Female Body Image. One of the most important media-related issues that affect our society would have to be

Transcription

1 alston 1 Imani Alston October 31, 2013 Professor May Female Body Image One of the most important media-related issues that affect our society would have to be the way a woman s body image is represented. According to Dina L.G. Borzekowski and Angela M. Bayer, they define it as the internal representation of one's own outer appearance which reflects physical and perceptual dimensions. They also state that body image is closely related to self-esteem and self-concept. Social media, TV, and magazines all portray a certain body image that they expect woman to uphold. When we speak about the body, it is the spoken-about body we refer to, and not the body itself. The media has institutionalized the body beauty and advances in aesthetic surgery have made the pursuit of corporeal perfection possible. In an era where markets flourish, standardization of shape and form becomes society s ethos. If the mass media did not display what they think is the perfect body image women would be more comfortable with their own body image. Media affects everyone and their outlook on what the perfect body image is. It could be men, boys, girls, and women, but the most particular group that it focuses on is women and girls. According to Kaiser Foundation study by Nancy Signorielli in movies, particularly, but also in television shows and the accompanying commercials, women's and girls' appearance is frequently commented on: 58 percent of female characters in movies had comments made about their looks, as did 28 percent in television shows and 26 percent of the female models in the

2 alston 2 accompanying commercials. Furthermore one in every three (37%) articles in leading teen girl magazines also included a focus on appearance, and most of the advertisements (50%) used an appeal to beauty to sell their products. The commercials aimed at female viewers that ran during the television shows most often watched by teen girls also frequently used beauty as a product appeal. The relationship between the economy and the media has been studied by Becker and Hamburg (1996), who pointed to the circular relationship between consumers and the media industry. The study showed how every media representation, be it photograph, film, video, or advertisement, is an act of selling a message coded as an image. In these images the body is portrayed as a product that can be re-created or even purchased. The media s role here is marketing the very possibility of re-manufacturing one s self through the medium of images. This research clearly proves that the media is out to sell a certain body image to women all over the world. They want them to look a certain way so they can sell different products and advertisements. The evidence that I have to help support my claim is shown in the mass media every day. One specific commercial that stands out to me would have to be the Dove Evolution commercial. In this commercial Dove takes an ordinary woman to a photo shoot. Here they do all her makeup and hair. At the end of the of the photo shoot, the photos go on a laptop. This is where all the magic happens. They tighten up all the little areas on the woman s face so that she looks flawless. They make her neck longer; make her eyes bigger, her shoulders are made smaller. They even change her skin complexion. They clean up her hair so that it flows a certain way in the picture. They basically remake the model into someone that does not exist. The commercial

3 alston 3 is very mind blowing because when you look at those bill boards you think that those are actual models that exist. In reality they do not exist, they are just computerized. Another example would be Julia Roberts s make-up ad. Julia Roberts is a naturally beautiful woman, but she was also photo shopped. Britain decided to ban her make-up ad because it was overly photo shopped. There are young girls out there that look up to Julia Roberts and for her ad to be photo shopped, it gives these girls a false sense of reality. They think that Julia looks one way when she puts this makeup on when she actually does not. Britain felt as if it was overly airbrushed. When you look at the ad one could see exactly where they are coming from. The same action that was done in the Dove Evolution commercial was done in Julia Roberts s make-up ad. The consequences of these misleading ads are woman destroying their health. Models shown in all forms of popular media are often under what is considered healthy body weight, which sends a powerful message that women must sacrifice their health to be considered attractive by societal standards. The negative effects of ultra-thin media images of women have been well documented; research has shown that females who are repeatedly exposed to and internalize the thin ideal are at greater risk to develop body image disturbance and eating pathology. Studies have been proven that these false advertisements for the ideal body are direct reasons why females start developing eating disorders and ending up in a depressed state. There is a term called body dissatisfaction. Body dissatisfaction is a term used to express the feeling that people may have when their actual physical appearance is not how they would ideally like it to be. Grabe, Hyde, and Ward state that approximately 50% of girls and undergraduate women experience body dissatisfaction (2008). They also state that body

4 alston 4 dissatisfaction has been linked to critical physical and mental health problems and that a person experiencing body dissatisfaction is at great risk for developing an eating disorder. Having unrealistic expectation for one s body image creates a greater chance for body dissatisfaction. The media may influence one s body image through the constant portrayal of the thin ideal. For these young girls and women to portray the thin ideal they turn toward plastic surgery, excessive exercise, and eating disorders. This is making the female body to become thinner and thinner. The media targets young women drilling thinness and having no flaws as the height of being beautiful. Thanks to plastic surgery you can change your overall appearance. Plastic surgery has become more and more popular in the recent years. All women and young girls seem to want the perfect body. They want the perfect nose, lips, and cheek bones to fit these commercials and magazine ads. If women do not want to pay for the plastic surgery they turn to excessive exercise. It becomes their most important priority. Exercise becomes a problem when achievements of becoming fit, changes to wanting to reshape their bodies. If an individual cannot exercise she may suffer from severe withdraw symptoms. Another more serious and dangerous way for women to achieve the thin body is by having an eating disorder. The three main types of eating disorders are Anorexia, Bulimia, and Binge eating. Anorexia individuals have an intense fear of weight gain or becoming fat. Anorexia patients refuse to maintain a normal body weight for their height and age. Bulimia Nervosa occurs when a person has a constant episode of binge eating. They eat extremely large amounts of food at different times of the day. After this comes vomiting, misuse of laxatives, and diuretics. Binge eating alone is another way women try to achieve the ideal body image. There are three parts to a binge eating episode. Eating alone because of embarrassment about how

5 alston 5 much is eaten, eating large amounts of food when not hungry and feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or very guilty about eating. Binge eating occurs at least twice a week for six months or more. The media definitely needs to change their image on how women should look. Women should not have to worry about what they look like or what they eat. Also how certain clothes look on them. Instead they should be having fun looking into the future, and not constantly stuck in the mirror wishing they were something there not. The media needs to make more ads and commercials about women feeling comfortable in the skin they are in. It will give them confidence in themselves to not only wear whatever they want to wear, but to also go out and do whatever they want to do. If the media can have such a huge negative effect on the female s body image, just imagine if they had a positive effect on it. There are different solutions to this issue with women and how their body image is portrayed. According to Rabbi Shmuley here are five quick reasonable solutions to this problem. The first one is to stop buying into the media. Save your money and don't buy the glossy magazines that make you feel terrible about the way you look. Second you should not compare yourself to other women. Stop measuring yourself against women you consider younger, more beautiful and more glamorous than yourself. Identify your gift, your uniqueness that you have that no other woman has, and gain confidence through it. Thirdly you should insert yourself into a healthier environment. Don't hang around shallow men who reduce women to "all cover and no book. Also, spend your time in more spiritual and knowledge-based environments, such as church, continuing education classes and charity events. Be in a place where your mind and heart are appreciated and where that constitutes part of your attractiveness. Next you need to look into the mirror and learn to love yourself. Force yourself to look into the mirror until you begin to

6 alston 6 like what you see. Lastly, you should sit down and discus your body image with your spouse. If you are married, you need to be honest with your husband about how you feel about your body. The more you get it out of your system, the more you'll be able to examine it in the light of reason and see that it's unreasonable. For young girls the solution to this problem may be different. Parents should definitely get involved when it comes to their daughters and their body image. Hobbs says that Co-viewing is a great way to do this. Co-viewing is the act of parents watching TV or viewing the Internet with their daughters. This allows the parents and their daughters to talk about the patterns of representation. When parents learn firsthand how their daughters perceive celebrities, it can lead to a lesson in media literacy. To divert attention from media-driven images of being super skinny, some parents engage their daughters in sports, but that does not always work. Some athletic pursuits emphasize that what you look like is important, which might put girls more at risk. Overall we need to start using different resources to change how girls and women perceive their bodies. It is time for us to take charge and tell the media what the female body image.