Report Sample on Body Image: Media Messages of Feminine Beauty Ideal

Introduction

There are numerous images of the feminine beauty ideal in the modern world through various media conveying different messages about women's beauty, health, and bodies. The three main media messages include; weight loss, career opportunities, and financial gain due to having certain body sizes and shapes. The most common media used to pass these messages include; magazines, television, and social media sites such as; Instagram/YouTube/celebrity/fashion/lifestyle sites. Images of women's bodies are seen everywhere whereby females and their body parts are involved in selling everything from food to cars. Famous television and film actresses are now becoming thinner, taller, and younger. Some of them have been known to faint due to lack of food as they strive not to eat to maintain certain body shapes and sizes. Magazines that discuss omen matters are filled with articles advocating for weight loss to have it all: a rewarding career, great sex, loving children, and a perfect marriage.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Similarities in Messages in Different Media

In all the three media, magazines, television, and social media sites such as; Instagram/YouTube/celebrity/fashion/lifestyle sites, the messages on women bodies and images on weight loss, career opportunities, and financial gain as a result of having certain body sizes and shapes are similar. All three media devices that weight loss to get into certain shapes and sizes are the key to all the problems women face in modern-day. The three media state in unison that after losing weight, people assume that they look better and feel healthier; hence they become happy. This might be true in some instances; however, adjusting to new body sizes and shapes can have an adverse effect on some individuals' self-esteem since weight loss is occasionally accompanied by negative issues such as loose skin and stretch marks.

Some people even struggle with receiving compliments and attention from body loss. Studies done on weight loss among women showed that weight loss does not automatically make someone happy, but some may have anxiety and depression. All three media agree that weight loss is usually aimed at making someone change life habits to live healthier lives and also build a favorable image. However, in some instances, weight loss is due to external pressure and idealized social norms. All three media also state that appearances, body shape, and size are good for career opportunities. Magazine, social media and mainstream media models are usually prioritized based on their body sizes and shapes. Other careers have also started stressing on the issue of body image hence putting much pressure on women. All three media states that weight loss improves the image hence greater career opportunities, which leads to financial gain.

Differences in Messages in Different Media

Messages regarding weight loss, career opportunities, and financial gain based on body image vary somehow from one media to another. The social media platforms: Instagram/YouTube/celebrity/fashion/lifestyle sites put more emphasis on weight loss while being less concerned with the adverse effects of the pressure to lose weight among women. Social media puts much pressure on women to have certain body shapes and sizes to have increased career opportunities and financial gain without considering the negative consequences such as health issues like anorexia nervosa (Ted Talks, 2016).

Anorexia nervosa is a common condition in the modern world where women do not take enough food to fear being fat, leading to medical complications. The mainstream media, such as the television, is somehow moderate in emphasizing weight loss. Due to the regulatory issues, most of the television messages on weight loss, career opportunities, and financial gain are beneficial as credible information on the best way to maintain healthy body sizes is promoted. Television shows such as; Orange is the new black, Empire, and Gilmore Girls have emphasized women's body image. For instance, in Orange is the new black, women are dictated on the number of calories that they can consume (Karlin, 2015). Magazines also give accurate information compared to social media; however, magazines also put unnecessary pressure on women as they tend to fuel competition, which may lead to unhealthy means of maintaining the desired body weight, size, and shape. Vogue Magazine emphasizes the need for a perfect body in fashion. However, these pressures lead to the development of eating disorders (Vogue Magazine, 2019).

Application of Messages to Both Cis and Trans Women

The messages tend to apply to both cis and trans women since body image has been said to be the most important thing for any female. However, trans women tend to have more issues regarding their body size and shape as they strive to make sure that they look like women. Therefore, trans women are more concerned and involved in various activities that tend to improve body image. Various studies on gender identity, eating disorders, and body dissatisfaction have shown that transgender women have a high risk of developing eating disorders as they are very conscious of their body size and shape.

All three media messages tend to apply more to transgender women as they tend to need more assurance on their body image and self-esteem. The risk of eating disorders among transgender women is usually secondary to transgender women's distress as part of their body dissatisfaction. Cis women also need to keep their body image; hence the message is also applicable to them. Therefore, it is important to note that although these messages apply to both the cis and trans women, more emphasis is made to trans women as they need the assurance that they have the looks, body size, and shape of females.

Change in Beauty Ideal Messages

The modern world has brought about new opportunities and challenges to women as body image has become a big issue. Therefore, the ideal messages have been changing, whereby the focus has been on women's outward appearance instead, including other issues such as health in terms of conditions like anorexia nervosa. The body image messages aimed at maintaining the desired body size and shape by maintaining the needed weight through weight loss have shifted from proper dietary practices and exercises to the limitation of food intake. This is the wrong way to handle weight since such methods lead to the development of medical conditions such as anorexia nervosa.

Conclusion

Messages communicated through the various media concerning women's body image have had adverse effects on females. These messages have both emotional and psychological ramifications. The individual who does not have the body size and shapes that have been hyped on the media tend to have low-esteem as they assume that they are not as good as those with the desired body shapes and sizes. Pressure from the messages has reduced the self-esteem of many women, leading to negative consequences such as depression, anxiety, and suicide. Most of my friends believe in these messages as they are always researching ways of losing weight and keeping with the current trends in body fashions. Most of them have also adopted weird dietary practices that have been advocated by media to maintain the hyped body size and shape.

References

Karlin, L, (2015). Why The Body Diversity On ‘Orange Is The New Black’ Is So Important. Orange Is The New Black. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/orange-is-the-new-black-body-diversity_n_5489952

Ted Talks, (2016). Body image: change the way you see yourself. [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWqN79d47qM

Vogue Magazine, (2019).Models get real about body image, eating disorders, and size discrimination. Vogue. https://www.vogue.com/article/model-doc-vogue-body-image-modeling.