Negative Effects Of Negative Body Image

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Recommended: The impact of media on body image

INTRODUCTION Adolescence body image is portrayed in different aspects among different cultures. With the influence of magazines, Western cultures have been affected dramatically. Adolescents minds are immature and are more expectable. Magazines act as media outlets, offering content about how to look good as well as style advice, tips and images. Magazines have strongly influenced the idea of an ‘ideal body type. Negative body images is when a person views themselves negatively. The impact of negative body image on the mental health of adolescents can be severe, leading to the development of anxiety disorders, depression and eating disorders. WHAT IS BODY IMAGE? Body image is the perception that a person has about their own body, and includes …show more content…

Eating disorders occur when extreme measures are taken with a drive to be “perfect”. Models in magazines are generally thin and as a result readers/ adolescents strive to be thin too. They use images and adverts to essentially say ‘you are not comfortable with your body, we will make you better’. When magazine companies enhance a person features using technology, the average adolescent can become insecure, creating countless issues. The Center on media and child health explains how Photoshop, along with airbrush tools, cosmetics and models, are used to falsify beauty. There are numerous factors that contribute to the development of eating disorders in teenagers. However the National Eating Disorder collaboration found media, magazines and images play one of the biggest roles. Teenagers tend to rely on magazines for the latest trends, and in 2006, the Magazine Publishers of America discovered 78% of teenagers read at least one magazine. This reflects the large increase in unhealthy eating behavior, and adolescent can be dissatisfied with their body …show more content…

The digital program can alter and change the way images look, and therefore one’s perception of what is ‘healthy’, ‘beautiful’ and ‘normal’ is being changed. Photoshop is a popular program used by companies to trick the reader. Adolescents are often unaware that Photoshop is used, and yet they are affected the most. As advertisements are aimed towards maximizing consumerism, its favorable for them to reflect unnatural beauty and materialism, as that is what the majority of consumers want to see. Companies attract buyers by embellishing their advertisements with a distorted version of beauty. The series of photos below identifies how body image is altered when photoshopping is used. The definition of ‘beauty’ is distorted for marketing and advertising purposes. With programs like Photoshop, females and males are put against unrealistic images of what they should look like. The photos are a representation of how an images can be manipulated. This series of photos shows how adolescents self-esteem and body image, is easy effected when their having to look up to images like the ones

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