Should You Look Like Her? The Mass Media's Effects on Body Image Disturbance
...eans is that women who might normally be affected by media imagery concerning body image avoid such harsh comparison when they are not aware of the media’s deception of body image. This type of information is brought to light in the intervention. Women who viewed attractive models reported more body image disturbance than women who were shown neutral images such as automobiles. Even though we are informed and wise to the unrealistic model provided by the media, we are still very much affected by it as this study shows. We learn our culture through a process of socialization. This process is influenced by what we see on T.V., in movies, magazines, the Internet and other media outlets. While someone cannot control how family, friends, and teachers might socialize them, they can control what they watch and read to some extent. While this provides some freedom for what Jeffery Jensen Arnett calls self-socialization, the body image of women in media seems continuous, hence we are exposed to only the most beautiful and thin (Brym & Lie104). Western society continues to accept the model woman in fashion ads, T.V. commercials, and in women and men’s magazines. The media has a firm grip on the way we look at each other, especially the way we look at women. The model body image of a woman in these aforementioned cases is considered the ideal look. This misconception leads to low self-esteem, poor self-image and eating disorders (JSCP 331). Even individuals who are naturally thin want to be thinner, and those who might naturally be a heavier weight desire the thin body of a movie star. Through media, gender roles of women are enforced and men are led to believe that only this model is to be accepted. Gender roles impose women to be more concerned with their body than men. In our culture men don’t need to be as concerned with body image. Men are expected to keep in shape and stay healthy but not to the extremes women go through to stay attractive. Cooley’s theory of looking glass self demonstrates the idea of realizing your identity by the way others see you (Brym & Lie 95). The research in this study suggests that women who are affected by media imagery are also more affected by the way others view them. In contrast, women who are more self-confident in terms of looking glass self tend to be mostly unaffected by media imagery. Some say the problem with looking glass self is that most people don’t care how others view them, but the study suggests otherwise. One must speculate that most people are concerned with the way others view them in relation to the ideal body image. The article concludes that the interventions practiced throughout the experiment could be useful in alte...