Media’s effect on the Average Women
Over the past few years there has been a great debate about body issues. More specifically, the debate is about how women are portrayed in the media and the effects the overexposure of unrealistic models have on women of all ages. The reality is media portrays women in an unrealistic way. While the average woman is 5’4” with the dress size of 14, the average female super model is 5’8”, with a dress size of a zero (Falzone). Consequently, women often resort to extreme measures to change their body image, including excess dieting and excess exercising, to mirror their body image after models depicted in the media. Ultimately, this desire to look similar to supermodels leads the average woman to have body image and self esteem issues. As noted by Lauren Berninger’s article, “Stop Blaming the Media for Our Body Image Issues” there are many factors that contribute to women 's self esteem issues, but ultimately, her arguments are vague and worthy of further …show more content…
Berninger states the idea that it is up to the person to determine the degree of media the individual is exposed to. Although I do not fully disagree with Berninger’s point, the truth is one can only avoid the media to a certain extent. Berninger states, “Ultimately, you have the power to turn off the television, put down the magazine or stop shopping at that store” (Berninger). A women can take it upon themselves to avoid negative media, but what happens when they cannot control outside factors? For example, advertisements that run across a Facebook feed, the news being played in your doctor 's office, or the supermodel that you see while shopping are all examples of uncontrollable situations. The truth is, it next to impossible to avoid the media in the 21st century and therefor next to impossible to avoid unrealistic beauty standards. This overexposure of unnatural beauty contributes to today’s self esteem
Over the past few years there has been a great debate about body issues. More specifically, the debate is about how women are portrayed in the media and the effects the overexposure of unrealistic models have on women of all ages. The reality is media portrays women in an unrealistic way. While the average woman is 5’4” with the dress size of 14, the average female super model is 5’8”, with a dress size of a zero (Falzone). Consequently, women often resort to extreme measures to change their body image, including excess dieting and excess exercising, to mirror their body image after models depicted in the media. Ultimately, this desire to look similar to supermodels leads the average woman to have body image and self esteem issues. As noted by Lauren Berninger’s article, “Stop Blaming the Media for Our Body Image Issues” there are many factors that contribute to women 's self esteem issues, but ultimately, her arguments are vague and worthy of further …show more content…
Berninger states the idea that it is up to the person to determine the degree of media the individual is exposed to. Although I do not fully disagree with Berninger’s point, the truth is one can only avoid the media to a certain extent. Berninger states, “Ultimately, you have the power to turn off the television, put down the magazine or stop shopping at that store” (Berninger). A women can take it upon themselves to avoid negative media, but what happens when they cannot control outside factors? For example, advertisements that run across a Facebook feed, the news being played in your doctor 's office, or the supermodel that you see while shopping are all examples of uncontrollable situations. The truth is, it next to impossible to avoid the media in the 21st century and therefor next to impossible to avoid unrealistic beauty standards. This overexposure of unnatural beauty contributes to today’s self esteem