Medias Affect on Body Image
In modern society, media and images surround us with the ideal body image. Millions of people strive to reach the expectations outlined in magazines, websites, and television, where people feel as if possessing zero body fat is the ideal body type to have. The pictures of models in clothing, bathing suits, lingerie, etc. display this to be valid. Body image is perceived to be negatively influenced by the media and how the media portrays their models. Parents, teachers, adolescents, and even children all find themselves comparing themselves based on what the media exposes. The pressure to mimic the ideal body can lead to many down unhealthy paths. Today’s teens face many more challenges, leading them to illnesses like Anorexia, Bulimia, and Binge eating.
The media has distorted people’s views on the way they look at their body image. The media has shown their ideal body type while leaving people to feel that their average weight is not good enough. The idea of having a perfect body trumps a healthy lifestyle. Social media tends to display the “ideal image,” although it is not only magazines. We scroll through Instagram and see girls who live a mile away with the perfect body and read comments about it and strive to have those — only to create a lifestyle that could cost you your life. All of us are guilty of comparing ourselves to others. Because of the exposure to countless media images, these images become the basis for such comparisons. These mental comparisons have a strong influence on an individual’s perception of beauty. Media outlets create images and pressures about what our bodies should look like; however, sometimes, these images have been manipulated, creating an unrealistic expectation of beauty.
When individuals believe that their bodies are inferior, they can become depressed, suffer from low self-esteem, or develop eating disorders. The extent that young girls and women have put their bodies through has placed enormous stress and risks on their health. The media has ignited feelings of body dissatisfaction among women and children, causing eating disorders. Anorexia and other poor eating habits have stormed the homes as people endure horrific starvation on their quest for what they feel is beautiful. Society is placing too much pressure on the youth to be perfect. We become mentally obsessed and see ourselves as only fat and overweight. They struggle to continue their battle to lose weight and achieve what the media has driven into their minds as beautiful, even though they are mere skeletons standing in front of the mirror. Unfortunately, many young girls and women never get help. They end up victims of societal misconceptions of being skinny is pretty; their minds and bodies too weak and exhausted to continue, collapse in their endless battle for beauty.
The media will never take responsibility for their significant actions in representing unrealistic body image expectations. Thereby igniting feelings of body dissatisfaction, causing severe health issues in women and young girls as they struggle for the unrealistic “perfect body” image that the media is conveying.
