How the Mass Media Affects Body Dissatisfaction in Adolescents (Essay Sample)

College Writing
Professor Cerrone
Dec 3, 2014
How the mass media affects body dissatisfaction in adolescents
There is much focus on the internalization of unrealistic body image ideals portrayed on television, magazines and social media among other mass media platforms. The media significantly influences adolescents’ body image. The mainstream portrayal of a slender, physically attractive and athletic body image ideal creates a society of young people that are majorly concerned with body image. The portrayal of beauty ideals in media is creating a major issue that impacts girls and boys to accept their natural conditions, but it is slightly higher on girls. Extremes measures are being adopted by adolescents and women that compromise on their health.
Adolescence is a transitional period characterized by disorientation and discovery quest towards self-identity formation. It is a period where adolescents form peer groups and attach increased importance to the need to conform to external appearance ideals. The media is not a reliable basis for forming their identity because it distorts facts and provides unrealistic expectations. Adolescents easily conform to ideals portrayed in the media because they accept the portrayals as part of reality. The ideals on physical appearance are largely unattainable, and it results in feelings of dissatisfaction with their bodies especially among teenagers (George 19).
A 136 U.K study was conducted on ages between the range of 11 to 16 years old and it shows that girls compare themselves with models seen in teen magazines leading to body image dissatisfaction. Further studies indicate that more than one in five teenage girls in the US begins dieting in a bid to emulate the models featured in the fashion magazines (Javellana 96). It is because the number of articles on diet and exercising in teenage magazines has increased. The models are thinner than the average size of the female population, and their weight may fit in the anorexia nervosa category (Luff and Gray 134). Girls constantly compare themselves to the mainstream media ideal images and become increasingly dissatisfied with their bodies. I believe that girls should be more educated about how media portray beauty ideals and understand that their perfect appearance is misrepresented. Media is a tool used to advertise for existing product and using "beauty" as their essential element to grab people’s attention. Despite the fact of how girls should understand what is happening behind the curtains, people should accept the nature that of how god created them. This is because there is no way that a person could predict or chose his appearance better than how god meant to create him. For this fundamental reason, all people should be convinced, happy, and confident of how they look.
Teenage boys also bow to media pressure to work out their abdominal muscles and achieve the masculine idea of a "six pack”. Print magazines draw men to control their weight through exercise and weight lifting. Studies reveal that the more young men watch music videos, the worse they feel about certain aspects of their bodies. They develop a poor body image and a drive for masculinity that is largely associated with low self-esteem, anxiety and depression. They also develop high susceptibility for abusing steroids that predispose them to health risks. Some include heart disease, lower sperm count, infertility, baldness and destruction of the liver and the kidney (Javellana 98).
Television, radio, advertising, movies, social media, internet, magazines and others provide a sense of what is and is not important. It influences how adolescents think and look at themselves as well as others perceptions about them. Having a negative body image has long term effects on adolescents’ mental and physical health. It influences the onset of anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, shame. It can also results in risky behavior such as anorexia, bulimia and withdrawal from healthy activities such as exercises that require showing off their bodies in public such as swimming (Javellana 100).
In the US, many families develop a fad for diets leading to over 45 percent of nine to eleven year olds beginning diets (Gallivan n.p). More than 50 percent and 30 percent of girls and boys respectively in their teen years use unhealthy weight control measures. Some include skipping meals, fasting, smoking and taking laxatives. It is also reported that teenage girls on diets have a 12 times more risk to binge than those not on diets.
The portrayal is not constructive as it creates a society with faulty thinking. Adolescents think conforming to the ideals makes them happier, healthier and better looking. It enslaves adolescents in chasing after the wind as the portrayals continuously make them feel that they are not good enough (Gallivan n.p). Adolescents begin an unending journey to achieve the unachievable weight that often results in chronic eating disorders. The inaccurate portrayal of reality may also result in competitive athletics that ultimately takes a toll on one’s health. The inaccurate portrayal is also said to affect adolescents’ body image and self-esteem up to one’s adulthood.
The fact that many adolescents grow up believing that conforming to the societal ideal of beauty and attractiveness is necessary to be successful shows how effective the media is. For instance, a movie that best describes this issue is "13 going on 30”. This movie is a perfect example that shows how media’s depiction of the ideal body image is very effective in shaping the audience beliefs and actions. Girls become obsessed with body size and weight and believe that they need to conform to the set ideals to attract friends and popularity. The media is also effective in preparing adolescents for the ideal body image in physical appearance and weight for certain careers such as becoming actors, athletes, models, dancers and gymnasts.
The social comparison theory provides justification for why the images predicate weight anxiety and body dissatisfaction. It espouses that people make automatic comparisons about their bodies with every image presented in the media. It informs their belief that the image is a rational and reasonable representation of the expected image. Adolescents make direct comparisons from exposure to idealized images and consequently change their body satisfaction. It fuels their drive for thinness and masculinity to achieve the attractiveness goal (Gallivan n.p). Usually, people shift their way of thinking and misunderstand what beauty is. Girls consider becoming skinny as the ideal look of beauty but as a matter of fact being very skinny means that the body has no definition. If I would personally judge on this issue, I would say that there is no such definition exists that defines what beauty really is. In addition, beauty could vary from one person to another, and many people have different perspectives, and tastes on what they prefer. There is always a person that will appreciate something that you do not like, and in that case, which proves that every person has his definition of beauty.
Evidently, mass media’s portrayal of the idealized body image is dangerous to adolescents. It develops the idealized body image and feeds adolescents’ quest to belong in harmony with the unrealistic expectations of body image. The portrayed image cultivates misguided beliefs about feeling inadequate that lead them into problem behaviors. It may cause adolescents to feel helpless and incapable of succeeding. It may results in behavior such as absenteeism from class, neglecting personal grooming, eating disorders, withdrawal from activities such as sporting and ultimately depression (Schwarzenegger 42).
It is necessary that the media also incorporate features that validate the worth of adolescents of all sizes and shapes. It would serve to reduce the inferiority feeling and pressure on adolescents to achieve portrayed ideals. The media must openly discuss the harmful effects of comparing one to others perceived as more accomplished or better off. It must challenge the feelings of envy and personal worthlessness that arise from comparisons. The above can be accomplished by providing practical skills that adolescents can invoke to resist sociocultural pressures present in mass media. Media should also incorporate features that teach them that value is beyond one’s physical appearance. It should help adolescents to discover their strengths and resilience needed to combat the developmental milestones of adolescence (Schwarzenegger 56).
Indeed, the media is largely responsible for adolescents’ body dissatisfaction. Girls are more susceptible to start dieting early owing to their dissatisfaction with their body weight and size. Research shows that they express their desire to be more slender and measure up to models’ ideals. Boys also succumb to the pressure to exercise and lift weights more vigorously in a bid to attain more muscles. The idealized image is inaccurate because it results in faulty thinking. Adolescents believe that appearance predicates success that drives their desire to conform (George & Rebecca 2010). The media is effective in entrenching the ideals because of the inherent predisposition for the audience to view the images as reality and their goal orientation to conform. It is necessary that the media also affirms diversity and validates the worth of adolescents of other shapes and sizes as attractive. It is also important that the media teaches that value is beyond appearance to assist adolescents resist the sociocultural pressures present in media.
In the United States, virtually all households have a Television screen on which they view commercials that are brought al...