I. How many times a day do you look in the mirror, criticizing your appearance for it's unique qualities? Your very unique qualities are often believed to be flaws because it does not suit society's expectation or approval. Imagine being bombarded and suffocated with a plethora of advertisements indirectly sending messages that you are not good enough and only their products can and will help achieve such an impossible goal of perfection. The reality of this is very true today. Every where around the world, every race, every gender, any age, every ethnicity is effected by obsessions with appearance. People are exposed and exploited by so many factors of society, encouraging one to believe one must become what they see and are told to be, making drastic measures an option to the point of an unhealthy obsession.
People obsessing over their appearance, taking desperate measures to achieve an unachievable perfection is more than just an individual problem; it is a societal, national, and a global problem. Appearance obsessions are not just a personal responsibility but a social issue, requiring a social solution. This problem has weaved its way to younger and younger generations proposing a ripple effect of many other issues throughout society. Many claim this only affects girls, but it also affects boys, though they are increasingly likely to use steroids and other dangerous drugs (“Eating Disorders”). The strive to have a cut and muscular body has found its way to younger males in middle school (Quenqa). This strive has led to an increase in the use of steroids, proposing many other dangers to developing bodies. The amount of teenage body builders has decreased because they cannot pass the drug tests (Quenqa). Copious amounts of ...
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United States. Dept. of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health.“For Obese Kids, Weight Loss Can Sometimes Lead to Eating Disorders.” Medline Plus. Health Day, Sept. 2013. Web. 27 Nov. 2013.
United States. Dept. of Health and Human Services. Division of Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. “Mean Body Weight, Height and Body Mass Index, United States 1960-2002.” CDC. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Oct. 2004. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.
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Volpe, Michaela. "Beyond a lifetime of comparison: a sociological self-exploration of body image obsession." Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge 9.2 (2011): 37+. Academic OneFile. Web. 27 Nov. 2013.
Societal constructs of bodily perfection have a massive influence on both genders and on all ages. If you look at any magazine, you will see women constantly being compared to each other, whether it is in the “who wore it better” section or in the “do’s and don’ts” part of the magazine, comparing body images and overall appearances. All parts of the media that encompasses our daily lives are especially dangerous for young and impressionable teens because they see people being torn down for trying to express themselves, and are thus taught to not only don’t look like “don’ts”, but also look like the “do’s”. This is dangerous in that women in the magazine set very high standards that teens want to emulate, no matter the cost to themselves or their health. Celebrities have the benefit of media to make them appear perfect: Photoshop and makeup artists conceal the imperfections that are often too apparent to the naked eye. Viewing celebrities as exhibiting the ideal look or as idols will, in most cases, only damage the confidence of both young teens, and adults, and warp the reality of what true “beauty” really is. It makes teens never feel truly content with themselves because they will be aiming for an ideal that is physically impossible to attain and one that doesn’t exist in the real
We hear sayings everyday such as “Looks don’t matter; beauty is only skin-deep”, yet we live in a decade that contradicts this very notion. If looks don’t matter, then why are so many women harming themselves because they are not satisfied with how they look? If looks don’t matter, then why is the media using airbrushing to hide any flaws that one has? This is because with the media establishing unattainable standards for body perfection, American Women have taken drastic measures to live up to these impractical societal expectations. “The ‘body image’ construct tends to comprise a mixture of self-perceptions, ideas and feelings about one’s physical attributes. It is linked to self-esteem and to the individual’s emotional stability” (Wykes 2). As portrayed throughout all aspects of our media, whether it is through the television, Internet, or social media, we are exploited to a look that we wish we could have; a toned body, long legs, and nicely delineated six-pack abs. Our society promotes a body image that is “beautiful” and a far cry from the average woman’s size 12, not 2. The effects are overwhelming and we need to make more suitable changes as a way to help women not feel the need to live up to these unrealistic standards that have been self-imposed throughout our society.
In the documentary Killer at Large, former Surgeon General Richard Carmona remarked that “Obesity is a terror within. It’s destroying our society from within and unless we do something about it, the magnitude of the dilemma will dwarf 9/11 or any other terrorist event that you can point out…” Carmona is indeed right, with the rapid increase of obese children, America is on the fast track to producing a generation with a life expectancy shorter than their peers. One of the main factor is the media representation of obesity (Greenstreet 2008). In today’s society parents are not only worrying about televisions influence on their kid’s behavior but their weight and health, too. According to study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, that researched the role of media in childhood obesity, stated the obesity increased by 2% for every hours of television in adolescent’s ages 12 to 17. The advertisement of food and beverages present a very strong influence on the children. Most of the products being advert...
When you look in the mirror you see your imperfections. You see your perceived flaws; things that nobody else recognizes about you and you think that there has to be some way to change it. In today’s world, society places impossible standards on the way you’re supposed to look and recently young American males in their teen age years have become increasingly self-conscious about their physical appearance. In the article “The Troubled Life of Boys; The Bully in the Mirror” author Stephen Hall investigates the changes and causes of the increase in males becoming concerned with wanting to be more muscular.
M.D. “Body Image: A Clouded Reality”. Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self Knowledge 2.2 (2004): 58-65 pg. Web. 18 Nov 2013.
Body dissatisfaction refers to any "negative self-evaluation of one’s own appearance and the desire to be more physically attractive." The problem of body image has long been shown to be a conern for the American Psychiatric Association or APA, (Muñoz & Ferguson, 2012, p. 383). It raises so much concern because an unsatisfying body image has been know to cause problems such as eating disorders, depression and self-esteem. Scholars have argued that an unsatisfying body image can be caused by a mix of different social and personal factors, yet media and peer pressure stand out as the two factors with them most impact on body image. Muñoz and Ferguson, (2012) considers both of these influences in exploring body image based on a "Catalyst Model" for body dissatisfaction, which prioritizes the influence of peers over those of the media.
According to “Burger Battles” from the Weekly Reader, obesity is defined as a person whose weight is 20 percent higher than recommended for their height (Burger Battles 1). When this condition begins to affect children lives, it is then known as childhood obesity. Within the United States of America, around 15 percent of children are considered to be obese (Holguin 3). Increasing tremendously, this outbreak has actually tripled in the amount of obese teen and doubled in children up to the age of thirteen (Burger Battles 2). One of the factors that is usually overlooked in the cause for obesity is the role of television. Not only does it reduce the amount of physical activity, the advertisements and commercials are targeting innocent viewers. In a survey completed by Gary Ruskin of Commercial Alert, the average child watches nearly 19 hours and 40 minutes of television a week (Ruskin 2). With that amount of time spent watching television, advertisements for fast food will be entering the children’s minds.
Because mankind’s perception of beauty is so unobtainable, many women have resorted to cosmetic surgery in order to feel beautiful. Other women, who cannot afford surgery, resort to eating disorders. All of which are extremely unhealthy. Society has twisted our views on what should and shouldn’t be acceptable, beauty no being the only issue. However, beauty is the issue felt most by people today.
Graydon, Shari. “How the Media Keeps us Hung Up on Body Image.” Herizons Summer. 2008:
This study hopes to gain a more in depth view of a demographic that is believed to put a great amount of focus on body image in the way the...
May, Ashleigh L., et al. Vital Signs: Obesity Among Low-Income, Preschool-Aged Children – United States, 2008-2011. MMWR: Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report 62.31 (20130): 629-634. Consumer Health Complete – EBSCOhost. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
The importance of body image and the idealisation of the ideal body have become more dominant in society today.
They try such drastic ideas they find on the Internet or by taking drugs. These body image issues can lead to eating disorders, anxiety, depression, and lack of self-confidence (Gregoire, 2013). Next, during adolescence many changes occur. Boys develop facial hair, their voices become deeper, and thei... ...
Susan Bordo states in her article “Never Just Pictures”, that children grow up knowing that they can never be thin enough. They are thought that being fat is the worst thing ever. The ones responsible for this are the media, celebrities, models, and fashion designers. All of these factors play a big role on the development of the standard and how people view themselves. Everyone at one dreams about being the best they can in any aspect. But to achieve that most believe that one of the big factors is outer beauty. So people look at celebrities and fashion designers, and believe that to be accepted they have to look like them. That’s when they take drastic measures to change their appearance because they’ve been influenced by the Medias idea of “beautiful.” This feeling mostly happens in women but in recent years the gender gap has become smaller. Now men also feel the need to look good because of the media. On the TV, instead of having infomercials ...
Teenagers constantly worry about their body image. Magazines, newspapers, and television don’t exactly help to boost their confidence. The portrayal of stick thin woman and body building men forces teens to believe they need to achieve that “perfect” body and look. The biggest issue of these images being broadcasted to teens is the effects that the images have on them. Teenagers who obsess over their body image can experience stress due to trying to impress others, develop an eating disorder, and neglect, and even jeopardize, important aspects of their lives when they focus too much on their body image.