How Does Media Influence Body Image

The ideal body image for young women is dictated by society. Over the past years, the media has influenced young women to think about themselves in a competitive way, among other young women. The debate whether media, compared to parental influence, is the major factor contributing to an adolescent female’s body image has been widely debated in our community. This controversial debate has led to the idea of whether media or parental influence are positively or negatively affecting young women’s self-esteem, social anxiety, and creating body dissatisfaction. As emphasized by Hayley Dohnt, Clinical Psychologist, and Marika Tiggemann, Professor in Flinders University, some people believe that peer and parent influence are the major contributing
According to Beth Hitchcock, a guidance and school counselor from the Graduate School University of Wisconsin-Stout, advertisements tend to lead us into the “Barbie Doll Culture” by illustrating unfair and misleading choices of how girls should look like in society (12-13). This emphasizes that young women should follow the norm of physical and materialistic beauty in order to have a “Barbie body,” in other words, they must be 5’4 tall, have a small waist, flat stomach, and long natural legs. As a result of portraying a Barbie culture, young women tend to reject or accept themselves for the way they look in comparison to other women. Hitchcock also points out that media appeals to young people’s perception of their body clarifying “in order to feel good, you must look good” (13). In making this comment, Hitchcock urges us to critically conclude that media is developing confusing and unusual expectations for young girls because you don’t necessarily need to “look good” to “feel good” about yourself. This message is dangerous to the self-esteem of female adolescents by leading us to the conclusion that if we don't look as good as a Barbie does, then we should not feel good about yourself or your body image. At the same time, by media asserting unrealistic expectations, it guides us to believe that being thinner equals happiness. Heather R. Gallivan, a clinical psychologist,
On the other hand, other experts consider that parent influence have a dominant impact on their mental construction than media. Hitchcock agrees with the statement of parents having a major influence on a young woman’s body image when she emphasizes that comments made by parents to their daughters influenced their body shape, thoughts, and actions (16). In other words, Hitchcock believes that the way parents communicate with their daughters and the comments they make regarding body image, affect their body perception negatively. Furthermore, “a 2011 study from the University of Haifa also found that girls whose parents were involved in their media usage were more resilient to the negative impacts compared to girls who parents were not involved in their media exposure” (Gallivan). These findings challenge the work of Hitchcock and other researchers, who tended to assume that the comments of parents were the major influential factor on a female adolescent’s body image and level of body satisfaction. Gallivan points out the connection between the influence of media on parents’s comments on their daughter’s body shape, which allow us to conclude that media is not only influencing young women perspective, but also the mindset of