Cheralyn Mitchell

How does the media affect the body image of adolescents?

As the expansion and usage of media continues to rise, body image issues are becoming
more prevalent and are a common concern. I know we are all well aware about the issue of
how the media plays a role on body image. But the media has such a strong impact on our
everyday lives without us even being aware of it. Even if it is something simple like what to
wear, or a new hairstyle all these things are all factored by the media. More often than not we
use some form of media to guide us in our daily lifestyle. Usage of the media has become so
coherent with Americans lives as a culture we become desensitized to real life and stuck with
these ideal images. An attractive man or woman should look this way. Or act this way. On
a daily basis Americans see about 3000 ads daily between books , magazines, billboards,
television , computers etc. We receive so many underlying messages we have become overly
exposed and used to them. The medias is sending mixed signals, ideals, and body image
messages all over everything. This has become an issue for everybody but especially in female
youth and adolescents.
About a quarter of the population in the United States is made up by youth. Therefore
young people are seen as main targets. The media likes to target youth because of their
susceptibleness of younger people. Studies show that when children hit adolescents around
(12-13) their body is making serious changes and causes them to be more vulnerable and
sensitive to the environment. Adolescents is the stage in life in which physical changes occur
and the person is no longer considered a child but as a transitional period from childhood to
adulthood. During this time the child undergoes puberty and start developing new social
behaviors and patterns. I remember when I was growing up around 13 and 14 one of the most
commonly done thing was comparing sizes. As girls growing up we would compare ourselves to
each other as far as sizes, and body shapes go and then we would compare ourselves to the
things around us like magazines, or the people on television. This is actually quite common
among many young girls and can lead to many issues such as body dissatisfaction, low self-
esteem, poor body image and / or the development of eating disorders. One finding discovered
that young girls were more afraid of being overweight than getting cancer, a nuclear war or
losing parent.
So, how does the media affect the body image of young women? The media can affect a
person in several ways. A study done by the National Anorexia Nervosa Association shows that
69 % of girls between 5
th
- 12
th
grades believes that women in magazines influence their idea on
what the ideal body is. While 47% say they would like to lose weight after viewing images of the
women in the magazines. Truth is most models in magazines are below the healthy BMI. The
average US model is 511 weighing 117 lbs while the average US woman is around 54 and 140
lbs. That is a dramatic difference and contrast. The media sends out the Tall and Slim is the
ideal body message. Meanwhile for most young people that body shape is not even attainable.
This body type is said to only be present in about 5% of woman. Young girls are buying into this
ideals because they want to be what is considered beautiful. If the media is showing tall and
slim women being pursed and most attractive than thats what the goal for these young women
are. I personally was shorter in height all throughout school up until 10
th
grade. In 10
th
grade I
began to grow taller and I hated it. I was already naturally skinny and now I would be tall to go
along with it. Even though the media shows tall and skinny as the ideal I did not like it. Now that
I am older I like my size but as a younger teen I did not feel comfortable being tall and skinny.
So not every young adolescent girl may view the media the same way. Of this same study less
than 18% of young girls do not agree with the ideal body.
Even though there are few people who do not conform to the ideals of beauty in society
there is a vast majority who does. Dieting sales have nearly doubled as the years go by. Children
as young as 9 and 10 are said to have been on a diet at least once. Lose weight with this pill in
30 days The media is increasingly using sales pitching tactics all over the internet on dieting. All
over the web are little pop ads about dieting, taking pills, buying special supplements. In
magazines there are loads of articles on quick ways to lose weight and ways to achieve the ideal
body. The media has been sending messages for years if you are not thin for women or if you
are not muscular for men than you need to lose weight, you need to fix these problems.
Usually when these diets fail people take several measures some look into surgical procedures
like gastric bypass surgery, and other surgeries where stomach sizes can be shrunk and loosing
weight is promising. While others may take apart in unhealthy eating disorders which is more
common in youth since surgeries are not really an option.
Many young girls have become accustomed to eating disorders to ideal and thin look.
The main three eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and binge eating but there are a
lot of other eating disorders like starvation etc. Anorexia is usually when a person forces
themselves not to eat or to eat very little. This occurs to the point in which the body becomes
use to receiving very little food and take this as its norm. This becomes and extreme problem
because most people who develop anorexia drop at high levels below the normal size. This has
been seen to cause #1 death of mental disorders. Bulimia another extreme eating disorder is
where the person takes part in over eating what is the normal amount of food for a person
their size or overeating more than what they would typically. This is followed by vomiting what
was just ate back up or the improper usage of laxatives to remove the food that had been
consumed. Binge eating which is very similar to bulimia but without vomiting or laxatives is the
purging or over indulgence of food. This includes eating a lot more food than what should be
eaten or what would normally be eaten and can often lead to obesity. Binge eating is usually
followed by feeling guilty about over eating. A reason why eating disorders are such an issue for
adolescences is because this a time when the body is making hormonal and growth changes.
During this time the body needs proper nutrition to ensure that these things may occur when
eating and nutritional supplement is interrupted it can lead to many more serious issues.
Information/paragraphs to be added
- Body image disorders variations among different cultures
- Eating disorders in different cultures
- Personal experiences in my family
- Final paragraph/ conclusion of research