Does Media Influence Adolescent Girls Into Having Negative Body Images
October 24,2010
Does the Media Cause Individuals to Develop Negative Body Images?
The influence the media has upon all of society can have positive and negative effects on the public. The effect the media has on adolescent girls in regard to body image has had negative impacts, such as an obsession with body weight and what the society views as the “perfect body”. The media can be seen as partly responsible for the pressure adolescent females’ face in consideration to body issues. These pressures could be responsible for adolescent girls developing serious eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, which are two serious eating disorders which are affecting adolescent girls. A child, (Body image problems, eating disorders and media messages, 2006) or adolescent is considered to have body image problems if they have negative thoughts and feelings about their body, often only modestly related to their actual appearance. Body image is psychological in nature. It is influenced by your self-esteem and self-worth and it in turn, influences your self-esteem and self-worth. It is how you perceive your physical body and how you feel others perceive it. It is not based in the truth, but in what you see as the truth (How does the media effect body image in teens, 2010).
Many adolescents develop negative body images; so the question that arises is does the media directly affect eating disorders in adolescent girls? There are many opinions amongst society on the issue of eating disorders in relation to adolescent girls and the media. Does the medium promote unrealistic thin ideals for women and adolescent girls to follow and are adolescent girls so pressured by wanting to fit into what the media portrays as the ideal shape and size, that they are developing eating disorders? If this is true than eating disorders could be viewed as socially learned behavior.
The female ideal has become progressively thinner over the years (Body image problems, eating
Does the Media Cause Individuals to Develop Negative Body Images?
The influence the media has upon all of society can have positive and negative effects on the public. The effect the media has on adolescent girls in regard to body image has had negative impacts, such as an obsession with body weight and what the society views as the “perfect body”. The media can be seen as partly responsible for the pressure adolescent females’ face in consideration to body issues. These pressures could be responsible for adolescent girls developing serious eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, which are two serious eating disorders which are affecting adolescent girls. A child, (Body image problems, eating disorders and media messages, 2006) or adolescent is considered to have body image problems if they have negative thoughts and feelings about their body, often only modestly related to their actual appearance. Body image is psychological in nature. It is influenced by your self-esteem and self-worth and it in turn, influences your self-esteem and self-worth. It is how you perceive your physical body and how you feel others perceive it. It is not based in the truth, but in what you see as the truth (How does the media effect body image in teens, 2010).
Many adolescents develop negative body images; so the question that arises is does the media directly affect eating disorders in adolescent girls? There are many opinions amongst society on the issue of eating disorders in relation to adolescent girls and the media. Does the medium promote unrealistic thin ideals for women and adolescent girls to follow and are adolescent girls so pressured by wanting to fit into what the media portrays as the ideal shape and size, that they are developing eating disorders? If this is true than eating disorders could be viewed as socially learned behavior.
The female ideal has become progressively thinner over the years (Body image problems, eating
References: Alexander, A. & Hanson, J. (2011). Taking Sides (11th Ed). Alston, M., & Bowles, W. (2003). Research for social workers (2nd ed.). Allen & Unwin. Clay, D. Vignoles, V. Dittmar, H. (2005) Body image and self-esteem among adolescent girls: testing the influence of sociocultural factors Tiggemann, M. (2006) The role of media exposure in Adolescent girls body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness 14, 2010, from http://parentingteens.about.com/od/bodyimage/f/media_bodyimage.htm