Introduction

A famous journalist by the name of Joel Yager once said “Every society has a way of torturing its women, whether by binding their feet or by sticking them into whalebone corsets. What contemporary American culture has come up with are designer jeans.” Media is arguably the most powerful social tool within our society.  Media is like a pastor who preaches to change values or a speaker who seeks to persuade.  Through the test of time, media has always had a profound effect on women in terms of how they view their bodies from a personal perspective. The images of female bodies are everywhere and they are able to sell everything from food to cars. Popular films and television actress are becoming younger, taller and thinner. Women’s magazine are full articles urging that if they can just loose the last twenty pounds, they’ll have it all- the perfect marriage, loving children, great sex and a rewarding career. Even though it’s tempting to blame media for perpetrating and glorifying unrealistic standards of physical beauty, the truth is far more complicated. Throughout history, the dominant political climate and cultural ideals always have shaped the public’s perception of the ideal female body type. In today’s culture, the use of media such as television, internet, movies or print has a powerful presence in today’s culture than ever before. Media is playing a tremendous role in how many females perceives her own identity. Media has the power to build a woman up or break her down. Throughout the blog, we will discuss and analyze the ideal body type throughout history, media influences, health effects on body image and the steps for a healthier lifestyle.

Ideal body type throughout history

Throughout history, the standard of female beauty often has been unrealistic and difficult to attain. Those with money and higher socioeconomic status were far more likely to be able to conform to these standards while other women were willing to sacrifice comfort and even endure the pain to achieve them. Before the world was told that being fat was wrong, women were praised for their voluptuous bodies. Full breast and large hips were considered sexy and men would choose women with these body types because they were ideal for child bearing. In colonial times, the harsh environment and lack of comfortable surroundings required that all family members contribute to survival. Large families were preferred as children could help tend to the land and household chores. For these reasons, communities valued fertile, physically strong and able women. (Thesander M, 1997). At the start of the 1900s, slenderness became more fashionable. They began to see body weight as a 'science' of calorie counting, ideal weights, and weigh-ins. At this time the physically perfect woman was 5'4" tall and weighed 10 stone. Between 1970 and 1990, there was an overall increase on the emphasis on weight loss and the body shape content of a popular women’s magazine and the shift of using thinner models in their photo shoots. The media traps them with mixed messages about what is sexy, making it difficult to choose a role model. A good example is the heroin chic waif made popular by Kate Moss in the 1990s competes with the voluptuous Baywatch babe personified by Pamela Anderson. In today’s society, “thin is in”, everywhere you go, females are constantly being bombarded with advertisement of the ideal image of the women and media has socially responsible for this cultural trend.

• Peel health public create a chart showing the different types of trends that deal with media and body image:

The Era	The Look of the Day for Women
1800's	A large body is a sign of health and fertility. Corsets narrow the waist and enhance the bust.
1920's	Era of the flat-chested, slim-hipped flapper. First dieting craze of the 20th Century begins.
1950’s & 1960’s	Voluptuous full figured shapes of Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield are popular.
1967	British model Twiggy (5’6 or 168 cm. and 91 lbs. or 41 kg.) arrives on the scene – and the diet industry explodes.
1970’s & 1980’s	Models gradually become taller, thinner and begin to show toned muscle definition. Breasts make a fashion come-back.
Late 1990’s	Tall, very thin models with no visible body fat and muscles highly toned by hours of working out. Large breasts remain in style – but are rare in this body type without the help of breast implants.
2000 and beyond	Today’s advertisers go to huge lengths to sell products and to convince women that their bodies are never good enough. Female models are typically tall, thin, young, white and appear “perfect”.

Media Influence on Body Image

 Media is arguably the most powerful social tool in today’s society.  The current media culture trend is complicated and confusing. Women are told they can have it all including a nuclear family, high-paying career, and perfect home while looking beautiful at the same time.  Media tries to create a perfect world that caters to a higher social class but in the process they cut out the little man, which in this case the little man are mid to low income families who can’t afford the means to live up to media and society expectation. Researchers have found out that exposure to certain ideas can shape and distort our perception of reality. For example, if men and women consume a steady diet of fashion magazines and pornography on a daily basis, they encounter more naked or semi-naked females that have been airbrushed or enhanced by plastic surgery. This leads to our view of what women should look like their warped. Real women with public hair and breast that aren’t perfect begin to seem unnatural compared to the alter images we see in the media. Media creates an image of perfection in which excludes women that are over forty, women with disability or women with no career. Women that are not able to submit to image are view as outcast or the blur within the picture. Women try different ways to feel normal but in the process they end up hurting themselves.

• Here is a clip from the movie mean girls 2, in this scene, Jo is being offered by the plastic, to spend the day with them. the plastic are being portrayed as ideal and perfect image on how women should look and behave within society:

Health Effects on Body Image

            When most women look into the mirror, they see a negative reflection of themselves. They feel pressured to measure up to a certain social and cultural ideal of beauty, which leads to poor body image.  When businesses are presenting an ideal that is difficult to achieve and maintain the cosmetic and diet product industries assured with growth and profit. Media has always had a negative impact on women when it comes to how women view themselves in the eyes of society. When you live in a world filled with ongoing advertisement and a high rate of exposure to beauty magazines, soap opera, movies, or music videos that are associated with higher rates of body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness, females tend to feel a sense of insecurity and loneliness because they don’t belong within the same category with other women that are considered perfect. This type of feelings leads to depression, eating disorders and cosmetic surgery.  Dislike for their body image has pushed women to the extremes of serious eating disorders and even further into the depths of depression, causing some to attempt and commit suicide (Pompili, Girardi, Tatarelli, Ruberto, & Tatarelli, 2006).  I’m not a female but I can relate to some these problems they go through. There was certain time of my life where I felt insecure about my body and image because the girls at my school were sprung over the guys that were strong, lean and had that bad boy attitude. I was just a skinny teenager, wearing skinny jeans that had great love for R&B music. At the same time, I know that God created us in different shapes and sizes, and their different ways for girls to fall in love with you or at least get their attention. There are different ways and process for females to get help, so they would be able to escape from these dark stages and live a beautiful life without any worries. 

Steps for a healthier lifestyle & Conclusion

There are different ways to help someone who is battling self-esteem issues, depression or eating disorders. The first thing you should do is to feed your body with a regular diet and nurturing food. Keep your inner circle positive. Surround yourself with friends or family members that will have a positive effect and help you on your journey to a positive and healthier lifestyle. The most important step is to learn to love yourself, accept who you are whenever you look into the mirror.  Look very hard at what and who you want to be , deep down in your heart and soul. Keep a personal journal and write down, how you truly like your body to look, to feel, to act and to move.  The receptive way of changing of chainging your body image is to attract you and once you clearly know what is best for you, learn to assert consistently in your life.

• Here are some music videos from famous musicians that show a positve outlook on body image 

Christina Aguilera - Beautiful


Maria Mena - Just a little bit


Reference:

Thesander M: The Feminine Ideal. London, Reaktion Books,

1999.

Borzekowski DL, Bayer AM: Body image and media use

among adolescents. Adolesc Med 2005; 16:289–313

Kilbourne J: Deadly persuasion: WhyWomen Must Fight the

Addictive Power of Advertising. New York: Free Press, 1999