Who determines whether a size two is too small or just the right size, whether you are too short or too tall, or maybe if you have the perfect breast cup size? The media portrays our female celebrities as perfect. They transform these women into a picture perfect image that meets a certain set of standards they have for them. The media teaches our girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller (Beyoncé, 2013). For example, actor Laura Prepon well known for playing a major role in that “70’s Show” admitted in one of her interviews that she ruined her metabolism by trying tons of crazy diets just so she could look the right size. From a young age, girls always heard the saying “pretty hurts”. As the years progress the saying became true, from the pulling and tugging of the hair to squeezing in tight itchy dresses to please someone other than yourself. More specifically, there has been a very popular trend that every young actress that does not have time to develop their own viewpoint on how they want to look usually turns to drugs by their teen years. In particular, the once charming Olsen Twins has been in several magazines referring to the drug abuse or the eating disorders that they are battling. Not living up to the standards that the media holds tend to lead our women to be either look down upon or even in some cases fall into a deep depression because they believe they are no longer attractive. Today’s media is controlling our women. Women go to the media to find out what is socially acceptable or what are the next top trends they should abide by. For instance, The Addams Family star Christina Ricci turned into a very skinny figure when she started to battle with anorexia. She says that with her being a young actress ... ... middle of paper ... ...worse than what it was before. These augmentations affected Wildenstein physically because now her face is permanently damaged. As you can see in Figure 5 her face is slightly twisted from the amount of surgeries. Also her cheeks are always going to be pushed up as if she is constantly smiling. The media makes these women feel as if they are not good enough so it leads them to do things that is really harmful to their body. In conclusion, as stated before the media has a tremendous impact in how our women take care of their bodies today. The media puts women into a category where if they do not live up to this certain standard then they will be criticized. Unknowingly they do damage to their bodies by going on extreme diets or getting surgical procedures. Being responsible for these ridiculous request leaves these women mentally, emotionally, and physically hurt.
Firstly, Newsom provided a handful of statistics that show how the media has affect women negatively. Girls are exposed to the idea of having the “perfect body” at a very young age due to television. This causes them to become unhappy with their bodies. According to “Miss Representation,” fifty three percent of thirteen year old are unsatisfied by the look of their bodies and as they reach the age of seventeen, that percentage increases to seventy eight percent. This causes eating disorders because women are taught to look a certain way. The characters on tv shows and
Mattie Hernandez Ms. Poth Eng. IV. 1 5/5/14 The Media's Influence on Girls is Detrimental to their Health
The media can impact people’s lives in many ways, whether it’s fashion, movies, literature, or hobbies. One of the impacts is how women view their bodies. Movie stars and models feel pressured to catch attention and to look good in order to have a good career in their respective field. People tend to judge how someone looks based on their body composition. The result of this “judgment” is that Hollywood is getting skinny. Since models and actresses serve as role models for people, people tend to want to look like them. The result of this seemingly harmless model of behavior is in an increase in eating disorders.
Times have changed throughout the generations and the portrayal of women in the media has definitely changed over the years. Unfortunately, there is still a stereotypical appearance and social role in the media that women need to achieve in order to be socially desired. Even though it has improved, there is such a stigma towards being too fat, too skinny, too tall, or too short and the list of imperfections go on and on. Aside from body image, social roles are a big issue in the media today. When you look at any advertisement in the media, you can notice the appearance, gender, and race of the model. The media’s idea of the “perfect” body is having the unflawed and women are typically skewed for this by society.
Next, media has an overwhelming power over women’s opinion of their own body. Everyday, the media does not have a problem displaying women that are extremely skinny, which may be a product of an eating disorder. Young women begin depriving themselves from food because they view these women on advertisements as acceptable and desirable to society.
The media is a fascinating tool; it can deliver entertainment, self-help, intellectual knowledge, information, and a variety of other positive influences; however, despite its advances for the good of our society is has a particular blemish in its physique that targets young women. This blemish is seen in the unrealistic body images that it presents, and the inconsiderate method of delivery that forces its audience into interest and attendance. Women are bombarded with messages from every media source to change their bodies, buy specific products and redefine their opinion of beauty to the point where it becomes not only a psychological disease, but a physical one as well.
At first, I agree with Goodman’s argument and I think that due to the impact of media, people's aesthetic standard began to change and more and more people begin to pay more attention to lose weight nowadays. And in my opinion, the most obvious part that women are affected by the impact of media, especially for the actors. For example, as Goodman points out, 15% of high school girls who vomited for weight control increased 5 times. It shows girls were worrying about their weight, and it lead to make them to suffer eating disorders. From my personal experience, I also would like to use media to find what is the most fashion hairstyle or cloth brand every month. And it will make me to decide what stuff I want to buy. Also, I think I am a member of control weight, because every day I would like to keep a good image to others. So as a result of control weight, I have the same problem of eating disorders as well. Besides, the...
In this age, media is more pervasive than ever, with people constantly processing some form of entertainment, advertisement or information. In each of these outlets there exists an idealized standard of beauty, statistically shown to effect the consumer’s reflection of themselves. The common portrayal of women’s bodies in the media has shown to have a negative impact on women and girls. As the audience sees these images, an expectation is made of what is normal. This norm does not correspond to the realistic average of the audience. Failing to achieve this isolates the individual, and is particularly psychologically harmful to women. Though men are also shown to also be effected negatively by low self-esteem from the media, there remains a gap as the value of appearance is seen of greater significance to women, with a booming cosmetic industry, majority of the fashion world, and the marketing of diet products and programs specifically targeting women.
Everyone care about beauty and media comes in the way to for its interest by using body image as a tool which only exists in people’s mind. It is unbelievable that how media is blamed for its actions. In the article, “How the Media Keeps Us Hung Up on Body Image” by Shari Graydon, the author claims that women are suffering from unhealthy and harmful disorders due to media influence. As strength, Graydon raises the attention of the readers by giving information on how media is affecting women through the usage of celebrities, professionals and researches’ data. However, Graydon’s argument unpersuasive because the author uses radical evidences to manipulate the readers, also blames only to the media regardless of other factors and the solutions to protect the people against the media are ineffective.
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).
The Mass Media is a unique feature of modern society; its development has accompanied an increase in the magnitude and complexity of societal actions and engagements, rapid social change, technological innovation, rising personal income and standard of living and the decline of some traditional forms of control and authority.
Thus, the mass media promotes an ideal image of what a beautiful and desirable woman should look like, influencing women around the world to model after. An example is the Glamour magazine survey: 75% of women aged 18-35 were reported to feel that they were too fat; 45% of underweight women felt they were too fat; almost 50% o... ... middle of paper ... ... ay’s context is pursuing the best of everything. Desperate times that make image no longer important do not prevail in the modern day.
Unquestionably the media being newspapers, internet, radio and television, influence society. They can affect, have affected and will continue to affect the progression of life in this nation and around the world, as electronic technology continues to be the chosen mode of communication for a whole generation, offering direct, often anonymous influential information.
Children can be influenced and impacted in many ways whether it is from their parents, peers, and even strangers. One thing many people don’t realize is that many children, nowadays, are actually being influenced by the media, meaning they are being affected by different media sources, such as television and the internet. The question is whether the sources of media, television and the internet has a positive effect or a negative effect on children, and which source of media has a bigger effect.
"People are more influenced by mass media than they think. What evidence is there to support this statement?"