Influence Of Body Image On Society

Body Image: Evaluating How Society
Affects the Way Women View their Bodies It is the 21st century and the ideal body for women has evolved drastically. Many aspects in society influence how women feel about their bodies; magazines, advertisements, movies. The way females view their bodies even starts at an early age with the initial influence of Barbie dolls. Women have gone to great lengths to achieve the “ideal body”. Eating disorders and emotional distress are a few examples. Society has a great impact on the way females view their natural bodies and the outcomes can be negative. The ideal figure of American women has evolved throughout history. In the 1800 's women were more heavy set, this plump figure was considered to be beautiful

Obviously the body sizes of women have been getting smaller in media continuously over the years. Different influences on how women view their bodies come from sources such as fashion, advertisements, and magazines. Beauty sells and the women pictured within these medias are equivalent to role models for most girls. Women strive to look like the model on the front cover of Cosmopolitan Magazine or fit into the crop top at Forever 21 that reveals the navel. American women views these figures as successful and popular because of their “ideal bodies”. Sarah Patterson, a student at USI, said that she believes, “Women are impacted by fashion because we are taught that if we don 't look like the model then we have a less likely chance of marriage, success, etc.” Researchers have invented a term known as “thin-ideal media” and this vocabulary emphasizes the idea that thinness is a positive body frame to obtain even if it is potentially harmful to the persons health. Salenna Russello has done research on thin-ideal media and informs readers, “Most of the women portrayed in the media are fifteen percent below the average weight for women, and there has been evidence that these women have become increasingly thinner over the years” (Impact