comfortable with their bodies. Women across the world have become more aware of their body image due to the increased of beauty standards around them. This leads to them having dissatisfaction within their bodies. Women The self assessment of body image is caused by the beauty standards in society. This causes many problems within women physiological state.Body image being promoted in an early stage of teen development has a big impact on developing teens because they are more likely to view themselves like the images being promoted on social media or with their icon they they look up to.

Similarly, “Pressures to Conform” by Celia Milne discusses the effects of media and society on women, and how women view their physical appearance. The media gives women a plethora of choices for the perfect body and even provides ways on how to achieve them. There is no escaping. There is no excuse of not getting the ideal body that ranges from that of a stick-thin ramp model’s to the buff and chiseled outline of a body builder’s. Still, the struggle doesn’t end here.

Johnson-Sheehan and Paine describe pathos as, “using emotion to influence someone else” (151). There are several pathetic rhetorical tools implied by the editors to persuade women that if they use their product, they will achieve the same confidence as the model and gain high self-esteem. Design and stereotype are utilized to create a seamless empowering ad. Dove, being a globally recognized brand, has a large influence on our population and the beliefs that are held. With this ability, they are able to engage ethos actively along with pathos.