The Impact of Media on Body Image and Self-Esteem

The Impact of Media on Body Image and Self-Esteem Justin Briglio University of Maine The Impact of Media on Body Image and Self-Esteem Introduction The belief that "thin is beautiful" is pervasive in our culture. It has been documented in children as early as three (Harriger, Calogero, Witherington, & Smith, 2010). At a time where young people are focused on developing their individual identities (Slater, 2002), they are also highly disposed to both social pressure and media imagery (Tiggemann & Pickering, 1996), which can have a profound impression on how they see their own bodies (Clark & Tiggemann, 2007). Having a poor body image can have several negative effects: one of the most common is lowered self-esteem, which conveys its own associated risks. In 2008, the Dove Self-Esteem Fund conducted a national study which stated 25 percent of females with low self-esteem injured themselves on purpose, as compared to only four percent of girls with high self-esteem; and 25 percent stated they experienced disordered eating, with only seven percent of girls with high self-esteem reporting similar difficulties. Poor body image is also linked to bullying (Brixal, Rayce, Rasmussen, Holstein & Due, 2012), with youth who have a poor body image are more prone to be targets of bullying behavior (Shelton & Liljequist, 2002). Traditionally seen more commonly as an issue with females, in the past decade an increasing number of research has emerged exploring body image in males. In 2012, a study found that 50 percent of individuals in Grade 10 felt that they were either too thin or too fat (Freeman et al., 2012). A 2011 Canadian study concluded that adolescent boys also encounter anxieties about their bodies, although they are less willing to discuss these issues with others (Norman, 2011). Health professionals also suggest that boys, like girls, are not immune to media images that promote narrow standards of attractiveness. Gender Representation Images of female bodies are ubiquitous, with women and girls. Their body parts are used to sell everything from food to cars, while celebrities are becoming taller and thinner. Women's magazines are filled with articles advocating that if you lose a certain amount of weight, you will have it all: a satisfying life, a perfect marriage, a enjoyable career, great sex, a loving family, etc. These are impossible and unrealistic standards of beauty being forced on girls. This is presented to females as a physical ideal that is tricky to achieve and helps maintain the cosmetic and diet industries emerging growth and profits. It is estimated that the diet industry generates $60 billion a year selling weight loss products (The U.S. Weight Loss & Diet Control Market, 2011), with eighty percent of dieters regaining their lost weight (Sumithran et al., 2011). Marketing is focused and advertised for women who are insecure about themselves to purchase beauty products, new fashion, and dietary supplements and aids. A whole media industry has developed from promoting body dissatisfaction. These messages being portrayed are so influential and prevailing in society that they affect girls long before they are exposed to fashion or beauty products or magazines. Three-year olds already have preference with game pieces that illustrate thin people over choosing heavier ones (Harriger et al., 2010), while seven year old girls are able to identify something they would like to change about their appearance (Girls Attitude Survey, 2009). These attitudes only get more influential as girls get older. In a survey conducted by Clark & Tiggemann (2006), approximately half of the nine to twelve year old girls said they wanted to be thinner and had either been on a diet of were aware of concept dieting. The impact of exposure to these images goes beyond swaying girls to buy beauty and diet products. Research has linked exposure to images of young, thing, air-brushed female bodies to a decrease in self-esteem, depression and unhealthy eating habits in girls and young women. In one study half of the girls aged 16 to 21 said they would undergo surgery to improve their bodies (Girls Attitude Survey, 2009). Poor boy image may impose even more substantial consequences as well. In 2009, a study found that girls who were unhappy with their bodies, whether they were overweight or not, were significantly more at risk for attempting suicide (Dave & Rashad, 2009). According to media activist Kilbourne (2000), "Women are sold to the diet industry by the magazines we read and the television programs we watch, almost all of which makes us feel anxious about our weight" (p.47). Kilbourne argues that the staggering presence of media images of unbearably thin women means that real girls' bodies have become invisible in mass media. The real misfortune, Kilbourne states, is that several girls internalize these stereotypes, and judge themselves by the beauty industry's standards. Given the considerable potential outcomes, it is imperative that girls and young women develop a serious understanding of the paradigm and nature of media representations of women's bodies and the reason why these images are bolstered. More notably, they need to confront these misrepresentations of women and be advocates for practical and realistic representations. Since exposure to these messages and images start at a young age, it is crucial that education towards this topic begins at an early age. Generally, most of the concerns about self esteem and body image have involved girls, but a increasing amount of research is being directed towards boys. Research suggests that even though boys are less inclined to speak about their insecurities, they too are subject to anxiety about their bodies (Norman, 2011). Society's cultural expectations that males should be nonchalant about their physiques makes body dissatisfaction in guys more challenging to assess, but they are certainly affected by media representations of idealized masculinity. Body dissatisfaction among boys and young males is not only endorsed by idealized male bodies in media, but also with idealized images of women as well. A study by Aubrey & Taylor in 2008, found that young men were more self conscious about their bodies after reading magazines featuring photos of sexualized, half-clothed women, based on the belief that females would expect comparable idealized physiques from men as well. Further research revealed a relationship between the increase in idealized male physiques in media and the increase in body dissatisfaction and weight disorders in boys and young men. A 2005 study, found that media influence had the largest impact on whether middle schooled boys were dissatisfied with their bodies (Smolak & Stein, 2005). The rise in eating disorders in males is well-known. A study by the UK National Health service found that hospital admissions for males with eating disorders had risen two-thirds between 2001 and 2011 (Reuters, 2011). Eating disorders are also on the rise amid boys, predominantly with athletes (Harding, 2008). There are concerns that some boys as young as 10 years of age are becoming obsessed with building muscular physique (Dawes, Roozen, & Spano, 2009). While the focus in most research on body image issues among boys focuses on the ambition to be more muscular, recent evidence suggests that rather than focusing on building muscle mass boys are most likely to concentrate on achieving or maintaining an average weight that is neither over nor underweight, to avert standing out from their peers (Austin, Haines, & Veugelers, 2009). Consequently, boys who are displeased with their bodies are almost evenly likely to be worried about being too thin as being too fat (Freeman et al., 2012). This indicates that the level of eating disorders and other body image concerns may be higher than currently thought, given that researchers have conventionally measured body dissatisfaction in boys based on their longing for a more muscular build. It also denotes that interventions established on those that have been intended for girls may be less effective with boys; for instance, researchers found that BodiMojo, a website considered to aid youth with body image issues, had positive results with females but not with males (Cousineau et al., 2010). This may perhaps be possible for the reason that girls are in general open about being worried with their bodies and weight, whereas boys are under pressure to avoid being too heavy or skinny without appearing to care about their looks (Norman, 2011). Parents, counselors, and teachers need to be more aware of the pervasiveness of body image issues among boys, and not wait for boys to openly look for help. In addition, boys need to be well-informed and presented with the same resources as girls. They need resources that are particularly designed for them, that not only attend to their specific concerns, such as the desire for muscularity and the pressure to not stand out on the basis of weight, but can be provided to them in a way they can access them confidentially, away from the judgment of their peers (McCabe & Ricciardelli, 2006). In a society where pervasive media images encourage unrealistic expectations about how we should look and displeasure if we fail to make the grade, it is critically important that both girls and boys be taught the media literacy skills they need to decisively engage with media portrayals of male and female bodies. Consequently, social media has a positive/negative influence on the individuals self perception and body image. Individuals who view idealized pictures of lean male or female bodies will have a negative impression on their self esteem and view of their own body image. Discussion In today's culture, children are inundated with continuous exposure to the media in many different manners. These consist of magazines, television, movies, newspaper, radio, and the internet. Modern-day issues surrounding body awareness in children and adolescents have increased with several researchers indicating that the media is a significant contributor to this occurrence (Park, 2005). A historical outlook of the media's depiction of the ideal body size and shape reveals change over the last century. The ideal body size and shape for males has changed from a larger bulky figure to become more muscular with a physically fit appearance (Lien, Pope & Gray, 2001; McCabe & Ricciardelli, 2004). The ideal shape for females has changed for a curvy shape in the mid 1900s to a noticeably slimmer figure to support current fashion trends (Katzmarzyk & Davis, 2001). The repercussions of childhood exposure to media, which depicts these images of body size and shape are alarming, as there is a growing likelihood of the child becoming discontent with his or her body image if their appearance differs from the media's so-called norm (Stice, Schipak-Neuberg, Shaw & Stein, 1994). The demands and pressures placed on children to achieve the "perfect body" may be entirely unachievable for their individual genetically determined shape and could explain the obsessive nature that may develop as they become so immersed with achieving this ideal image. According to Werheim, Paxton, Schultz, & Muir (1997), the biggest pressure on 15 year old girls to be thin was the presentation of the thin ideal images portrayed by the media. Internalization of the thin ideal body image has been acknowledged as a fundamental component in the development of body dissatisfaction (Cusumano & Thompson, 2001; Sands & Wardle, 2003; Stice et al., 1994; Stice & Shaw, 1994) and has also been linked to dieting motivation in pre-adolescents (Sands & Wardle, 2003). Field et al. (1999) analyzed 6,928 girls aged 9 to 14 years of age and observed that attempting to imitate the appearance of females on television, in movies, and in magazines was predictive of beginning purging behavior and the risk for this behavior increased in frequency in trying to look like the females in the media. An additional study by Field et al. (2001) in boys and girls aged 9 to 14 years of age illustrated that children who were attempting to emulate the appearance of same-sex media personalities were further likely to develop concerns over weight and become persistent dieters. Sands and Wardle (2003) suggested that media exposure, in the form of reading magazine that reflect the thin ideal body image, as well as awareness of a standard for appearance, increased with age in their sample of 356 girls aged 9 through 12 years of age. Thomsen et al. (2002) reported that restricting calories and taking dieting pills and supplements were associated with reading beauty and fashion magazines in female high school students 15 to 18 years if age. Correspondingly, Utter et al. (2003) found that weight control behaviors and binge eating increased in middle school and high school students as their prevalence of reading magazine containing diet related information increased. Thinness is encouraged as a standard for female beauty (Tiggeman & Slater, 2004) and the imagery represented by the media of the so-called ideal shape has become increasingly thinner in recent years (Spitzer, Henderson, & Zivian, 1999). Children are predominantly susceptible to the messages the media depicts and during youth become habituated to the images conveyed. Advertising, predominately for fashion and cosmetics, has a commanding influence on how we see ourselves and how we think we should look. Women's magazines in particular have a massive influence on body image, with studies reporting that teenager girls relied greatly on them for information regarding fashion and beauty (Magazine Publishers of America, 2000). Another survey conducted by Taylor Research & Consulting Group (2003) revealed that girls value the magazines advice almost as much as their peers. The increasingly underweight models in these magazines are regularly not seen as being thin enough by editors, who use photoshop and other manipulation tools to create women who are unbearably thin, especially altering photos of celebrities to reach this standard. Males in magazines are also regularly photoshopped to accomplish this muscular ideal (Jezebel, 2010). Advertisers and marketing campaigns believe that thin idealized models sell products. Advertisers have played a role in women's insecurities in certainty of providing them with the solution (Copeland, 2011). Furthermore, advertising is firmly linked with creating insecurities that when women are shown images of products such as shoes, deodorant or perfume in the context of fictional ads, they are more prone to answer negatively to questions such as "How satisfied are you with your body?" or "How attractive do you find yourself?" than if they saw the same photos in a neutral context (Trampe, Stapel & Siero, 2011). While it's well-known that viewing images of underweight women make regular or overweight females feel negatively about themselves (Smeesters, Mussweiler & Mandel, 2010), in recent years there have been a number of attempts in the magazine industry to oppose the trend. For quite a few years the Quebec magazine Coup de Pouce has continuously used full-sized females in their fashion magazines and Chatelaine has vowed not to touch up or photoshop photos and not to use models younger than 25 years old. Several clothing retailers have also devoted to not using underweight models, most noteworthy Canadian retailer Jacob (Flavelle, 2010). In 2009, the editor of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman, blamed fashion designers of pressuring magazines to hire underweight models by only supplying miniscule outfits for photo shoots. Shulman even alleged to have arranged for some of the photos retouched so that the models would not appear so thin (Shea, 2009). There is considerable evidence that media education can counteract unrealistic and idealized media representations of male's and female's bodies. 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