The Media’s Influence on Body Image Many people would say that they are unhappy with their body. This problem can be described as low self esteem, several individuals say it is caused by mass media. Over the years the media has continued to negatively influence people’s body images, usually in a bad way. The media’s influence on body image strongly impacts the way boys and girls see themselves, causing severe insecurity and sometimes serious mental diseases. A person’s body image can be described as the amount of self-esteem or confidence they mentally hold. First, the media can influence one’s body image in various ways. Even since WW2 the media has negatively influenced people, “The popular media (TV, movies, magazines, etc.) have, since WW2, increasingly held up a thinner
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First, eliminating all media will not help to solve the problem. It was shown that girls did not have to be directly exposed to media to be affected. If friends were exposed, they could pass on the influence (Mascarelli 2). Also, even if we begin showing bigger figures in media, it may not help. Many people think you can just replace the skinny people with big people and suddenly it is fixed, “At this point, even if movies, television, and magazines all suddenly started promoting images of normal-size or large women, the skinny- body ideal would persist, professor Orbach said, because it’s so embedded in the average woman’s psyche” (Duenwald 3). Although, one way we could begin to overcome the media’s influence is acceptance. The most important thing to think about is not judging people on what they weigh, “Society must learn to appreciate a greater variation in body shapes and sizes. ‘We accept variations in hair color, eye color, and facial features and we should do that with body weights.’” (Duenwald 4). As a result, it would be difficult to end bad body image, but it could be possible with a lot of hard work and
First, eliminating all media will not help to solve the problem. It was shown that girls did not have to be directly exposed to media to be affected. If friends were exposed, they could pass on the influence (Mascarelli 2). Also, even if we begin showing bigger figures in media, it may not help. Many people think you can just replace the skinny people with big people and suddenly it is fixed, “At this point, even if movies, television, and magazines all suddenly started promoting images of normal-size or large women, the skinny- body ideal would persist, professor Orbach said, because it’s so embedded in the average woman’s psyche” (Duenwald 3). Although, one way we could begin to overcome the media’s influence is acceptance. The most important thing to think about is not judging people on what they weigh, “Society must learn to appreciate a greater variation in body shapes and sizes. ‘We accept variations in hair color, eye color, and facial features and we should do that with body weights.’” (Duenwald 4). As a result, it would be difficult to end bad body image, but it could be possible with a lot of hard work and