How Does Media Cause A Negative Impact On Body Image
Does the media cause a negative impact on body image?
Body image is a person’s personal idea of their physical image and their thoughts and feelings on how they look. A large amount of the population have a negative perception of their body image and whilst this can be due to many different personal and environmental factors, one of the possible causes is exposure to the media. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated disorders, the body type portrayed in advertising is only possessed naturally by around 5% of American females. Therefore, it can be argued that the media creates unrealistic expectations that cause people to view themselves as less attractive than those in the media, therefore causing a negative impact on body image.
Disney has a huge influence on …show more content…
It has been proven that in sitcoms, only 5% of the women are overweight. However, those who are represented tend to be the “stereotypical fat person” as they are portrayed as clumsy, idiotic and unlikely to have any romantic interests. For example, in hit 90’s show “Friends,” character Monica Geller is portrayed as a beautiful, skinny woman. However, in flashbacks to her teenage and college years she is an overweight girl and is referred to as “fat Monica.” She is constantly mocked for her weight and is only given any sort of romantic interests once she loses weight after overhearing another character calling her fat. This creates the idea that women who are not slim are unappealing and will never find love. Overall, the representation of overweight women contributes to negative body image as it causes women to feel insecure about their weight and feel as though they can’t achieve the same things as a slimmer woman could and contributes to the rise in mental illnesses such as anorexia and
Body image is a person’s personal idea of their physical image and their thoughts and feelings on how they look. A large amount of the population have a negative perception of their body image and whilst this can be due to many different personal and environmental factors, one of the possible causes is exposure to the media. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated disorders, the body type portrayed in advertising is only possessed naturally by around 5% of American females. Therefore, it can be argued that the media creates unrealistic expectations that cause people to view themselves as less attractive than those in the media, therefore causing a negative impact on body image.
Disney has a huge influence on …show more content…
It has been proven that in sitcoms, only 5% of the women are overweight. However, those who are represented tend to be the “stereotypical fat person” as they are portrayed as clumsy, idiotic and unlikely to have any romantic interests. For example, in hit 90’s show “Friends,” character Monica Geller is portrayed as a beautiful, skinny woman. However, in flashbacks to her teenage and college years she is an overweight girl and is referred to as “fat Monica.” She is constantly mocked for her weight and is only given any sort of romantic interests once she loses weight after overhearing another character calling her fat. This creates the idea that women who are not slim are unappealing and will never find love. Overall, the representation of overweight women contributes to negative body image as it causes women to feel insecure about their weight and feel as though they can’t achieve the same things as a slimmer woman could and contributes to the rise in mental illnesses such as anorexia and