The use of social media causes negative body image in women and can contribute to eating disorders. With 400 million users on Instagram, 316 million users on Twitter and 1.23 billion users on FaceBook, as of 2015, society has adapted to a world controlled and manipulated by social media (“Global Social Network by Users 2015”). According to Merriam-Webster Dictionaries, social media are forms of electronic communication where consumers create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content like pictures and videos (Merriam-Webster). The online presence of young adults, especially women and their reliance on social media can influence perceptions of their body image. It is important to differentiate the
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Beauty is a central element of erotic capital, and varies in ideas about what constitutes beauty. In Western societies, as discussed above, having a flat stomach, looking "healthy skinny", large breasts and butt, but not too large and having a thigh gap is what is considered beautiful. The second element of erotic capital is sexual attractiveness, which can also be determined by how feminine you are; or just your sex appeal. Thirdly, you need to have exquisite social skills. The whole package includes, being happy, charming and graceful. The fourth element is liveliness, which combines physical fitness, social energy and humour. Another important element is social presentation which includes your style (clothes and accessories), perfume, hair and makeup. These announce your social status and style to everyone around you. The final element is sexuality itself: being playful, sexually experienced and making sure your partner is satisfied sexually (Hakin). Social media taps into all of these elements in many ways, some being more obvious than others. For example, advertisements that are located on YouTube are usually for various products. More recently, even 30 second beer commercials show beautiful women, with “perfect figures”, big lips, perfect hair and makeup serving men beer. Through the commercials, women have …show more content…
Social media causes women to question and criticize their body image. For example, Essena O’Neil an 18 girl from Australia, is the perfect example of erotic capital. Although she had more than half a million followers on Instagram, has decided to quit the social media application. Before she decided to take a stand against what social media stands for, her pictures on Instagram show her physically fit body in bikini’s, in beautiful, stylish outfits, and kissing beautiful men. She describes it as “contrived perfection made to get attention” (The Guardian). In the hopes of getting “likes” on her Instagram posts, and to get paid by the companies whose products she was posing with, she would often have to dramatically reduce her appetite, take hundreds of pictures because the ones before were just not perfect enough, making herself feel unworthy and alone (The Guardian). Essena, feeling as though the way she looked was not good enough, resorted to extreme measures of dieting and exercising in order to obtain the body she wanted or thought she needed to feel worthy. If this is occurring to someone of such a celebrity status on social media, how does it make your average everyday girl feel? It probably makes her feel like she is not good enough? Even your average every day women sees many photos, not just of celebrities, but even friends; and without even knowing, puts herself at a lower standard because she
Beauty is a central element of erotic capital, and varies in ideas about what constitutes beauty. In Western societies, as discussed above, having a flat stomach, looking "healthy skinny", large breasts and butt, but not too large and having a thigh gap is what is considered beautiful. The second element of erotic capital is sexual attractiveness, which can also be determined by how feminine you are; or just your sex appeal. Thirdly, you need to have exquisite social skills. The whole package includes, being happy, charming and graceful. The fourth element is liveliness, which combines physical fitness, social energy and humour. Another important element is social presentation which includes your style (clothes and accessories), perfume, hair and makeup. These announce your social status and style to everyone around you. The final element is sexuality itself: being playful, sexually experienced and making sure your partner is satisfied sexually (Hakin). Social media taps into all of these elements in many ways, some being more obvious than others. For example, advertisements that are located on YouTube are usually for various products. More recently, even 30 second beer commercials show beautiful women, with “perfect figures”, big lips, perfect hair and makeup serving men beer. Through the commercials, women have …show more content…
Social media causes women to question and criticize their body image. For example, Essena O’Neil an 18 girl from Australia, is the perfect example of erotic capital. Although she had more than half a million followers on Instagram, has decided to quit the social media application. Before she decided to take a stand against what social media stands for, her pictures on Instagram show her physically fit body in bikini’s, in beautiful, stylish outfits, and kissing beautiful men. She describes it as “contrived perfection made to get attention” (The Guardian). In the hopes of getting “likes” on her Instagram posts, and to get paid by the companies whose products she was posing with, she would often have to dramatically reduce her appetite, take hundreds of pictures because the ones before were just not perfect enough, making herself feel unworthy and alone (The Guardian). Essena, feeling as though the way she looked was not good enough, resorted to extreme measures of dieting and exercising in order to obtain the body she wanted or thought she needed to feel worthy. If this is occurring to someone of such a celebrity status on social media, how does it make your average everyday girl feel? It probably makes her feel like she is not good enough? Even your average every day women sees many photos, not just of celebrities, but even friends; and without even knowing, puts herself at a lower standard because she