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Beauty…it poses the age old question, is beauty in the eye of the beholder or is beauty only skin deep? What affects the way we determine the level of someone’s beauty? It’s very easy to see that this world is infatuated with beautiful people, but how do you become one? Who determines if you are one? Who decided what was beautiful? Where does the obsession to be beautiful come from? Body image is a pressing issue that plagues women and men alike. The problem can start at a very young age and grow into a deadly obsession that can cause eating disorders that can in turn become fatal.
A large amount of body image standards come from the media. The media constitutes a large outlet that has the ability to make people believe it is a mirror of society and not that viewers are killing themselves to mirror the media. Magazine articles show emaciated models that tell young girls that thin is in or women that losing weight can be quick and easy with fad diets. These images develop unhealthy thoughts that continue to grow. Young girls are very impressionable and yearn to be beautiful and popular and hope to be one of the girls that get asked on dates like the girls they see on television.
This does not change for adult women; they long to be desired like celebrity women and women in the magazines. The images portrayed in the media give the false sense that being skinny is what men want, and drive people to strive to become skinny. Plastic surgeries conducted in the United States in the past seven years have increased 72 percent (Author, Date). This figure shows that the obsession to obtain perfection in body image has become more of a problem then society would like to admit.
Now if a young women wishes to look like the supermodel she sees in a magazine, she can implant her breasts, suck out her stomach, and have her legs liposuctioned. These procedures can be very painful and cost thousands of dollars, and yet the end to the trend seems to be nowhere in sight. In fact with the advances in cosmetic medicine, so many more medical procedures are coming more and more readily available (Author, Date). Today’s youth are not excluded from this trend. Young girls are asking for breast implants for graduation, and saving up to have their liposuction procedures (Author, Date).
Self esteem is easily crushed with each page turn in a magazine, or each minute of a television program because the characters that people are watching or reading are developed based on their size. This goes beyond age level in programming. Size discrimination is seen in youth shows as well as adult programs. There are large women in television, but they are most commonly portrayed as the “funny fat chick”, that is allowed to stay in social circle for comedic relief. The true view of those healthier women in society at times become social outcasts that need to be pumped, drugged, and tampered with to be accepted (Author, Date).
Men are not exempt form these social anxieties. Many men develop obsessive behavior over body image. The need to be in shape, muscular, and desirable are all stresses that society puts on men, because media tells women that those are the qualities that an attractive man should have. Men struggle to obtain this image by obsessive workout regimens, and even going as far as turning to drug supplements to see results quicker. Some men have even developed eating disorders like bulimia in order to maintain their “perfect” body image (Author, Date) Men have gone as far as plastic surgery to achieve perfection.
Men’s procedures have ranged from liposuction, to nose jobs, and even as far as calf implants (Author, Date). These steps show that the United States is facing a very unhealthy body image problem, and it is not a problem that is only plaguing women. Why have people become so consumed with beauty? Is it the programs that are being aired? Is it the Magazines that are flying off the news stands? Milkie argues that it is a subconscious need to appeal to the opposite sex. She states that people look at men gawking at the women on magazine covers and that is how women determine what beauty is and causes their obsession to reflect the same look.
Programs and printed images should be assessed and the media should take a responsibility in their portrayal of perfection that they are feeding to the world. Many ethnicities are affected by the unrealistic body images portrayed in magazines. The majority of previous studies focus on the effects on Caucasian females. This study will shed light into the thoughts and changes made in African American female college students struggle with body image versus that of Caucasian female college students struggle. This study will dog further to compare the effects etween the two races bridging the gaps in research. Media must understand their influence on young females in their formative years, and how it continues to effect the same people in their adult years. Those working in the media industry, should strive to bring different types of beauty into the lime light, and develop a tolerance of all body types. Keeping in mind the need to sell shows, and gain ratings, society may be too far along in vanity to relate to a 500 pound leading lady or the handsome prince showing up for the rescue a fat balding man.
What messages are being accepted by society and what changes are trying to be made? My identifying what people are receiving from media messages, and how they are reacting to these messages, it can help determine the driving force of the body image obsession phenomenon. This topic is prevalent to Mass Communications because some people are finally standing up and saying enough is enough, and as viewers they are demanding a change. Even celebrities are standing up and saying that they no longer will allow themselves to feel the pressure to live in an unrealistic body image (Tyra Banks, People Magazine January 2007).
Society would think that a college student would be above the influence but this study shows that the students are just as likely to succumb to the pressures of gaining perfection. Although many have assessed the problem and begun change, some still find it easier to assimilate to avoid being an outcast in the eyes of society. This study will prove that women perceive an unrealistic idea of body image from magazine photos and that it causes them to question their own appearance and go to sometimes extreme measures to obtain an acceptable body image to present to society. Literature and Review
There have been numerous studies done about youth’s body image ideals based on the mass media. Most research has concentrated on magazine images on young girls, not so much the constant images they see on television. In “Mass Media and Body Image: A Brief Review of the Research” by Michael P. Levine he concentrates on the social factors that are inevitable with the constant barrage of beauty images in the media. The article explains that sociocultural factors clearly play an important role in the spectrum of problems related to negative body image and unhealthy eating habits, and weight management practices.
Levine uses the article to spark an interest in further research pertaining to the mass medias’ affects on girls’ self esteem. The article called “Media Pulse: Measuring the media in Kid’s lives” by Patricia Morris illustrates a study involving children 8-16 years, who watch four or more hours of television a day and the effect the direct correlation between advertisements and programming and children’s eating habits mostly with a negative connotation. She focuses on a study conducted in the U. S. hat showed 69% of girls in the same age group reported that magazine pictures influenced their idea of the perfect body image. The researcher is using this information to help bring an alternate perspective of media. The study will use magazine media and its effect on adult women. In “Pleasure, Pain, and the Power of Being Thin: Female Sexuality in Young Adult Literature,” Beth Younger studies the written media and its affect on youth, concentrating on tabloid novels that are intended for young female girls but don’t contribute to their well being.
The article focuses on the author Judy Blume and her constant criticism for her messages in her stories. She portrays the main character as a fat girl and centralizes the story about her struggle with her weight, and the reality that because she is considered fat she never gets boys and is not having the same good times as the skinny girls her age. Even in novels children are being fed the notion that being skinny is the only way to live a happy life and the problem doesn’t stop there.
Seeing that these books fly off the shelves, it shows that young girls are relating to the characters, and feeling that they are somehow the same. It doesn’t matter if they are relating as the heavy girl that feels like social outcasts or the skinny girl who feels happy because the world they are presented will supposedly be at their fingertips. “Measuring Up: How Advertising Affects Self-Image”, by Vickie Rutledge Shields with Dawn Heinecken, sheds light on how advertising affects the self-image and relationships between idealized images of female bodies in advertising and media.
It concentrates on the ways that those images shape male and female perceptions and behaviors toward female bodies. The author argues that the ever-present and endlessly repeated images of youthful, slender, and beautiful bodies in advertising and media represent an impossible feminine ideal. The article dives further by arguing that images of women in ads and media affect the assignment and enactment of gender roles within culture. Although Shields surveys opinions from both men and women, it is apparent from the analysis she presents that ads have a particularly negative impact on women’s lives. The effect of “thin ideal” television commercials on body dissatisfaction and schema activation during early adolescence,” by Duane Hargreaves and Marika Tiggemann, investigates the effect of viewing televised images of female attractiveness on the body dissatisfaction of young adolescent girls. The study polled 190 female adolescents and 197 male adolescents whose ages ranged from 13 to 15 years of age and viewed either 20 commercials containing idealized female thin images or 20 nonappearance television commercials. The study was conducted to calculate body dissatisfaction among the youth.
The study concluded that girls, but not boys, who viewed the appearance commercials, reported significantly higher body dissatisfaction. The article by Melissa A. Milkie best portrays the intended idea of the study. The study focuses on high school aged students, and compares the “Impact of Persuasive Beauty Images on Black and White Girls’ self-concepts. ” The study was conducted using intimate interviews with the girls. In the findings most girls found the images to be unrealistic; however there where girls who found the images admirable.
The study highlighted the difference between white girls response to magazine images and the response of minorities (primarily black girls. ) The article stated, “Most girls see the images as unrealistic; many prefer to see “real” girls. ” An interesting part of the article expressed that, “Despite criticism, (white girls) are still harmed by the images because they believe that others find the images important and that others in the local culture, especially boys, evaluate them on the basis if these images.
Minority girls do not identify with “white” media images, nor believe that significant others are affected by them. ” This finding is contrasting to the studies hypothesis. The study is aiming to prove that African American women are also affected by the images in magazines. In the study conducted by Milkie, the author uses magazine that are typically “white” brand magazines. This study will use both images portrayed in the African American culture and the Caucasian culture. The article is very helpful for the continued research, because it introduces key concepts like the “third person effect” (Davison 1983).
The third person effect states, “Individuals believe that others are more strongly affected by media portrayals than they themselves are. ” In the study of the third person effect it showed that people believe that other people’s children are affected by commercials more strongly than their own (Perloff 1993). This rings true in peoples idea of body image and the effect the magazine images truly have. The third person effect suggests that effects of media in which the content directly influence the self, attitudes, or behavior may not be the only important kind of influence.
A complex, indirect effect may also occur as people account for the effect of the pervasive imagery in media on others in their social networks, and themselves influenced by perceptions of the way others see the media-distorted world (Milkie1999). The article helped develop one of the questions in the preliminary surveys: “When I think about how I look compared to the girls shown in girls’ magazine I feel: (1) Great about myself. (2) Good about myself. (3) OK about myself. (4) Not very good about myself. ” This article was a pertinent asset for the researcher.
It gave clarity and direction into the findings the researcher was trying to find. Many of the studies share the general idea and concern that the media is plaguing young females with added pressure to be like the women they see on television. Even though most of the studies pertained specifically to television, the bases of the studies will help shape the research that will be conducted. Many of the previous conclusions that have been studied follow the researcher’s hypothesis that magazine images cause a decline in self esteem and develop unhealthy obsession over body image.
The study will focus on not just the Caucasian response to body pressures but the response that African American females feel about obtaining the ideal body image. After assessing the articles a further question can be presented and that is whether there are two body image standards for African Americans and for Caucasian women. The growing need to research this topic has caused many people to take a stand against the constant one-sided images that are published. Methodology This study will be conducted using a focus group method.
To determine the participants of the focus group, a preliminary screening of Bethune-Cookman and Daytona Beach Community college female students will be done. The preliminary screening will include questions asking potential participants if they have ever read a female targeted magazine, and if they have ever judged their body based on the image in a magazine. Of the returned sample four African American students from Bethune-Cookman College and four Caucasian students for Daytona Beach Community College will be selected.
The preliminary screening will provide contact information if the person answering is willing to participate on camera fir the focus group. For this particular study, the focus group is the ideal method of finding data because feelings can be drawn from such personal honest and open answers. Women will be able to discuss freely any personal feelings or personal struggles they have faced in achieving the body image portrayed in several female magazines. The focus group will be conducted separately for the Caucasian students and the African American students.
By separating the two groups, it will give a better comparison of answers without creating any tension or feeling of judgment if personal ideals differ. If one group feels the other will judge them for being persuade by media images the whole study could be tainted. There are some gaps in collecting data using the focus group method. By using such a small sample size, it makes it very difficult to generalize information. However, being able to personally get into the mind of the female participants is far more beneficial than generalizing at this point.
With these findings, coupled with previous research, the information will still be valid in the continuing quest to solve the effects of media images on the human psyche. By performing the preliminary screening, a proper forum can be created. The preliminary screening will be done by sample survey. The survey will be distributed to female students on Bethune-Cookman and Daytona Beach community college campuses. The survey will be collected at the time of distribution in order to expedite the process of collecting data and guarantee a one hundred percent return. In the survey participants will be asked very brief multiple choice questions.
The questions will not be open ended so there can be no bias top the results. The deep information they participants will provide should be done in the focus group. By choosing all participants who prescreen toward the hypothesis of media having an adverse effect on their views of self image, the findings cannot be true. The survey will ask if the female has ever dieted. It will ask if they have ever performed any crash dieting, or had surgical alterations. The panel will include the women who have had alterations or want to have alterations, done diets particularly fad diets because those are the subjects that need to be assessed.
Those are the people who can share at length where they feel the need to do all those things have come from. Once the preliminary screening is collected, the four students from the schools will be based on willingness to participate, availability, and the primary concern which is a reader of a female magazine. The magazines that will be mentioned in the preliminary questionnaire as a female magazine include Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Shape, YM, Seventeen, People, and celebrity gossip magazines. As long as the participant is a casual reader of any of these magazines, their opinions and feelings will work well for the findings.
The focus group will go into the emotions and feelings of the female participants. The questions will aim to spark feeling and shed light into the cause of certain learned behaviors involving body image. The focus group will run as a free form discussion, with a mediator who has prepared questions when the conversation begins to thin out. Questions will promote free conversation that will be gathered by using a video recorder. Video is helpful not only to capture audio, but the visual helps capture what words can not capture alone.
Video will help capture tone and body language and even reactions when the participant is not speaking at all. This allows for true unconditional data collection. The panel will begin the focus group by stating their and name and age. The mediator will introduce the first subject. The participants will have name tags in front so when watching the video afterwards it is not necessary to remember the names solely by the introduction in the beginning. The participants will openly discuss the subject with everyone having the opportunity to share an idea, thought, or feeling.
When the conversation slows the mediator will segue into the next question up for discussion. The focus group will be approximately one hour and thirty minutes long, and will include a range of questions including, “What made you look in the mirror and decide you needed to go on a diet or lose weight? ” “What types of diets have you tried? ” “Do you feel the women featured in magazines portray a true depiction of the ideal body image? ” “Have you ever aspired to achieve or replicate someone’s body image and why? ” “What extremes have you gone to, to obtain a certain body image and why? The information pulled from the questions will provide clarity to the issue od magazine images providing a false sense of beauty and forcing women into extremes to achieve them. The false sense is creating an unhealthy way of living for females both African American and Caucasian alike. With the findings, emotions can be tapped and the motivation driving women to do such outlandish acts for beauty can finally have a cause. It will show that there are women who are going to extremes to present themselves to the world as they feel the world will want to see them.