Influence Of Media On Body Image Essay
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The influence of the media on the proliferation of eating disorders cannot be refuted. From an early age we are bombarded with images and messages that reinforce the idea that to be happy and successful we must be thin. Today, you cannot read a magazine or newspaper, turn on the television, listen to the radio, or shop at the mall without being assaulted with the message that fat is bad. The most frightening part is that this destructive message is reaching kids. Adolescents often feel fatally flawed if their weight, hips, and breasts don’t match up to those of models and actors. Today even elementary school aged children are obsessed with their weight. The media’s obsession with thinness and perfection has increased adolescent dissatisfaction with their bodies. The statistics and facts that document how obsessed we are as a society with the pursuit of thinness are sad reminders of the power the media has in how our society evaluates self-worth.
Eating disorders are complex conditions that arise from a variety of factors, including psychological, interpersonal, and social issues. Media images that help to create cultural definitions of beauty and attractiveness are often acknowledged as being among those factors contributing to the risk of eating disorders. Media messages screaming “thin is in” may not directly cause eating disorders, but they help to create the context within which people learn to place a value on the size and shape of their body. To the extent that media messages like advertising and celebrity spotlights help our culture define what is beautiful and what is “good,” the media’s power over our development of self-esteem and body image can be incredibly strong.
Media such as television, movies, and magazines are considered to be among the most influential promoters of the thin standard, given their popularity and increase to the American people. Importantly, this effect has the potential to increase given continuing advances in technology and the increasing popularity and accessibility of computers and the Internet. American culture is not only affecting its own youth. For example, following the introduction of Western television in Fiji there was a dramatic increase in the rate of eating disorders. This is a tragic occurrence that is only destined to continue if the media does not relent in perpetuating harmful messages about attractiveness.
Furthermore, the images that society receives through the media are merely images. The viewer does not see the imperfections of the models before they are airbrushed to achieve the ideal look that is so impossibly appealing to many young girls. I recall watching a television interview where an actress unveiled the hoax behind the scene of fashion shoots. She talked in detail about how every inch of a magazine picture is touched up to the point of virtual indistinction between the actual model herself and the finished photo. The finished photo, however is what a young adolescent will see and compare their own body to. While only one out of ten high school girls are overweight, one out of ten high school juniors and seniors diet. They are dieting to achieve some ethereal shape created by a computer, actually defying reality.
Ironically in our “thinness” obsessed society, overweight is undeniably a problem. As many...
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