Stephanie Scalzitti
Opposing Beliefs on Media and Body Image
These two authors I have chosen are interesting because they completely oppose each other’s ideas and research. Diedrich’s fully agrees that body dissatisfaction and media completely correlate. She believes that in order to reduce body dissatisfaction and increase self-esteem among women, the media should “showcase a more diverse range of bodies because there is not just one way to be healthy or one ideal look. Diedrichs also believes that incorporating more average and more realistic sized models into magazines and on t/v, could help improve the self esteem and body satisfaction among women. Diedrichs proves this through a study of 171 women and 120 men, aimed at finding “alternative media imagery,” was conducted. This study found that when men and women were shown no model, a thin model, or an average sized model, both groups were in a significantly more positive state when shown the average sized model. (Diedrichs, 1273-1291). On the other hand, Muńoz, who is an author I used in my research, believed that body dissatisfaction and media do not have any relation. Muñoz performed a study with several other psychologists that found evidence to support her theory. These psychologists got a group of 218 Mexican American women and tested where there body dissatisfaction came from. They found that when they exposed the women to thin idea body images, there was no increase in body dissatisfaction, which supported their claim that the two are not related (Muñoz, 383). The authors do not agree on anything that I have clearly found.
After reading these two essays, I fully agree with Dr. Philippa Diedrichs stance. I have had two friends who started off dieting and who got motivated through Pinterest, which is a site that posts skinny women in work out clothes with motivating quotes on every picture, as well as really healthy foods. The more these girls kept looking at sites like these, the more and more they got addicted, the more and more they wanted to be those skinny girls. Eventually, my friends developed eating disorders because they had motivated themselves so much that they did not want to eat anything in general. I watched them be manipulated by the media, and for this reason and the evidence that researchers present on this topic, I believe that media and body dissatisfaction go hand in hand.
Works Cited
Diedrichs, Phillippa C., and Christina Lee. "Waif Goodbye! Average-Size Female Models Promote Positive Body Image and Appeal to Consumers."Psychology & Health26.10 (2011): 1273-1291.SPORTDiscus. Web. 8 Mar. 2016.
Muñoz, Mónica E., and Christopher J. Ferguson. "Body Dissatisfaction Correlates With Inter-Peer Competitiveness, Not Media Exposure: A Brief Report."Journal Of Social & Clinical Psychology31.4 (2012): 383-392.Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.