Body Image In The Media Essay

The media can be considered as one of the most pervasive forces in the world. It is always seeking to inform us, persuade us, entertain us, and change us. Teenagers and young adults in particular, spend a majority of their time viewing all sorts of media. Now with the prevalence of smart phones it makes it so much easier to be in constant contact with the media. Along with television, music, magazines, social media, Every day people are bombarded by magazines, televisions, music and social media, pictures and messages telling them to strive to be like the people they see and read about. The “accepted” body ideal has changed over time and has been molded into an almost completely unattainable standard. That standard more often than not, is
This body ideal point comes from what one believes is expected by society in terms of physical appearance/beauty. In contrast to the socially idealized body, the objective body involves a person's own judgment of their body. A person's liking or disliking with particular characteristics of their physical appearance can be defined as the objective body. The internalized ideal body involves an individual aspirations to achieve what they believe to be the ideal body image. The socially represented ideal body and the internalized ideal body may lead to an increase their body with an internalized body ideal ( Knauss, Paxton, & Alasker, 2008). While it is very unlikely that the media will change the way they depict women, maybe the answer is to change a woman's internalized idea body to reflect a body image that is realistic and obtainable. If women can be learn not to take to heart the sociocultural ideals of todays time, then they may be able to reverse the negative effects of the ultra-thin images portrayed in the