In today’s society, as well as the media, appearance has become the most onerous topic. One is expected to live up to the horrendous, unfeasible standards of beauty. Body image has become an issue greatly emphasized within the media and society, along with other issues such as self-presentation and inner vs. outer personality. There is a not-so-new obsession with women being thin and brittle, and with men having muscles impossible to achieve without the help of illegal or harmful substances, thus leaving the human race to live in a world more focused on “fitting in” than having individuality. The general public is influenced on a daily basis to imitate the media’s unrealistic expectations of appearance.
Body image concerns millions of people all over the world each and every day. It “is a complicated aspect that concerns an individual’s perceptions and feelings about their body and physical appearance” (Serdar). Each and every individual is born with a different body type, and no two are exactly the same. Yes, some may fall into the same categories, but do not share every identical trait. Humans can be born with minute frames and carry hardly any weight their entire lives, while others may be born with larger frames and hold more weight. Normal human beings become hungry every few hours, and some actually eat, which can eventually lead to a small amount of gain. Others may gain larger amounts, depending on how active one decides to be. Each person is different.
Self-presentation is an aspect of body image that holds importance to most. There are few with a high confidence level, and the media’s high expectations only lower these levels. It is obvious that concerns about these types of things show more prevalence ...
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Today in modern society, we are driven by social forces. The media plays such a pivotal role in what we buy, eat, wear, etc. that we are conditioning ourselves to fit the mold for the “perfect” or “ideal” body type. This social construct has been a pressing issue for many years regarding the negative effects it has had on the female physique, but not as much has been said on behalf of men. What negative effects do the media have on male body image? When confronted with appearance based advertisements, men are more likely to experience both physical insecurities and emotional issues related to body image. This paper will address these facets of the media’s negative
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.
Like a blueprint or instruction manual, the objective of a rhetorical analysis is to dissect a written argument, identify its many parts, and explain how all of them come together to achieve a desired effect. Susan Bordo, a professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Kentucky, wrote “The Empire of Images in Our World of Bodies”, published in 2003 in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Her essay examines how the media plays a pervasive role in how women view their bodies to the point where we live in an empire of images and there are no protective borders. In “The Empire of Images in Our World of Bodies”, Bordo not only effectively incorporates numerous facts and statistics from her own research and the research of others; she also appeals to emotional realities of anxiety and inadequacy felt by women all over the world in regards to their body image. Ultimately, her intent is to critique the influence of the media on self-confidence and body image, and to remind her audience of the overt as well as subconscious messages they are receiving on a daily basis.
Van Vonderen, K. E., & Kinnally, W. (2012). Media effects on body image: Examining media
According to Beverly Ballaro, the combination of two trends, the technology-enabled media saturation of the American public, and the promotion by this media of highly unattainable body types, is largely responsible for an epidemic of body image pathologies afflicting American girls and women, as well as an increasing number of boys and men. She also mentions that the media has given certain images for each gender. Generally, for females the body image is extremely thin, and there is an emphasis on large breasts and for males, tall, slender, muscular and toned. For both genders, the most valued and appreciated appearance i...
Body image is what you believe about your physical appearance. Images of beautiful men and women are displayed everywhere from billboards to television advertisements. Fortunately, everyone does not look the same. Looking at models and movie stars often can create a negative self image of oneself in relation to these images. Approximately 46 percent of men of normal weight think about how they look constantly or frequently (Cloud, 46). The emergence of men’s new obsession with body image is connected to pressures from the media, plastic surgeons, and peers.
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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.
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...
The importance of body image and the idealisation of the ideal body have become more dominant in society today.
Vargas, L E. (2013) The Negative Effects of The Media on Body Image. Personal.psu.edu. Retrieved 30 Nov. 17 from: