Women's Negative Body Image

One reason girls experience negative body image is because they are shaped by social media. All of these images, whether they are represented in a magazine or posted on Instagram, resemble toothpick thin models that we consider ‘perfect.’ Many young women consider them their role models. That being said, what most people still don’t realize is that majority of the pictures shown in magazines such as Glamour magazine, or Seventeen, have been photoshopped or altered to make the appearance of models thinner. In a TED Talk, Chawisa Staman talks about how to overcome the ideals of becoming ‘perfect.’ When covering the topic of advertisements she states, “Are you aware that 99.9% of those were photoshopped” (TEDTalks 1:22). The women in the photos
are photoshopped to cover their imperfections. We should not have to cover up who we are just to satisfy the needs of others. Girls should feel comfortable in their own bodies. Ncbi conducted a study of the relationship between media and eating disorders among undergraduate college students and found that media exposure predicted disordered eating symptomatology, drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction and ineffectiveness in women (19). This shows how the effect of social media is a growing problem.