Essay On Destroying America's Body Image

Everyone always want or desire for something in this world. And to get their want they must somehow bargain for it; whether it was begging or persuading, they are still considered rhetorical techniques. In the story “Whose Body is This,” the author Katherine Haines talks about how society setted a certain standard of what a woman's body should look like, and it practically destroyed majority of woman’s self esteem. Haines further explains that pictures and advertisement on tv and magazines are teaching young girls that they need to look like the models in the picture. Girls don’t feel comfortable to be in their own skin, because they were not taught to love themselves for who they are, right in the beginning.

In the article “Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance” Mary Ray Worley introduces her first hand experience with being fat. She discusses her personal problems and issues with the readers. Mary Worley is a member of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (163). Mary Worley describes what it was like to go to one of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) conventions. Worley describes the convention as a different world (163).

As guest editor of Star Telegram newspaper, I did what was asked of me and reviewed the article written by Susan Bordo “Never Just Pictures”. Bordo focuses on body image and our perception of beauty and how we are “supposed” to look according to the media. “Never Just Pictures” should be published because Susan Bordo has factual evidence to back up her reasoning to her claim about body disorders, the role that different types of media have on society, and how it is creating a false image of what true beauty really is. In this article, Bordos central claim is for the readers to get an understanding of today’s obsession with body image, and how we are no longer accepted for just our personality and our good traits but for the physique of the human body.

Out of all the reading we read, the one that stood out to me was “Male body image in America” by Lynne Luciano. This reading stood out to me the most because in the society we live in this is the type of things people expect from men. Men would get surgeries, stay in the gym and buy many grooming things to keep up with society spectations of them. In the third paragraph (page 30), Lynne mentions about the four imperatives for men today. The four imperative were that “men must be men”, “second, men must be completive and constantly demonstrating their success”, “third, they must be detached and impassive”, lastly “they must be willing to take risk and confront danger”.

Nowadays, a glance at a digitally enhanced magazine can brainwash teens of this era into getting cosmetic surgery. Why in the world do magazines put forth altered images as a standard of beauty? The teens who see these images often already battle self-confidence issues and these furthermore sustain the issue. They believe looking like a fake image is the only way to look beautiful, which says adverse things about the messages put out by media. This generation really is “waxed” supported along the lines of Koenigs saying, “It’s not the natural desire to look beautiful, but the unnatural standards of beauty that uniquely affect my generation.”

Photoshop and the “corrective” trend are impacting society so much that celebrities themselves are trying to move away from that trend. Businesses want to portray the perfect picture; celebrities, especially women, want to be portrayed as imperfect. This has caused a clash between the need of businesses and the willingness of celebrities. The result is a parallel trend promoted by some celebrities in which they take pictures of themselves without photoshop and without makeup. This new trend is to reflect to society that

These days, advertisements are made with the aid of photoshop which creates an unattainable image of beauty and thus, puts pressure on women to achieve these standards. Photoshop in the beauty industry involves manipulating a picture to make it flawless. Magazines photoshop these images by toning the abdomen, removing every facial blemish, defining the cheekbones, etc. In 2003, actress Kate Winslet criticized GQ magazine for photoshopping her picture saying, “The retouching is excessive, I do not look like that and more importantly, I don’t desire to look like that”. Many women are bothered by the seemingly perfect models they see on the billboards, in television adverts and on magazine covers.

In today’s modern culture, almost all forms of popular media play a significant role in bombarding young people, particularly young females, with what happens to be society’s idea of the “ideal body”. This ideal is displayed all throughout different media platforms such as magazine adds, television and social media – the idea of feminine beauty being strictly a flawless thin model. The images the media displays send a distinct message that in order to be beautiful you must look a certain way. This ideal creates and puts pressure on the young female population viewing these images to attempt and be obsessed with obtaining this “ideal body”. In the process of doing so this unrealistic image causes body dissatisfaction, lack of self-confidence

Balancing Beauty In and Out The well known story of the ugly duckling is a poignant reminder of what the judgments of others can do to an individual’s self esteem. One duckling was different from the other ducklings that were supposedly superior in appearance and therefore it became an object of constant teasing and torment. Other characters in the story only saw what was superficially different with the ugly duckling instead of taking the time to find what other redeeming qualities or skills it may have otherwise had. In time the duckling subjected itself to the life of an unwanted recluse because it knew it could never fit in.

In the past, the mere mention of eating disorders would make everyone gasp, but now celebrities are openly talking about their own experiences and giving the media access to their personal stories. Charlotte Green has been through a lot with her own low self-esteem since becoming an increasingly popular teenage artist. She is now an inspirational role model for other young women - so what message does she want to share? We’ve all heard it a thousand times before about how many people suffer from eating disorders but, let’s face it, we never think it could happen to us or anyone close to us. It does.

Men and women nowadays are starting to lose self-confidence in themselves and their body shape, which is negatively impacting the definition of how beauty and body shape are portrayed. “...97% of all women who had participated in a recent poll by Glamour magazine were self-deprecating about their body image at least once during their lives”(Lin 102). Studies have shown that women who occupy most of their time worrying about body image tend to have an eating disorder and distress which impairs the quality of life. Body image issues have recently started to become a problem in today’s society because of social media, magazines, and television.

When the younger crowds of today see photoshopped women, it can lead them the develope anorexia and bulimia just to feel or look beautiful. Teenagers and young adults are pushed into this sense of mind

Social media is a powerful source in today’s society, 81% of the population in the United States alone has set up a social media profile. Many use the media for useful things, like educational opportunities and business inquiries. Although there are people who may look at it more in a concerning aspect. Many people today view the social media as a stage where they are judged and told what the real way to look and act is, more specifically, body image. Social Media has a negative impact on body image, through creating a perfect view physically which affects someone mentally, targeting both male and female, and turning away from the real goal of social media.

Photoshop is shaping an outrageously perfect standard that people strive to reach. This computer program is taking away from all natural beauty and making people do extremely damaging things to themselves to reach that “perfect waist line.” Why must Hollywood create such irrational goals for people to achieve? Even some celebrities say that they would rather not have their photos touched up. When teens look at these amazing pictures of other famous teens their self-esteem lowers, and with hormones running wild this can take a negative toll on a teen's confidence.

Although many businesses may earn a lot of money from their photoshopped models or celebrities, they should put labels on their work, telling the public it’s been altered, and be aware of what their photos can do with young children's’ development and how it may cause eating disorders. One cause of