Women Body Image

Young women’s body image in the 21st century is largely influenced by mass media. In today’s world, advertisements can be seen almost everywhere you look. Young women see advertisements on billboards as they drive or walk by places, on buses that are passing by, on benches they may sit on, in magazines that they pick up to read and on the TV they watch to escape from a long day. The cell phones that are glued to their hand 24/7 also subject them to seeing advertisements on the internet and social media. A lot of the advertisements that you see in these places are typically photos or videos of beautiful women that use a certain product or wear certain clothes. Just by seeing these advertisements, young women are being influenced on what products
During the first week of class it was taught that C Wright Mills was the man responsible for giving a name to a new sociological way of thinking. This way of thinking was called the sociological imagination. The sociological imagination calls for one to take a step back and look at their problems from a larger frame. When one does this, they are able to see the bigger picture and realize that their personal problem is not just a problem for them but is also a problem for others in society. The reason that their problem also affects others is because the problem stems from cultural or social “norms” and one feels as if they need to conform to them. A lot of young women in today’s world struggle with their body image. This is because they see advertisements, pictures and videos of flawless women and all of these influence younger girls by setting a standard of what is considered to be beautiful. Majority of the young women in the 21st century do not have the same body type or the same features that these “ideal” women have so they are not able conform and do not see themselves as being as
Society as a whole has standards for what a person should look like. This standard that has been set comes from the media and the photos and videos that they advertise nationally. The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders reported that the body type portrayed in advertising as the ideal body is only naturally possessed by only 5% of Americans. On top of that, they also conducted a study that revealed that 69% of girls in 5th – 12th grade admitted that magazine pictures influenced their idea of the body shape (“Self Image…”). The media and society both hold impossibly high standards that can never be met by myself or others. When looking at this body imagine from a historical stand point it can be noted that women have influenced by media for a long time. The media did not just start influencing what the ideal body type is in the 21st century. The media affected my mother’s view of her body and it also affected her mother’s body image. This shows that negative body image has been a problem that women have had for generations. The media does not just hold power over me and my family, it also influences other women and young girls body image all across the nation. This is because women feel the need to conform to societies standard of beauty. Some women will try to conform to these standards