Media on Body-image: Its Power, Negative Influence and Effects

Introduction

Body image is a subjective picture of one's own physical appearance established both by self-observation and by noting the reactions of others. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Take note, that body image is established through what the eyes see and what others may perceive.

As statistics and studies show, Media play a large, and often negative, role in shaping young women’s ideas about how they should look, including television and music (radio and recordings) videos and movies, computers, print media, and video games. (Source: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2009).

In this essay, does television and print media have the power to influence young women about body image and how negatively will it affect or influence young women’s perception of it? Lastly, what are the physical effects or indicators of those negative influences?  

Media’s Power to Influence

            Surveys suggest that 83% of adolescent girls read fashion magazines for an average of 4.3 hours per week (Levine & Smolak, 1996) and that “Seventeen” magazine has an estimated readership of 11,000,000 (Levine, Piran, & Stoddard, 1999). Also 70% of girls who regularly read magazines endorse them as an important source of beauty and fitness information (Levine, Smolak, and Hayden, 1994).

            According to research by Nielsen, women ages 2 and up watch more than 166 hours of television each month on average. That’s nearly 16 hours of more TV watching per month among these women compared to the viewing habits of men of similar ages. Females between the ages of 18 and 49 watch more than 151 hours of TV each month on average.

Also, according to Nancy Signorielli (1997), that as one in every three (37%) articles in leading teen girl magazines also included a focus on appearance, and most of the advertisements (50%) used an appeal to beauty to sell their products. The commercials aimed at female viewers that ran during the television shows most often watched by teen girls also frequently used beauty as a product appeal (56% of commercials).

The mentioned studies indicate that media has the power to influence the standard of beauty and fitness in a young woman. That it is greatly subjective to the concentrated amount of time young women spend on television and print media and how mass media is specific in its topic or theme that will really appeal to young women.

This also shows that media can influence a young woman’s body image since it is defined as ‘self-observed’ or what she perceives as beauty for her. There is also the “noting the reactions of others” or what others might perceive as beauty that has been established by the media. 

Media’s Negative Influence

According to Merriam-Webster, Influence is “the power to direct the thinking or behaviour of others usually indirectly”. Media’s power to influence or power to direct the thinking and behaviour of young women- whether directly or indirectly, is through the emotions and thoughts media stimulates in a young woman.

“In an attempt to emulate the countless media images they view, girls often take drastic measures. Many end up with very low self-esteem; some with dangerous eating disorders. "We're seeing girls at younger ages starting to be dissatisfied with their bodies, proactively trying to change them, and feeling like they need to emulate something different than what their bodies can do," says Elissa Gittes, MD, a paediatrician in the division of adolescent medicine at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.” (Source: http://www.webmd.com/beauty/style/helping-girls-with-body-image)

            There is pressure that the media creates as it sets an extremely idealistic, unrealistic standard of what an ideal girl should look like. For example, according to a study by Ntcher and Nitcher (1991), models found in fashion magazines that set as the ideal teenage girl was described as being 5’7”, 100 pounds and size 5 with long blonde hair and blue eyes. This magazines’ aimed audience has been teenage girls.

A People magazine survey showed that 80% of female respondents felt that women in movies and television programs made them feel insecure about their bodies.

A People magazine survey showed that 80% of female respondents felt that women in movies and television programs made them feel insecure about their bodies. (Source: http://www.raderprograms.com/causes-statistics/media-eating-disorders.html)

            Growing numbers of young women risk their health, and life, trying to imitate the body images presented by the media. The wrong media messages also can harm

mental self-image and self-esteem. The media generally show underweight women as the ideal body type. The average model today is 25% thinner than the national average weight and actually only represents 5% of females in the country. Almost 54% of American young girls and women aged 12–23 years are unhappy with their bodies. One third of high-school students think they are overweight even when they are not.  (Source: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2009).

The Side-effects of Media

            Media’s purpose to inform and educate has now been blurred with its other purpose and that is to sell. Thus, its side-effects especially in young women’s body image have now become prevalent. The desire to imitate what the media glorifies as ideal and also to bring such importance pushes young women to extremes.

 Five to ten million women and girls have eating disorders that harm their health, including anorexia nervosa (starving themselves) and bulimia nervosa (binge eating and purging).  (Source: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2009).

Eating disorders are more than just going on a diet to lose weight or trying to exercise every day. They're extremes in eating behaviour — the diet that never ends and gradually gets more restrictive, for example. Or the person who can't go out with friends because he or she thinks it's more important to go running to work off a snack eaten earlier. (Source: http://kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/problems/eat_disorder.html).

There are two major types of eating disorders; Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa.

Anorexia Nervosa.  Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to stay at even the minimum body weight considered normal for the person's age and height. Other symptoms of the disorder include distorted body image and an intense fear of weight gain.

Inadequate eating or excessive exercising results in severe weight loss. Eating disorders frequently develop during adolescence or early adulthood, but some reports indicate their onset can occur during childhood or later in adulthood.

People with anorexia see themselves as overweight even though they are dangerously thin. The process of eating becomes an obsession to them. (Source: http://www.psychologytoday.com/conditions/anorexia-nervosa)

Bulimia Nervosa. Bulimia Nervosa is defined as a psychological disorder. The patient experiences regular bouts of serious overeating, which are always followed by a feeling of guilt, which can then lead to extreme reactions such as crash dieting, doing lots of exercise, and purging (deliberately vomiting). 

According to DSM-IV-TR® Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association, for patients to be diagnosed with bulimia nervosa (as opposed to anorexia nervosa), they must be showing the following 4 symptoms:

• Binge-eating "repeatedly" - eating much more than most people normally do, together with a feeling that they can't stop or control their eating.
• Repeatedly and inappropriately compensating for the over-eating, such as over-medicating with laxatives, fasting, exercising to exhaustion, or making themselves vomit.
• Been doing these two things (binge-eating and inappropriately compensating) repeatedly at least twice a week for the last 3 months.
• Overly judging themselves in terms of the weight and shape of their bodies

Unlike anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa is difficult to identify. The sufferer is not usually underweight. Because of the shame and guilt associated with the illness, patients are skilled in masking the symptoms. (Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/105102.php). I for one know since I used to be one. 

Eating disorders and Media’s relationship. Here are some studies and findings that correlate these two eating disorders as a side effect of media:
73% of teenage girls who abuse diet pills and 79% of teenage girls who self-purge frequently read women’s fitness and health magazines.
The majority of runway model meet the Body Mass Index (BMI) criteria to be considered anorexic.
Vogue magazine stated that they chose Gisele Bunchen as their “model of the year” due, in part, to the fact that she deviates from the typical “rail thin” image. In fact, Gisele weighs only 115 lbs. and is 5’11 – 25% below her ideal weight.
At 5’7 and 95 lbs. Kate Moss is 30% below her ideal weight.
Fashion models’ weight averaged only 8% less than the average women 20 years ago. Today the average fashion model weighs 23% less than the average woman.
25% of Playboy centerfold models meet the criteria to be considered anorexic.

(Source: http://www.raderprograms.com/causes-statistics/media-eating-disorders.html)

Conclusion:

            Media whether it is the television or printed such as magazines play a major role and at the same time negative influence in shaping a young women’s idea of what she must look. Media has set an extremely idealistic and unrealistic standard of what an ideal girl should look like. In an attempt to imitate what the media portrays, many young women have developed eating disorders like Anorexia Nervosa (starving themselves) and Bulimia Nervosa (binge eating and purging).

            In light of this, one must be aware and alert when using media; knowing which mediums to peruse while some we must shun for what it might influence us negatively especially in the forming of our ideas as what is ideal or not in our body image. To have a healthy understanding and view of one’s body image is encouraged. It will keep the respondent from developing a wrong idea of her body image if she has already developed a healthy outlook.

            Despite media’s negative influence and side effects, one must not shun media altogether but use it with eyes wide open and with wisdom. I posted this article which was actually one of my term papers in my Masters class for those who are pressured to have that 'beach ready body'. Careful where you get your standards. 

References

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Levine, M.P., Piran, N., & Stoddard, C (1999). Mission more probable: Media literacy,

activism and advocacy in the prevention of eating disorders. In N. Piran, M. P. Levine, & C. Steiner-Adair (Eds.), Preventing eating disorders: A handbook of interventions and special challenges (pp. 3-25), Philadelphia, Brunner/Mazel.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2009

(Levine & Smolak, 1996)

(Levine, Piran, & Stoddard, 1999).

http://www.webmd.com/beauty/style/helping-girls-with-body-image
http://www.raderprograms.com/causes-statistics/media-eating-disorders.html

http://kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/problems/eat_disorder.html

http://www.psychologytoday.com/conditions/anorexia-nervosa

http://www.raderprograms.com/causes-statistics/media-eating-disorders.html

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/105102.php