Long Legs And Tight Tummies Analysis

Long Legs and Tight Tummies:
Media Impact on Female Body Image
Media is everywhere you go whether it is in a magazine, commercial, television show, social media, or any of the other countless forms. The media is constantly portraying women as an unrealistic, perfect kind of beautiful. This perfect, beautiful is impossible for anyone to live up to, but it is also impossible for anyone to ignore. The role of media in our society is diminishing young women's body image and their self esteem by targeting the idea of “thinspiration”. The idea of thinspiration is a new, modernistic way of life that consists of images that are meant to be positive, motivational, and inspirational. According to Klein it is not unusual to see images promoting the
There are two main psychological theories that are prevalent in young women whose self esteem and body dissatisfaction are impacted by the media. The first theory is Leon Feininger’s Social Comparison Theory, which is defined by “People evaluate their opinions and abilities by comparison respectively, with the opinions and abilities of others” (Festinger 119). In other words, people judge what they do based on what they see is going on around them, especially on the media where society dictates what body image should look like. “Social comparison theory recognizes that women who are already dissatisfied with their appearance are more likely to make upward comparisons and participate in more detrimental activities to eventually reach an ‘ideal’ appearance” (Klein 67). In short Klein is saying the idea of thinspiration starts a chain of feeling self dissatisfaction. The second theory is Social Physique Anxiety, and is described by Fitzsimmons as insecurity, the fear that you are being judged by others. An experiment was performed that tested 265 college females and examined social comparison and body surveillance as moderators of the relation between social physique anxiety and eating disorders. The results showed that those who have high levels of disordered eating are associated with social physique anxiety, concluding that the clinical implications of
Some of the most common types of eating disorders include Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia. In Emily Roberts article, “Self-Esteem and Girls: The Media's Role”, she tells a story about a young girl named Bailey who came into a clinic only weighing sixty-two pounds. She was diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa and had no idea or understanding of when or how these came about. She was unsatisfied and confused about being put in treatment for something she didn’t even recognize was happening. While in treatment she came to realize that her her body image negativity came long before her issue with food, it began when she watched her favorite show on Disney Channel. Bailey was very insecure and self-doubting because she wanted to look like the girl in that television show and she couldn’t grasp why she wasn’t perfect like the other actresses (Roberts). Bailey is just an example of a million other cases of young women with a low self-esteem brought on by the media. Women with Anorexia Nervosa have a fear of gaining weight, in order to prevent gaining weight one must limit food intake or even starve themselves. Bulimia is similar, but instead of the fear of gaining weight, they are able to control the amount of food they eat. Bulimia individuals try and control their food intake by eating excessive amounts of food in a short period