ndardsHave you ever been looking at a magazine and notice you are not “what a guy wants”? Or have you ever sat and watched television and then proceeded to look into the mirror and feel so badly about your appearance that you felt depressed? Many women in today’s world experience these same feelings each time they come in contact with some type of media. The media has always used women as a way to sell products or used them as propaganda, but how far is too far? The media is a large source of entertainment for women of today. Women spend the majority of their time looking at magazines for latest fashions or trends.
These media sources all share one subject: negative images of women. These places all share one thing; negative images of women. Women are being used as a sex object and are not portrayed how the average woman looks. These portrayals can lead to loss of self-esteem and also weight loss.
Women should know that they need their spiritual health to live happily and not be influenced by the images that the media portray as the “perfect” body. Women need to have a feeling of being safe, powerful and comfortable within their own bodies. “Media has a negative impact on the way women feel about their bodies”, says Julie Parsons a clinical social worker (WVU). The media is such a huge influence in people’s lives sometimes they don’t realize it. As women are walking down the street, the media can influence them. As people are riding in the car, the media can influence them.
And even as people are sitting in the comfort of their own home, the media can influence them. The media is everywhere influencing our lives; from television to magazines to the Internet (Media’s Negative). As a woman grows older she often finds it difficult to be secure in her own body. America has a “desirable” standard that many women want and try to live up too (Media’s not).
This is why the media has so many young women that are extremely underweight for their height and bone structure. Weight and shape concerns are influenced by the media (Media’s portrayal). This “desirable” standard has so many women feeling obese that women cannot think about themselves in a healthy way, which is an enormous problem. The culture of today’s society is surrounded by looks. People in society believe they have to have the “right” car, the “right” cigarette, the “right” food, and the “right” attitude; all with the “right” body (Smith).
But what society doesn’t see is that 99% of women can never live up to the body type the media presents (Media’s portrayal). It is as though the media is a bad demand out for no good because America’s standards are so unrealistic (Media’s not). “The media paints a picture of unrealistic body images that make people feel they don’t fit and can’t fit in”, said Shelly Perlin a Sciences Major (WVU). Women come into the world with a sense of innocence and no worries and then once they reach a certain age, they start feeling a sense of security if they have what others have, or if they are the “perfect” women. Women have to face so many different standards within a short span of life that they do not always know what is right.
The media is a major influence and influences society beyond its knowledge (Media’s). The media is so influential that it does not allow people to make their own personal judgments (Media’s ticket). Some people feel as though the media is not all to blame for negative body images. Television and Magazines have a high impact on women today. In television the majority of female characters on T. V.
are thin (Media’s not). Statistics show that the average adolescent girl’s unrealistic body images are due to the three to four hours of T. V. they watch (WVU). After women watch at least thirty minutes of T.
V. or advertisements with thin women, they show signs of guilt, depression, shame, and body dissatisfaction (Media’s Negative). According to the University of Missouri-Columbia studies, the average woman that becomes so .
