Media's_Negative_Influences_on_Young_Women

Media’s Negative Influences on Young Women Women are exposed to media images of “the thin ideal” from a very early age. Television, movies, and magazines all perpetuate the idea that an ultra thin woman is the ideal. So much so, that many magazines digitally alter the cover model to show a much thinner, shapelier figure for the cover. Doing this they influence the subconscious mind of young women. Therefore, women continue to spend their money, trying to achieve this unattainable look they constantly see in media advertising. Your body image is how you perceive, think, and feel about your body. However, this may have no bearing at all on your actual appearance. According to this article given from womenshealth.org “Many things can spark weight concern for girls and impact their eating habits in potentially unhealthy ways: struggles with self-esteem, and media images showing the ideal female body as thin. Therefore, this is a direct result of the media and the negative influences they have over young influential women. Women tend to look to magazines, television, movies, and other media products full of images that show skinny women’s bodies. This leads to dieting, excessive exercise, and abnormal eating behaviors. Eleven million women in the United States suffer from eating disorders. Many eating disorder specialists agree that chronic dieting is a direct consequence of the social pressure on American females to achieve a nearly impossible thinness. The media has been denounced for upholding and perhaps even creating the emaciated standard of beauty by which females are taught from childhood to judge the worth of their own bodies. By presenting an ideal look which is difficult to achieve and maintain the cosmetic and diet product industries are assured of growth and profits. It is estimated that the diet industry alone is worth $100 billion (U.S.) a year. This being a lot of money is certainly worth their while to continue to foster abnormally this women as being the norm. Today the body ideal is to be thin. However, this has not always been the case. In the 19th century large women were thought of as the image of beauty. In this period of time, women being larger would have meant they had more to eat. In turn, being able to have an abundance of food to eat would have meant they were wealthy. The body ideal in the 1920’s was similar to that of today, which is thin. However, this look achieved through the use of clothing styles and fashion. Then in the 1950’s, more voluptuous figures were the ideal. Since that time the ideal body shape for women has become more and more slender. Unfortunately, for many people the ideal thin body is nearly impossible to achieve. This makes women feel dissatisfied with their appearance. This then creates the negative body image. Many wonder what the degree of advertising involving thin and attractive women is related with chronic dieting, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorders in American females. Boorstin noted in The Rhetoric of Democracy that “Democratic societies tend to become more concerned with what is true, to become more concerned with credibility than truth. All these problems become accentuated in a large-scale democracy like ours, which possesses all the apparatus of modern industry.” Therefore, the messages that are sent by the media tend to accentuate what the public wants or, more specifically, what the media wants us to believe is truth, than what is true. This is consistent with what Boorstin states: advertising tends to exploit what they feel the ideal is, as opposed to what is reality. In my previous essay, I spoke of the negative influences the media holds on young influential women. The media has set an unrealistic idea of the truth for young women, in which society sets ideals, relative to physical appearances. Almost everyone has, at one time or another, wished they could change something about themselves. For many people, the desire to change involves something about their physical appearance. Body image is something that influences everyone. Body image affects people of all ages, both males and females. However, in the United States females are in particular, more conscious about looking good. For some there happiness and self-worth are largely determined by their body image. Whether or not their body size, body shape, measurements, and so on match society’s ideals determine how satisfied they are with themselves. In many cases, appearance becomes more important to the female than one’s health and well-being. Advertising continues to play a big role in the negative effects the media holds on young women with there constant covers of thin, slender models. The media has been responsible for promoting a standard of beauty that in most cases is unattainable to many women and unhealthy for most. However, in today’s society we may find it hard to hide from the media’s negative influences. I myself believe that todays society will continue to have a negative hold on these young influential women.