Wandschneider: Media's influence on body image
By Jamie Wandschneider, jamie.wandschneider@iowastatedaily.com | Posted: Wednesday, September 25, 2013 12:00 am We all know that the media is everywhere. It influences us to buy certain products or to vote for a certain political candidate. What we don’t all know is that the media is a main accomplice of the negative ways women view their bodies. Nearly 91 percent of all women are unhappy with the appearance of their bodies. Teenage girls are dying to be thin, literally. We live in a day and age where adolescent girls cannot even look at a cover of a magazine without being bombarded with unrealistic photographs of celebrities supposedly possessing the perfect body. Once past the cover, the magazine’s pages are plastered with models that are supposed to represent what is beautiful. In 2009, Ralph Lauren released an ad that spiked much controversy between fashion and body image. We are pressured to believe that being skinny and beauty go hand in hand.
Media and Body Image | AdMedia
Written by: Joel Miller The media has a profound effect on people, particularly women, and the way that they perceive themselves and their bodies. Thanks to television, the Internet, and movies, media has a strong hold on women's personal perceptions of what beauty is supposed to be. Because of this, it has been known to contribute to some women experiencing eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. Young girls, teenagers, and even young adults should educate themselves about having a healthy body, and learn how to accept themselves for the beautiful person they are inside. Here are some statistics relating to the media and how it has an effect on women and their body image: Most models weigh an average of 23% less than a typical woman. 20 Tips to Help You Feel Better About Your Body Write down a list of the many things your body allows you to do, then read it often and add to it as you think of new things. Check out these other helpful resources to learn more:
Media, Body Image, and Eating Disorders
We live in a media-saturated world and do not control the message. Mass media provides a significantly influential context for people to learn about body ideals and the value placed on being attractive. Over 80% of Americans watch television daily. On average, these people watch over three hours per day.American children engage in increasing amounts of media use, a trend fueled largely by the growing availability of internet access through phones and laptops. Effects of Media There is no single cause of body dissatisfaction or disordered eating. Numerous correlational and experimental studies have linked exposure to the thin ideal in mass media to body dissatisfaction, internalization of the thin ideal, and disordered eating among women.The effect of media on women’s body dissatisfaction, thin ideal internalization, and disordered eating appears to be stronger among young adults than children and adolescents.
Academic Psychiatry | Body Image, Media, and Eating Disorders
Academic Psychiatry features original, scholarly work focused on academic leadership and innovative education in psychiatry, behavioral sciences, and the health professions at large. The Journal’s mission supports work that furthers knowledge and stimulates evidence-based advances in academic medicine in six key domains: education, leadership, finance and administration, career and professional development, ethics and professionalism, and health and well-being. Original articles present empirical research, systematic reviews, or critical analyses that inform one of these six key domains, important to academic psychiatry, behavioral sciences, and the health professions. Academic Psychiatry often assembles collections of papers on themes pertinent to its readership. The journal also invites full and brief empirical reports, as well as contributions to the educational resource column, the media column, commentaries, position papers, book reviews, poems, and letters to the editor.
Teen Health and the Media
Media's Effect on Body Image The popular media (television, movies, magazines, etc.) have, since World War II, increasingly held up a thinner and thinner body image as the ideal for women. In a survey of girls 9 and 10 years old, 40% have tried to lose weight, according to an ongoing study funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. In a study on fifth graders, 10 year old girls and boys told researchers they were dissatisfied with their own bodies after watching a music video by Britney Spears or a clip from the TV show "Friends". A 1996 study found that the amount of time an adolescent watches soaps, movies and music videos is associated with their degree of body dissatisfaction and desire to be thin. One study reports that at age thirteen, 53% of American girls are "unhappy with their bodies." Source: National Institute on Media and the Family A Focus on Appearance A Kaiser Foundation study by Nancy Signorielli found that: Source: National Institute on Media and the Family
CMCH
Body Image Skip to: The Downside The Upside Research on Media and Body Image What Parents Can Do Other Resources Body image is how a person feels about the way he or she looks. It is not based on fact, but rather is learned from the surrounding environment that surrounds us. Body image can change as children grow and become influenced by different biological, psychological, and social factors. Once kids reach their teen years, body image becomes closely related to self-esteem, so if kids do not feel good about their bodies, they may not feel confident about themselves. The Downside: Media Can Harm Body Image Research indicates that when a young person does not feel like his or her body meets society’s image of perfection, he or she can have a difficult time developing a strong self-esteem. Ideal Female Bodies Media teach young people that the ideal female should have a big chest, small waist, lean hips, no blemishes, no stretch marks, and no wrinkles. See other positive advertising:
Ratings quantify how much photos are altered
Redbook magazine published this altered photo of Faith Hill on its July… (Redbook ) Digitally-altered photographs in magazines and beyond -- a pimple fuzzed out here, a crooked nose reshaped there -- can be nice to look at. But as photo retouching has become more widespread, scientists worry that such idealized images have negative effects too, making people less satisfied with their own, less-than-perfect looks. When the website jezebel.com publicized apparent alterations to a photograph of the singer Faith Hill from a 2007 Redbook cover, readers recoiled. How to implement such guidelines? Computer scientists at Dartmouth University have come up with a "perceptually meaningful" way to quantify how much a photo has been retouched -- a rating that they say could "inform consumers of how much a photo has strayed from reality." Kee and Farid combined the summary statistics to rate how much photos had been retouched. Return to the Booster Shots blog.
