Body Image Essay -- essays research papers

Body ImageThe purpose of this study is to further research and examine the influences of mass media on male&8217s and female&8217s personal ashes attend satisfaction and the aw arness and internalization of social pressures regarding appearance. For a number years evidence surrounding the insecurities that women have towards their take bodies has been widely published. More recently, it has been suggested that men are f all in alling victim to media andsocietal pressure, and are developing insecurities traditionally associated with women. Much of the body dissatisfaction that we see forthwith can be attri neverthelessed to the enormous disparity between our current heathen beauty ideals and our actual bodies. Although most of the research surrounding the influences of media on body image has taken the form of analyzing exposure through the examination of such rationalizegs as magazine content, recentresearch has begun to focus on an individualistic&8217s sensory faculty o f societal pressures, as well as cardinal&8217s acceptance, or internalization, of these societal standards (Cusumano & Thompson,1997).Every culture has standards of beauty. Through the ages and slightly the world,people have evaluated the appearance of themselves and others. A person&8217s body image is his or her concept of their physical appearance. The mental re demonstrateation which may be realistic or unrealistic, is constructed from self-observation, the reactions of others, and acomplex interaction of attitudes, emotions, memories, fantasies, and experiences, both aware and unconscious. A pleasing appearance has oft been associated with higher status, better opportunities to depict a mate and other positive qualities. We live in a society that thrives on first impressions. Many people interact with prodigious numbers of new people everyday, especially in their work lives, and we often have little information aboutwho these people are, but we do know how they look. We try to size them up based on how they are dressed, how they talk, how they move and their overall physical appearance. People tend to judge a fat person as lazy and self-indulgent and a thin person as organized and disciplined and these stereotypes are reinforced by the media. A study done by Franzoi and Herzog (1987) examined what body parts and functions girlish adults... ...ents magazines. This ratio closely reflected the ratio of the relative incidence of eating disorders in women to the incidence of eating disorders in men (Cusumano & Thompson, 1997). According to Botta the available reports suggest that media do have an impact on bodyimage disturbance, both in a flash through body image processing and indirectly by promote males and females to endorse their respective ideals and by establishing what they see as realistic ideals (Botta, 1999).The present study seeks to examine the influence of exposure to media ideal body images and the awareness and internalization of thos e ideals on males and females. The results of previous studies indicate that the media plays a role in not just reflecting societal perceptions of male and female body image, but in shaping those perceptions. Media stereotypes, advertising ploys, and the fashion industry have all lead to the introduction of the unrealistic ideal body shape that we canvas ourselves to. How we feel about our bodies and how our bodies look to us in the mirror is an central aspect of our self esteem and for many Americans the media tells us how we should feel and look.