Negative Effects on Body Image

Culture and Media: Negative Effects on Body Image

Jamie Cain

COM/150

September 13, 2013

Greg Singleton

We live in a world that is surrounded by magazines, television, movies, internet, and music videos that cause unrealistic expectations of how we should look. Media influences society’s perceptions and has become a part of our everyday lives. Unrealistic body image causes low self-esteem and can lead to eating disorders as well as other dangerous behaviors. It also has been known to be associated with bullying. The following sections go over the media’s role in influencing that way we view our bodies.

Individuals, women in particular are unfairly judged in today’s society in reference to their appearance. Individuals negatively comment on one another because of their size and shape. Thin women are often pressure to eat more, accused of starving themselves while bigger women are encouraged to eat less with the accusation of over-indulgence; both are left to defend their body type. This has to do with not only the media and culture perceive what is considered beautiful but also has a lot to do with the way a person is raised and the environment they are brought up in. Dove has launched a campaign to celebrate women of all shapes and sizes titled, “Real Beauty from Real Women”. The campaign releases pictures of women of all shapes, sizes, ages, and ethnicities’ across television and magazines as beautiful. The point of this is to get the message across that there are different kinds of beautiful out there. If you want women to stop starving or stuffing themselves, you need to listen to what they are saying and hold the media accountable for how it represents women and beauty. There are too many women that fall victim to the “too” syndrome. Meaning they perceive themselves to be too short, too tall, too big, too small, too shy or too loud. They struggle with insecurity instead of appreciating their body for what it is. Media and culture lead them to believe...