The Affect of the Mass Media on Society's View of a Woman's Ideal Weight

Models shown in all forms of popular media are often under what is considered healthy body weight, which sends a powerful message that women must sacrifice their health to be considered attractive by societal standards. When we look at women images, we will see they are thin, beautiful, sexy, and fashionable. They are different from average women. The women who see perfect women images every moment are not pleased with their appearance. In addition, they are losing their self-esteems, because they believe that they must look more beautiful, sexier, and more fashionable.

Slim women were also often times considered poor because in the eyes of society, they could not afford enough food to keep their body full and healthy. During the Renaissance era, beautiful, elaborate paintings from world famous artists, Micheangelo among them, featured full-figured women in the nude. Full figures continued to be "en vogue" throughout the Mannerism and Baroque periods, which continued up through the 1730's. In the mid-1700's, women's figures started to change, and with that change, society's view of the ideal woman became forever warped. The women began wearing girdles, squeezing and pinching up their waists to exaggerate their curves and slim their waistlines.

Anorexia and bulimia are one of the main causes along with the media as to why adolescent girls are always slightly underweight and devastating skinny. If the media didn’t interfere with adolescent perceptions, maybe one half of fourth grade girls wouldn’t be on a diet. Intense fear of becoming fat and distorted body images aren’t the kinds of thing we want our adolescents girls to become. To think about their appearance and weight 24/7 isn’t right. The media should stop publicizing young female bodies and telling them what beauty is perceived to them.

Throughout time, the most controversial subject among female’s health has been body image. Society and our culture molds females’s brains into believing that being thin is what will fulfill complete happiness. Being thin means you are more successful, loved, attractive, and overall truly beautiful. Thin women are seen as having an altogether perfect life. However, there is another female figure that is seen as undesirable, hopeless, mainly disliked by most.

Media presents images that tell woman and girls that acceptance means being unnaturally thin. The average fashion model,... ... middle of paper ... ...than among males. The ideals of female beauty have not always been inbodied in the figure of most of today’s “super models” whose bodies resemble that of a young boy, not a woman. Figures like that of Marilyn Monroe, which today are considered fat, were the ideals of the time thirty years ago. It seems difficult to dispute that the attainment of the slender ideal is very painful for many women.

According to a survey by Elias, 70% of surveyed teen girls said that fashion magazines make them feel overweight and in need of a diet. Societies idealization of beauty can be very daunting to women. The pressure to achieve physical perfection is unhealthy both mentally and physically. It can even lead to the extremes of suicide, like in the poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy. Exercising daily and constantly being active isn’t a bad thing by any means.

Immense pressure put on young girls to look good and to be thin. The unfortunate consequence is that society's pressures to be thin cause girls to become anorexic. "The cultural explanation... postulates that anorexia nervosa is generated by a powerful cultural imperative that makes slimness the chief attribute of female beauty" (Brumberg 31). Most females think that if they are not slender, men will not find them attractive. One of my closest friends was anorexic for a year and a half, and even when she was down to eight percent body fat, she still thought that she was fat.

Corsets were also at their peak of popularity, which constricted women so greatly that they became short of breath and – in... ... middle of paper ... ...vious statistic of the island having only one recorded eating disorder rose from 0% to a whopping 69% (259). Magazines also share this negative influence in a more subtle way. Women tend to place the models within on a pedestal, viewing them as the definition of female beauty; however, these women also tend to lack insider knowledge, which actress Jamie Lee Curtis had publicly touched on. Works Cited Derenne, Jennifer L., and Eugene V. Beresin. "Body Image, Media, and Eating Disorders."

Now, thanks to the unrealistic expectations put on women to maintain the perfect shape, eating disorders are on the rise. Then, once they enter college, the body images of women get even worse. They are on their own now and can eat whenever and whatever they desire; therefore, college girls gain weight and diet. When they gain the weight they are willing to do anything to lose it. A person’s body image can also vary depending on that person’s race.

Diets are now used for getting that skinny appearance rather than maintaining a healthy diet. Magazines that portray extremely thin models are a big motive and cause for women to go to such extremes. Studies at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts found that 70% of college women say they feel worse about their own looks after reading women’s magazines. “People see the same images over and over and start to believe it’s a version of reality,” says Deborah Schooler, one of the researchers. “If those bodies are real and that’s possible, but they can not attain it, how can they not feel bad about their own body?” (Brown).