Body Image and the Media - Article Example

? Body Image and the Media Chelsea Odem The media plays a critical role in its view on body image especially to women. Technological advancements have made the media such as newspapers, magazines and online print to alter images so as to produce a new image of someone that is totally different from what they are (photo shopping). This has resulted to a negative influence on body esteem. When women are exposed to the thin models and images, they tend to try and imitate what they see so that they can be just as equal to what they have seen and this has clearly caused a psychological discomfort and research should be stipulated so as to reverse the effects of what women have already seen (as cited in Haas, 2012). Body image consists of self perception and how women view themselves. Gendered body image results when the image of how we look is dependent on our culture. That is, how our bodies are shaped depends on cultural aspects. A research on body shapes revealed that women of black descent would prefer curves as compared to women of lighter skin (as cited in Calogero, 2010). Media type matters a lot because adolescents are more involved in motion media as compared to the usual TV, internet and magazines. According to a research conducted in the UK, it revealed that adolescents are spending much more time watching music videos and the trend has shifted to the US. It can be concluded that the media is promoting degradation of body image esteem as the music videos that they preview relatively create an artificial beauty and unrealistic body image that many women find hard to fit it (as cited in Bell, 2011). Young girls around the world are the most affected when it comes to body image. They want to fit it and look like their favourite music artists and models that they admire. According to a research conducted, body dissatisfaction happens at a particular stage in teenage girls, which is between their adolescent stages. That is why many adolescents engage in trends such as dieting so as to lose weight. Peer groups are also a misleading crowd; these adolescent girls find themselves practicing the art of dieting which at times leads to anorexic disorders. Again, the media plays a role in the fact that it readily provides information on how to practice dieting effectively. According to a research, women and adolescent girls are motivated to lose weight and engage in dieting with regard to media exposure, the mass media is conveyed as a powerful tool in socio-cultural ideas (as cited in Dohnt, 2006). A study on the effect of exposure to magazines that contain images of thin models to Australian women revealed that, when women are exposed to the images, they felt a feeling of weight anxiety and they were moody and they felt like they are not looking better as compared to the images that they are seeing. The research concluded that, viewing of these magazine images can make women to focus on how they look even if they had not thought about the idea (as cited in Harper, 2008). This can be described as self-objectification. The media on countless times have depicted the thin model women as the ones having the ideal body. The overall effect of these idealizations is that, women may start creating unexpected goals as to what they want to look like in a given period of time frame that could involve aspects such as dieting and extreme starvation and even the women may develop eating disorders. A research study on body image and the media revealed that, women are seemingly becoming more accustomed to images of thin models on magazines. Even more, they are even more comfortable when they are subjected to images of heavier women. That may not be the case in all women since the idea type of women as portrayed in the media is far much not the same as the realistic woman putting in mind both entities have the same variables of height and weight. Another study based on cultivation theory suggested that the implication of regarding thin body as ideal through time, it can lead to the acceptance that the thin body is much preferable to the other body types. Thus this can lead to a connection between thin body exposure and its acceptance by women of other body sizes (as cited in Holmstrom, 2004). Adolescents, be it young boys or girls at one point in their adolescent stage they are faced with body dissatisfaction. Body consciousness is an ideology that has presented itself in young girls as compared to boys and as a result, young girls view themselves and judge themselves as though they were being judged by other people. A research study conducted on young Swiss adolescents concluded that body dissatisfaction of young girls to their bodies was about 40% as compared to boys that was approximately 18%. The same results were prone to be applied to other countries such as the US and UK. The same study was performed in adults where 40% were women and 22% were males (as cited in Knauss, 2008). This trend leaves no doubt that women and young girls are most impacted body image, which is body dissatisfaction as showcased by the media. It can be boldly stated that the media has influenced individuals from the world to lose who they are. For instance, with the media showcasing celebrity surgeries has led to women in Singapore going for cosmetic surgery so as to have the look of a “Western nose”. Another study revealed a rise of approximately 11.9% cases of bulimia eating disorders in Fiji after they viewed episodes from a show that was televised in their local station, Friends (as cited in Orbach 2011). These young women associated themselves with the ideology that the western body type was ideal as compared to their body structure. In an attempt to “feel and look” like the western women, they felt like it was important to them to look that way thus reconstructing their body shapes. When an individual is not content with their body image, they tend to be sad, guilty and filled with negative emotions that may lead to eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia. In addition to that, dieting was revealed to be associated with exposure to pictures of thin images and this resulted to greater body dissatisfaction as the participants were doing mental social comparisons of themselves as compared to what they saw in the pictured images (as cited in a research study in Ridolfi, 2011). A study on women also revealed that they like to read magazines such as Playboy so as to get more information about their genitals. This also has some psychological pressure on how their physical look is (as cited in Schick, 2011). Hypothesis Hypothesis one: The media greatly impacts the way women and young adolescents feel about themselves. The media has the capability to cause psychological discomfort that could lead to the stated entities engaging in dieting, anxiety weight management, and an overall urge to incorporate artificial beauty that they see in motion clips such as music videos. Hypothesis two: Body comparisons in magazines, self gratification and body restructuring with cosmetic surgery are all as a result of social pressure to look and feel the part of what the media has portrayed as the perfect and ideal “thin” body to women and young girls. Methods There are two methods used to test a research hypothesis. These include: The null hypothesis (H0) that concludes that the general population collected has no change, no difference and relationship (that is, independent variable has no effect on the dependent variable). For the stated hypothesis, this method does not apply since there is a strong relationship between the variables to be tested. Thus there is a change or difference and a conclusive relationship of the general population, independent variable has an effect on the dependent variable thus it is called alternative hypothesis (H1), where H0 and H1 are mutually exclusive to each other. Sample For a sample testing, N =50, where N is the total number of participants to be inclusive of the test. Demographic characteristics include aspects such as age of the participants where it will focus on adult women and men between 17 and 25 years and young adolescents between 12 and 17 years old. The number of individuals is 15 women, 15 men and 20 young adolescents. Gender between the ethnic groups is balanced, which is equally divided among the total number. The selected criteria for inclusion is of young adults up to 25 years old because this is the target age that is mostly impacted by the media. Adolescent’s ages range from 12 years because this is the beginning of puberty and they stage where children are mindful of how they look and also the same stage where they are realizing who they are. The exclusion is based on the fact that, the media impacts the younger generation at a higher rate as compared to the older generation. Thus this becomes the best sample to test the hypothesis. Measures The described measures for the hypothesis include questionnaires that will be used to gather information such as the participants age, gender, ethnicity and also the type of media that they frequently get engaged in, whether it motion pictures and video or print media. A measure will also be taken on the eating and dieting habits of individuals and media usage in term of how much media is consumed by the subject with regard to television and internet. Observations will be used to test and determine how the participants will respond when exposing images of thin sized models to them, which are physical observation. An experiment will be conducted to establish whether it is true an individual is better of viewing pictures of average body women or thin type women. Lastly the measure will be on body image perception. These measures are going to have conclusive information on the impact of media on dieting, how much time an individual spends on the television and Internet. Lastly, the measure will determine how people view themselves in terms of body image, are they happy with how they look, sad, do they need to change how they look and so on. Procedure: Some of the procedures to be used so as to collect the data would be the use of sample questionnaires, focus groups and observations. Through questionnaires, it will involve giving the participant a set of questions that will include their age, gender, ethnicity and what form of media that they engage in mostly based on either television, internet or magazines. Focus groups create an open environment where they subjects can be able to brainstorm on what they like to do most of the time based on media influence, that is, do they like watching television, surfing the internet or reading magazines. Observations will be used to collect collective information on what the subject feels when they are subjected to pictures and images of thin models as compared to those of average looking models. The subjects will be informed about the procedure to be undertaken in one week duration. This will give them adequate time to prepare and again, this will ensure that all the procedural steps to conducting the hypothesis are followed coherently. The consent will be gotten from the school and parents of the young adolescents that the research study is prone to be undertaken and thus their consent would be highly appreciated. Participants will engage in brainstorming, this will be done in the focus groups and the other research procedures will be carried out without much tasks since it involves just filling in the questionnaire. The participants will complete the tasks in one day and this will be based back the school, this includes doing the questionnaires, observations and conducting the focus group sessions. The participants will be compensated through in between meals and refreshments and acknowledgment that they participated in the research study. Participants will be assigned to groups. For example the young adolescents of ages 12 to 17 will be placed in one group, the rest will be in another group. The aim of this is to distinguish the ages since the replies that they give depend heavily on the age bracket that they are in. Secondly, the participants will be distinguished based on gender. This is because both groups have certain responses on specific matters such as dieting which is more of a female trend as compared to males. There will be no other distinguishing attributes on the participants. The design to be implemented on the questionnaires and surveys will be based on the selected participants where it is will be recursive as the same participants will be the ones involved in the whole process of research. Anticipated Results Regression analysis will be used to determine the relationship between the dependent variable and the independent variable. From the results, a prediction can be made to come up with the results. That is; if participant’s age is between 12 and 17 years then they are more likely to watch a lot of music videos online and through the television and individuals in the age bracket of 17 to 25 years are more likely to be focused on their body image. Thus, with this hypothesis, I expect that age will be relational to the media and body perception and image. Thus all the stated variables are associated with each other. Ethical Consideration/Limitations Risks of my study include; the possibility of the subjects not giving the correct answer. Secondly the results may be exaggerated by the subjects. Thirdly, they may feel discomfort during the beginning of the study. Benefits of the study include the potential to come up with data results that link the media with the current trends that individuals have adopted at this age. The selected method is justifiable because the sample population is small and regression is used to compare the association of an independent and a dependent variable. Other methods such as T-Test are used to compare and contrast between two sample populations mean. Some of the ethical considerations include informing the participants what the research is about, the procedures involved, the benefits of the research, how long it will take and the contact person just in case someone is not comfortable with the research undertaking. The participants will also be informed of the confidentiality of their names just in case any does not want their identity known. It is also an ethical method because participants are adequately informed of what will be done. Some of the limitations of the methodology are that one sample does not reflect the opinion of the whole population at large unless consequent and integrative research studies are conducted on various populations. Secondly, the environment that the research study takes place is totally uncontrollable and it may affect the outcome of the research in terms of the variables involved such as the participants. The probability that assumptions may be made by the participants involved or the researcher assuming values based on the final outcome. That is, when the outcome does not reflect the anticipated results. Conclusion This study means that the results can be used to formulate theories that can be used to explain further on human thought when it comes to media influence. It can be concluded that the mass media is very responsible for this psychological disorder among women, if the media was to be more alert on the kind of music videos that they air; women and young adolescents would not be put under a lot of pressure to “fit into” the world of thin models that have artificial beauty. The same would apply for other sources of media such as the internet. This study should be conducted to reveal whether the psychological discomfort in women can be reversed. That is, can women who have been exposed be rehabilitated so as to reverse the way they think about themselves and the way they treat themselves. This should be investigated so as to come up with a solution to help all the women who are suffering in silence so as to try and “fit in” the “ideal perfect body”. References Barriga, C. (2009). Media context, female body size and perceived realism. Sex Roles, 60(1/2), 128. doi:10.1007/s11199-008-9482-7 Bell, B. (2011). Does media type matter? The role of identification in adolescent girls' media consumption and the impact of different thin-ideal media on body image. Sex Roles,65(7/8), 478. doi:10.1007/s11199-011-9964-x Calogero, R. (2010). Fiction, fashion, and function: An introduction to the special issue on gendered body image, part I. Sex Roles, 63(1/2), 1. doi:10.1007/s11199-010-9821-3 Dohnt, H. (2006). Body image concerns in young girls: The role of peers and media prior to adolescence. Journal Of Youth & Adolescence, 35(2), 135. doi:10.1007/s10964-005-9020-7 HAAS, C. J. (2012). An intervention for the negative influence of media on body esteem. College Student Journal, 46(2), 405. Harper, B. (2008). The effect of thin ideal media images on women’s self-objectification, mood, and body image. Sex Roles, 58(9/10), 649. doi:10.1007/s11199-007-9379-x Holmstrom, A. J. (2004). The effects of the media on body image: A meta-analysis. Journal Of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 48(2), 196. Knauss, C. (2008). Body dissatisfaction in adolescent boys and girls: Objectified body consciousness, internalization of the media body ideal and perceived pressure from media. Sex Roles, 59(9/10), 633. doi:10.1007/s11199-008-9474-7 Orbach, S. (2011). Losing bodies. Social Research, 78(2), 387. Ridolfi, D. (2011). Do appearance focused cognitive distortions moderate the relationship between social comparisons to peers and media images and body image disturbance?. Sex Roles, 65(7/8), 491. doi:10.1007/s11199-011-9961-0 Schick, V. K. (2011). Evulvalution: The portrayal of women's external genitalia and physique across time and the current barbie doll ideals. Journal Of Sex Research, 48(1), 74. doi:10.1080/00224490903308404 The Independent. Magazines teen market: Losing readers to MySpace? Then this could be the answer. (2006, October 16). Web. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/magazines-teen- market-losing-readers-to-myspace-then-this-could-be-the-answer- 420253.html. Read More