The Importance Of The Ideal Body Image

How the Media Describes the Ideal Body Image and the Effect on the Behaviour of Girls

Aniek Laurijsen

Communication Class A

Brigitte van Pelt

Avans University of Applied Sciences How the Media Describes the Ideal Body Image and the Effect on the Behaviour of Girls

“Blonder hair, flat chest, TV says, bigger is better, South beach, sugar free, Vogue says, thinner is better.” (Songteksten, n.d.). This is a song from Beyoncé, called “Pretty Hurts”. This song is about the fact that it is impossible to be ‘perfect’, while a lot of girls want to be perfect.

Nowadays you see a lot of girls who want to compete to the ideal body image of the women. But what is the ideal body image? This is a complex answer. The ideal body image consist

For example, diet products are promoted by skinny models.

Conclusion

Nowadays a lot of photographers use the program Photoshop. The ideal body image is not attainable, because most of the pictures in magazines, posters and other kind of media are Photoshopped, so they are fake.

A lot of teenagers compare themselves with the models in magazines, on catwalks, in TV commercials, on posters, etc. because they compete with the ideal body image. This can lead to a low self-image, if the girls can’t compete to that image. Besides that, the ideal body image is usually 15% under the average weight of the women. Research shows that a low self-image can lead to symptoms of an eating disorder (Derenne & Beresin, 2006).

The ideal body image is also supported by the economy, because they make a lot of money by selling diet products, beauty products and fashion items.

This shows that the way the media describes the ideal body image of the women has a negative effect on the behaviour of girls, because the ideal body image is not attainable, the ideal body image can lead to a low self-image and the ideal body image is supported by the