Ideal Body Image Analysis

Nowadays, society is obsessed with the way our body looks because it is now used as a way to portray what is on the inside. The ideal body image is socially designed as the ultimate goal that one can attain in order to fit-in and be acknowledged in today’s society. The image that society has on the “perfect body” that has been gathered through media, ads and culture, is something that most people have started to “idolize” and are setting

The mindset that a person can never be "too rich or too thin" is all too prevalent in society, and it makes it difficult for females to achieve any level of contentment with their physical appearance (Serdar, n.d.). The level of persuasiveness the media has can be overwhelming for women in particular who are constantly hit with images to compare and evaluate themselves to (Achtenberg, 2006). Recent literature suggests that girls as young as 6 years old experience body dissatisfaction, as evidenced by a preference for an ideal figure that is thinner than their perceived current body size (Ambrosi-Randic, 2000; Davison, Markey & Birch, 2003; Dittmar, Halliwell & Ive, 2006; Dohnt & Tiggemann, 2004, 2005, 2006a; Lowes & Tiggemann, 2003). It is evident that the experiences have a profound effect on how we grow up, making them a critical factor in our development. Often, the self-esteem we develop by the age of five-years-old is what carries us through for the rest of our lives.

Anorexia survivor Erin Treloar said “my eating disorder was perpetuated by retouched magazine photos”. Beauty standards has such a giant effect on women emotionally, psychologically and physically. The pressure on women to be thin leads to unhealthy weight loss practices (Battle & Brownell, 1996), eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1998) and low self-esteem (Tiggeman & Stevens,

In the western culture, the main emphasis when it comes to female bodies is slenderness. Women will go to great lengths to ensure that they attain the desired body structure. Susan examines some of the extremes that women have to go in order to attain a body structure that is considered ideal in the society. Such extremes include starving oneself, self induced vomiting after many or, in many cases, all meals as well as many other eating disorders that are deemed to contribute to weight loss. Often times these measures are seen by the participants as necessary steps to attain the ideal body

The media portrays these unrealistic standards to men and women of how women should look, which suggests that their natural face is not good enough. Unrealistic standards for beauty created by the media is detrimental to girls’ self-esteem because it makes women feel constant external pressure to achieve the “ideal look”, which indicates that their natural appearance is inadequate. There has been an increasing number of women that are dissatisfied with themselves due to constant external pressure to look perfect. YWCA’s “Beauty at Any Cost” discusses this in their article saying that, “The pressure to achieve unrealistic physical beauty is an undercurrent in the lives of virtually all women in the United States, and its steady drumbeat is wreaking havoc on women in ways that far exceed the bounds of their physical selves” (YWCA).

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.

They often have an intense fear of fat and gaining weight and often have distorted views of their own body image (Shapiro 2). Thus, they resort to severe food restriction, periods of fasting and even various purging methods for weight loss (Grilo 5). On the other hand, Bulimic patients often binge-eat and then looking for methods to get rid of the food due to guilt by various purging methods (i.e., self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives or diuretics and excessive exercise) (Grilo 5). Although many say that the media causes eating disorders, studies have shown that the media is not the main cause of eating disorders. The media does have a part to play in causing the rise in eating disorders in today’s society.

Many struggle with their weight, and with a media culture that only features underweight models as normal, it can create a abnormal image of what we think people are supposed to look like. Cash explains that “While thinness might symbolize control and success in the minds of women who try to emulate the ideal, its unrealistic nature means that women’s energies are wasted. Women’s high levels of body dissatisfaction and the highest levels of eating disorders at any point signify problems with this cultural prescription. ”(Cash 438)

Body image has become such a big issue among society especially females mostly. According to Mariana Gozalo, states “Using Will’s sociological imagination, I thought about how there are girls who wish to look skinny because it is what is being idolized on TV and magazines and online ads. “Social media make us believe that there is a “ideal body” shape. In my opinion, there is no such a thing as the ideal body shape, because everyone is beautiful in their own individual way.

Bordo’s perspective of femininity and its relationship with illnesses such as eating disorders, is that women are often the ones who fall into the cycle of anorexia or agoraphobia with the desire to stay ‘on trend’ with society or gain a sense of strength compared to male counterparts (Bordo 2017). Anorexia is an obsessive disorder by refusing to eat in order to lose weight, and

So when people look and see that they don’t look like they’re favorite super-model it can put a downer on their self-confidence. This causes many girls feeling that they aren’t good enough in society, society won’t accept them because they aren’t perfect and they start to not like their body. When for many females they can’t lose as much weight as their friend can just because of their genes and how they were born. “The lack of connection between the real and ideal perception of their own body and firm willingness to modify their own body and shape so as to standardize them to social concept of thinness…” (Dixit 1), being focused on unrealistic expectations can cause women to lose themselves and change their attitude on how they view their body, and not for the better.

(Pigott, 2). Likewise, Catherine altered her body size to meet their gender expectations and various cultural beauty standards. By applying the gender lens to this, we can better understand how gender expectations and cultural beauty standards intersect to shape women’s experiences of their body. It emphasizes how cultural beauty standards can have a significant impact on women's body image, self-esteem, and confidence. Women often feel the pressure to comply with the cultural ideal of beauty, which can lead to feelings of inadequacy, and shame if they do not fit the mold.

Women read a lot of health and beauty magazines and watch television on continuous basis the “ideal-thin body image” becomes internalized which results in upward comparison leading to the formation of what is known as body

Body image perception plays a pivotal role in how people view themselves as well as others. What is considered normal weight, size, and height has been a major topic debated amongst different societies across the world. The research presented in the literature review below will both compare and contrast whether self-ratings are higher than peer rating in regards to body image perception. There are several risks factors that stem from one becoming overweight and/or obese. An article found on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that cardiovascular disease has become the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa partially due to more individuals becoming overweight (Ettarh, Kyobutungi, Oti, & Vijver 2013).

Objectives The main objective of this study is to examine the effects of advertisements and media portrayals of women, specifically young women, in terms of body image, self-esteem, ideally thin body type and unhealthy living style. Furthermore, it will examine how women and beauty is portrayed in the media in relation to the idealized images and what kind of negative effects media can inflict on women 1.5. Research Questions RQ1: Do participants believe that media is responsible for showing harmful messages about body image?