The article “Girls’ Bodies, Girls’ Selves: Body Image, Identity, and Sexuality” by Elline Lipkin is an informative article describing how men and women are treated differently in certain scenarios throughout the country. The title of the article suggests that females are having trouble figuring out who they really are with or without the help of media and advertisement. The title also suggests that women are the only ones who suffer from sexual objectification, which is not the case.…
The media has allowed others to expect that all women must have a perfect body. Young girls are seeing these messages and trying to mold themselves into these bodies. After this assignment, I was able to reflect how the media’s portrayal affects women’s self-esteem. We strive for unreachable expectations that aren’t real. They cause harm to a young girl’s self-image. I was also able to realize that ads and popular songs objectify women in a disgusting manner. It is upsetting to realize how many young girls listen and see these types of ads and songs. It is horrible that so many people are actually taking these fake images into consideration and striving for that type of body. By watching these films and applying them to real life examples, it has allowed me to understand that these issues are greater than we…
Body image is a topic of hot debate in our times; the media appears to be the chief…
A wide variety of advertisements have been creating numerous images of men and women for years now regarding gender roles and sex diversity. The advertising industry in particular has formed the impression that “sex sells,” now using women’s bodies as sex objects (Ford, 2008). Previous research has shown men are being outnumbered when it comes to women being sexualized. More importantly, the advertising industry has shown what the “accurate” gender roles for men and women are to be. Men are to be dominant, tough, strong, independent, and detached. Contrastingly, women are to be dependent, loving mothers and wives, concerned with beauty, and emotional. This literature review will look at the ways magazine advertisements portray objects and figures,…
It has long been generally accepted that we as humans are influenced greatly by the things that surround our everyday lives. These things can include friends, family, co-workers, the media and even society as a whole. The society in which people live can play a huge role in how they view themselves and how they view others. Over the years researchers have come up with many theories as to how and why society has such a large influence on people. Now-a-days there are appearance prescriptions for everything in our society. It is not good to be too fat, but it is not good to be too skinny either. The way a person looks, dresses and acts is a large factor in how other people will think about, talk about and respond to them. These societal prescriptions also differentiate between other factors such as gender, race, level of education and more. Interestingly most of these prescriptions for appearance in society today are relatively unspoken until someone violates them. This paper will attempt to shed some light on the complex societal prescriptions regarding personal appearance and body imaging; more specifically it will delve into how those prescriptions are gendered within society and how people respond both positively and negatively to those prescriptions.…
Women, beauty, sex, money--they may seem like completely unrelated words but when combined together create a powerful driving force within American society. This “driving force” is known as media, though, in this essay, I will be focusing mainly on advertisements. There are a variety of ads being made everyday and can be spotted almost everywhere; billboards, magazines, shops, and even online, just to name a few. However, many of these ads--ranging from food to fashion--have began involving women in them. Not just any women either; these women are the idealized women American society has conceptualized as they flaunt their bodies whilst also implying sexual themes. Individuals, literally and figurative, by into the way these advertisements…
Cited: 5. Serdar, Kasey L. "Female Body Image and the Mass Media: Perspectives on How Women…
Grabe, Shelley, L. Monique Ward, and Janet Shibley Hyde. The Role of the Media in Body Image Concerns Among Women: A Meta-Analysis of Experimental and Correlational Studies. Rep. American Psychological Association, 15 Jan. 2008. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.…
In this era, both men and women are obsessed with beauty and obtaining perfect bodies to be accepted by society. The majority of the population can be found on social sites or watches numerous hours of television a year, which contain advertisements and product placement. The media is responsible for creating the idea of what body image and beauty standards are accepted. Body image plays a very important role in our society in shaping our identities. Advertisements can have both benefits and damages depending on the illustration, model, and message. In the United States, the damages associated with negative body image is a significant problem as young adolescents, in an effort to adhere to the supposed criterion of beauty, consequently develop…
The message sent by the concept of media itself is that one’s self-worth can be measured rather accurately through the perception of others. According to James (2013), “Beauty plays a significant role in women’s lives, but throughout the use of ideals, women’s perceptions can be easily altered in high levels of insecurities” (p.2); thus, depicting how socially constructed beauty standards, determine the existence of one’s self-esteem. The most prominent way of influencing a woman’s body image, is through media representations and advertisements. Since the development of technology, in particular photo-shop and airbrushing, media has strengthened its grip on today’s society. Since social media has employed the idea of associating fame with likes, in their absence people feel worthless, empty, and not beautiful. Additionally, despite one’s whereabouts and country of birth, they still have to abide to that society’s standards. Advertisements have taken over the idealism of consumerism, and are using the dangerous vanity found in various cultures, to inflict upon women, how beauty “should” look like. As James (2013) stated in her article, “Through advertisements on television and in fashion magazines, the media has embedded ideal Western appearances on women” (p.2), therefore they must be blindly followed in order to be praised and valued. In the frame of…
Like previously stated, kids are influenced by the television and this absurd body shape is something that is seen on the daily. From a young age it is taught to be fit, stay in shape and have this perfect figure, and this social fact is shown immensely through today’s society. In a recent study it is shown that Americans spend at least $60 billion annually on gym memberships, weight-loss programs and even diet soda, just to try and lose weight (McVey, Pepler, Davis, 2002). Both male and female have an ideal image that is much different than the average body, and this idea mediates throughout our culture. For women the ideal image is to have bigger breasts and smaller waist compared to the average female. Men’s ideal image of themselves is to have broad, strong shoulders and chest, which definitely differs from the real image. Bryan Alexander, the publisher of “Ideal to Real: What the ‘Perfect’ Body Really Looks Like for Men and women”, for Today, was given various sets of images to reflect “ideal” and “real” body size and shape. Alexander investigates the difference between society’s ideal body shape and the actual average size and shape. The cogitation that women need to be beautiful and thin, and men need to be strong and masculine comes from none other than today’s society. Society sets up these rules that men and women are living by, and when some expectations are not met the only…
Exposure to the “ideal” body images has been found to lower women's satisfaction with their own attractiveness. (1)…
How does the media influence our body image? In what forms, does the media influence our perceptions about our body? These were the two questions that I asked myself in order to do the research paper and the panel discussion. In my opinion, I would agree that the media does influence and promote women and men to believe that the culture's standards for body image are ideal. Hence, the phrases, "thin is in" and "the perfect body" are two examples of "eye-catching" headlines that I observed in many women magazines. I learned that the media influences us through television, fashion and health magazines, music videos, film, commercials, and various other advertisements. Sadly, as a result, this repeated exposure, the "thin" ideal, can lead many young girls in triggering eating disorders, depression, low self-esteem, stress, and suicide. After acquiring this relevant information, I decided to focus my research on what type of media influences elementary school children and the adolescent teenager. The three central types of media that I found that did indeed influence body image are: Fashion magazines, famous top-models and actresses, and teenage or young adult women in the music industry.…
For centuries men have been comparing their bodies to the media, and looking for ideas on how to achieve the expectations of societies perfect muscular body image. During the previous years men would try to look like famous role models, so they could have a healthy body. Today, not that much has changed and men are still comparing their body images to famous male role models. One excellent example is NFL football players like Tom Brady, Cam Newton, and Russel Wilson. The above mentioned players body image effects how men pursue their own body image ambitions. These men want an athletic body; however, some men never accomplish their prospections. They think that they are incapable of having a muscular body, so men have negative body image effects such as body hate, unhealthy dieting habits, and low self esteem.…
The media has less affected male body image. Men have historically been judged by strength and achievement; however, they are not immune to the media’s influence on appearance. Marketing and television shows have created an environment where a man’s physique has become as important as his possessions and his achievements. This causes men to want the ideal body a man should have that the media displays, so they would take medication’s or over work their body to try and attempt at gaining the “ideal” physique. As with women the ideal male body image has become unrealistic and impossible to achieve.…