The Medias Effect on Female Body Image- FINAL BLOG*

“The barrage of messages about thinness, dieting and beauty tells "ordinary" women that they are always in need of adjustment—and that the female body is an object to be perfected" (Kilbourne, Jean).

In today’s culture the implicitly to emphasize the importance of beauty specifically to those of females has become a cultural phenomenon throughout advertisement. The constant exposure of the female body through advertising has influenced many girls and woman to constantly become self-conscious about the way their body should look. This ceaseless obsession over a woman’s physical appearance due to this continuous revelation in the tabloids to engage in beauty products, diet supplements, and to demonstrate the correct eating habits has become unbearable in our society today. The overpowering occurrence of the medias image of terribly thin woman entails that our real body, given by god has become hidden in our own minds due to mass media."Many women internalize these stereotypes, and judge themselves by the beauty industry's standards. Women learn to compare themselves to other women, and to compete with them for male attention. This focus on beauty and desirability "effectively destroys any awareness and action that might help to change that climate.” Media Awareness Network). As a culture we must endorse the media to present more diverse images about health and self esteem. If this pressure were reduced woman would have more satisfaction in their bodies to look like real woman instead of the artificial depictions we view, read, and see daily.

The THIN Message

One of the largest forms of mass media is the tabloid industry. Researchers have indicated that exposure to images of thin, beautiful, airbrushed celebrities of the female body is linked to depression. Speaking from female voice in the college environment, I can say that the insecurity about our bodies from looking at the medias impression of a female is a primary factor in the loss of self-esteem along with the development of unhealthy eating habits. “Researchers report that women’s magazines have ten and one-half times more ads and articles promoting weight loss than men’s magazines do, and over three-quarters of the covers of women’s magazines include at least one message about how to change a woman’s bodily appearance—by diet, exercise or cosmetic surgery”(Media Awareness Network). The method, in which magazine and diet industries succeed at when a woman reads their issue and examines the striking attractiveness of celebrities, does nothing but lowers a girl’s satisfaction with their own attractiveness. According to a survey conducted at Sanford University, 68% of undergraduate, and graduate students felt worse about their appearance after looking through woman’s magazines. In addition, from gazing at these false interpreted images of woman in magazines 75% of “normal” weight woman thought they were overweight, and 90% of woman overestimated their body size (Croft, America’s Mental Health Channel). These appalling statistics exhibit a central apprehension by the frequency of this “distorted body image” among females. By mass media illustrating this deceptive way to look, promotes a fear in woman that their body and looks are not suitable for society and once again shows evidence of self-comparison to “extremely thin figures promoted in the media”.

The DiStoRtEd Image

Throughout generations, the medias image of a woman’s body has changed drastically to what it symbolizes in our culture today.One of the chief causes of the displeasure that many woman face in regards to their body is based on mass medias “perfect” depiction of a woman’s look. Mass medias message screams “thin is in”. Even though this message may not directly cause eating disorders, it definitely assists woman to assess their size and shape of their body. According to statistics, the number one wish for girls ages 11-17 is to be thinner, and girls as young as five have expressed fears of getting fat. (Croft, America’s Mental Health Channel). “One study found that 47% of girls that were influenced by magazine pictures to want to lose weight, but only 29% were actually overweight. In a completely different study, 69% of girls said that magazine models influence their idea of the perfect body shape, and the pervasive acceptance of this unrealistic body type creates an impractical standard for the majority of women” (Croft, America’s Mental Health Channel).This problematic issue of being slim that the media exemplifies through magazines and other forms of advertisement is aiming at all ages of woman. Many of these targets are becoming victims of anxiety, anorexia and bulimia after extended exposure to advertising images in teen, adult, and gossip magazines (Croft, America’s Mental Health Channel). The American research group Anorexia Nervosa & Related Eating Disorders Inc. quoted that one out of every four college-aged woman uses unhealthy techniques of weight control. Fasting, skipping meals, intense excessive exercise, self tempt vomiting, drugs, and laxative abuse is some of the methods that these girls part take in due to the pressure to be thin. Marika Tiggeman and Levina Clark conducted a study in 2006 called ““Appearance Culture in Nine- to 12-Year-Old Girls: Media and Peer Influences on Body Dissatisfaction”. This study indicated that nearly half of all preadolescent girls that subscribe themselves to magazines monthly wish to thinner, and as a result have utilized ways of dieting.

The Market’s Desire

Advertising dominates the market place. Advertisers believe that thin models, celebrities, and promoters are the key to sell products. The mass media uses a strategy to promote the unrealistic image of thinness to create an inaccessible need that can compel product consumption. The markets desire to present these beautifully structured woman to everyone through advertisement endorses frustration and dissatisfaction in many woman of all ages in regards to their body. The desire to look like the role models and celebrities that are shown from cover to cover motivates woman to spend endless amounts of money and purchase various products, diets, and equipment in hopes to look identical to the images shown. A few years back, the Australian New Woman’s magazine incorporated an image of a heavyset model onto the cover of an issue. The heavyset woman on the cover resulted in numerous letters from readers admiring the modification to the magazine. However, the market protested and the Advertising Age International stated “the incident made clear the influence wielded by advertisers who remain convinced that only thin models spur the sales of beauty products”.

Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School stated "the diet industry alone generates $33 billion in revenue, advertisers have been successful with their marketing strategy”. (Croft, America’s Mental Health Channel). In addition, studies have shown that 50% of advertisements in teen girl magazines aimed at female viewers used beauty and body images as product appeal. (Croft, America’s Mental Health Channel). Also, Jean Kilbourne states "Women are sold to the diet industry by the magazines we read and the television programs we watch, almost all of which make us feel anxious about our weight."

“SLIM HOPES”

A famous lecturer from Harvard University Jean Kilbourne, takes on the role of educating the awareness of advertising that has created the cultural obsession with thinness. Kilbourne is an emotional woman speaker on the role of the media in the protest of woman. This educational documentary titled “Slim Hopes: Advertising & the Obsession with Thinness” investigates advertising of medias fascination with unnaturally thin woman. Jean Kilbourne’s groundbreaking documentary issues a warning to call to America in which “If we don't combat these insidious images of unattainable beauty, young girls will grow into young women with problematic self-images, low self-esteem, deadly eating disorders, and chronic dissatisfaction. (Kilbourne, Jean).

“Slim Hopes: Advertising & the Obsession with Thinness”

The debate over the image of beauty constructed by the media is a permanent concern in our society. The objective in the advertising industry to sell products is generating insecurity and unhappiness in woman of all ages. Having woman feel that they have not met the cultural beauty standard because of the medias exposure to false imagery is an issue that is being tackled daily. The portrayal in magazines, film, and television of the airbrushed and surgically amended woman has shown that the media is currently conflicting with the woman’s mind of body image. The powerful notion that has been engraved into the minds of such young woman is leading to harmful effects. The importance the media plays on influencing the opinions in regards to body image is something that as a society we need to repair because finding the “ideal” body is almost impossible to attain by anyone. The unsuccessful efforts to look like the Media’s representation of “beautiful” results in eating disorders, and other severe medical conditions. The answer we as woman must tell ourselves when seeing these advertisements is that, there is a body type that exists between unhealthy and healthy. In addition we must not let the mass medias illustrations generate the idea in our minds that we should alter our looks to the medias standards.

Tyra Banks: Former Super Model- Final Thoughts: Body Image

Beauty and Body Image in the Media." Media Awareness Network |Raseau Educatio medias. 03 May 2009 .

Croft, Harry. "Eating Disorders: Body Image and Advertising." Healthy Place. America's Mental Health Channel, 20 Apr. 2000. Web. 1 May 2010. .

Kilbourne, Jean. "KILLING US SOFTLY 3 Advertising's Image of Women." Lecture. Media Education Foundation. 2000. Web. 1 May 2010. .

"The Media Lies." Our Bodies Ourselves. Health Resource Center. Web. 1 May 2010. .

"Trends in Media Depictions of the Ideal Body, Media Effects on Body Image Read More: Body Image, Media Effect on - Trends in Media Depictions of the Ideal Body, Media Effects on Body Image Http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/6435/Body-Image-Media-Effecton.html#ixzz0mouWXGhV." Online Encyclopedia. Web.