How the Media Effects Young Girls
And Weight loss?
Vanessa Williams
ALHE-4060-504
Abstract:
Media such as television, movies, and magazines are considered to be among the most influential promoters of the thin standard. This being do, to their popularity and accessibility to the American people. This is a considerably important factor because these effects have the potential to increase even more, given the continuing advances in technology and the increasing popularity and accessibility of computers and internet access. The media seems to enable the idea of “thinness” for young women all across America. The media influences these women in negative ways. Exposure to various types of media promotes an extreme ideal body image creating body dissatisfaction, among women, that can lead to eating disorders. The American people need to become educated about what is really healthy and what normal is.
Introduction
In the U.S. girls and young women, both, are dealing with the struggle of ideal bodyweight. Whether it's on TV, magazines or computer games, young women today face massive pressure to conform to what are generally unrealistic and often unhealthy body sizes. Most people don’t realize that often magazines are airbrushed and retouched (Clonts). High School girls view themselves as about ten pounds over their perceived ideal bodyweight. Therefore some girls can end up with low self-esteem, substance abuse, excessive dieting, and even mental issues. The goal of this study is to stop these things from happening. These young women tend to the fashion industry for what is normal when actually fashion models weigh twenty-three percent less than the average female. Statistically women between the ages of 18-34 have a seven percent chance of being as thin as catwalk model and a one percent chance of being as slim as a super model. Pictures in magazines have a huge impact on girls, in a study done sixty-nine percent of girls said that magazine pictures influence their idea of the perfect body shape, and forty-seven percent reported wanting to lose weight because of the pictures (Fields).
Height / Weight in pounds5'0" / 100-115
5'1" / 105-120
5'2" / 110-125
5'3" / 110-125
5'4" / 115-135
5'5" / 120-135
5'6" / 125-140
5''7" / 125-140
5'8" / 130-145
5'9" / 135-150
5'10" / 140-155
5'11" / 140-160
6' / 145-205
(University of Alberta Health)
The chart above is a range of what women at the particular height given should weigh, above or below is considered a health risk (Health Information). Most girls don’t exist in the weight range above. Young women between the age of eighteen and twenty-five are usually below this range. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, ninety percent of women with eating disorder are women between the ages of twelve and twenty-five (Anmuth, Mike). Eating disorders are estimated to occur in twenty out of a hundred women when anorexia or bulimia is involved. Eating disorders occur about ten times more often in women then in men (Wagener). I selected this topic because it is a topic that affects us every day. Media is everywhere we look, and as a young woman between the age of eighteen and twenty-five I can’t help but to find myself doing the same thing thousand of girls my age do, comparing. I have three nieces that are under the age of five and I can already see how important the way they look is to them. My five year old niece was crying one day because she didn’t feel pretty enough. The media affects us either directly or indirectly, by touching someone we know or even ourselves.
Problem Statement
The problem at hand is exactly how the media affects young women and weight loss, and what we can do to change it. The media instills anxiety and insecurities into women. The ads magazines placed out imply that buying consumer products can correct practically any defect, real or imagined (Jacobson). This leads to women having cosmetic surgery and spending endless amounts of money on the way they look. One of the more serious problems I will focus on in the study is how the media also affect women’s eating disorders. In this study I want to find how the media has such an influence on young women and how we can push through what they throw at us. I think that success in overcoming these issues can be found in educating society. People should care about this topic because it is affecting the future of tomorrow. Young women today are going to be leaders tomorrow who will affect the next generation. The issues has to deal with an insecure world and we need to figure out how change this, we need to find happiness and peace in ourselves. People should also care about this because it’s killing our young girls. A study by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders reported that five to ten percent of anorexics die within ten years after contracting the disease; eighteen to twenty percent of anorexics will be dead after twenty years and only thirty to forty percent ever fully recover. The mortality rate associated with anorexia nervosa is twelve times higher than the death rate of all causes of death for females fifteen to twenty-five years old. This is an issue that should be heard.
Review of the Literature
The Journal of American College Health was a good source, the journal performed a study that investigated undergraduate students and how fashion advertisement changed their attitudes and behavior. This article was a great source of information for me. The article agreed with my opinion that the media has more of an effect on women than on men. It also stated how magazines use tools to make models and celebrities look the way they do. The use of airbrushing, lighting, reframing, and computer imaging used to create these people. The journal proved that the mass media is a huge influence on college students and their body image (Wagner).
The East Tennessean was beneficial for the study; it gave me an idea of how it affects East Tennessee college students. In this article the author interviews a school counselor, Kim Bushore-Maki who backed up my thoughts by saying “the media, through magazines and different make-up shows on television gives contrary pictures and information of what real people look like.” The author gives statistics which also confirm the idea that an average American woman is 5foot four and weighs 114 pounds, while an average American model is 5 foot eleven and weighs 117 pounds. This puts into perspective how models are really to skinny by comparing them to an average woman. If we took a look at the chart above for a five foot eleven woman she should weigh between one hundred and forty pounds to about one hundred and sixty pounds. This means that the average American model is about twenty-three pounds under weight. There is no doubt that this is an incredibly unhealthy weight for a woman that tall (Nakholi).
One of the URLs that I used was titled “Fat Facts”. The article had many interesting facts presented, which lead to conformation of certain thoughts. This article discusses how the media has preyed on people, especially women. The article states that virtually all commercials are aimed at women and focus on physical attractiveness. A study done at Ohio State University showed that out of 680 student athletes, 59 percent of the women thought that they were fat and showed signs of having eating disorders. I couldn’t believe that statistic, I find it hard to believe that athletes, who work out almost every day, could consider themselves overweight or out of shape. This article also made the statement that diet food advertising targets women and outnumbers men 63 to 1. This proves how the media preys on women so much more than men (Rausch).
Mike Anmuth gives several statistics on body image throughout his article that agrees with past issues stated. Mike asks the question; what is “beautiful”? Throughout the article he fights issues with the media and end his article by telling people to be happy with whom they are. Mike says: “IF I could supply and honest answer to everyone affected by media imagery, it would be: you are perfect the way you are” (Anmuth). Kelly Stauffacher wrote an article about good health, and self-confidence bringing good body image. She disagrees with me in condemning the media and for their actions. She says we shouldn’t blame them we should instead educate ourselves and others. Throughout her article she discusses ways to help society through teaching. She discusses visiting schools and performing various seminars. The average person in America is exposed to about three thousand ads in magazines, billboards, and television each day (Stauffacher). It would be virtually impossible not to be affected in one way or another. Lauren Clonts discusses Anorexia being fueled by media images. She quotes Massey-Stokes saying that many young girls become anorexic so that they can achieve their coveted body shape. She states how important it is for children to know that magazines are not real and that they don’t portray real people. Her main issue in the article is young children and how we can help them so they don’t fall victim to the same issues. I agree with Clonts and her views, we should help young kids understand that this just like their cartoons is make belief also. M.F. Jacobson discusses how advertising portrays women, how life is just a beauty contest, and the fact that many women believe you have to be young and beautiful to be loved. Jacobson’s entire article surrounds the iron maiden, a medieval torture device that enclosed its victims in a spike –lined box painted with a woman’s image. He compares the box, saying that like the iron maiden, beauty ideal enforces conformity to a single, rigid shape and both cause suffering and even death in its victims. He continues to use this theory saying the current iron maiden smiles down at us from Vogue magazine. He continues to talk about the entire behind the scene work that takes place to the pictures. The makeup artists, the photographers, and airbrush specialists.
Alison Fields does a study to asses the influence of the media on girls’ weight concerns, weight control/loss, behaviors, and perception of body weight and shape. She performs a cross-sectional survey completed in school. The questionnaire assessed body weight, dissatisfaction with bodyweight and shape. It also focuses on exposure to fashion magazines, and how media impact focuses on body types. The study took place in public school for junior and high school students. The overall results were said that fashion magazines were what they used to distinguish perfect body shape (Fields). This agrees with earlier statistics and thoughts of other researchers.
“The Influence of Media Images upon Body Esteem” was written by Tiffanie Domil. She performed a study of thirty-six female college students, between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. Her study showed no significant variables but she concluded that it would be difficult to assume that there is no effect upon women’s body image (Domil). The Health Information page on University of Alberta Health Care discusses women’s weight and body image. The web page discusses impossible standards, normal body weight, food in today’s culture, and myths about body image and weight. In the article eating disorders are also talked about. It was said that about ten percent of all women and twenty percent of female college students have eating disorders. Anorexia is a very common eating disorder; it has to do with people e have a large fear of gaining weight. These people also avoid social activities so that they don’t have to eat (Health Information). The consumer Health journal discusses how media bombard women with mixed weight messages. The average American woman is a size fourteen, but the average model shown is about a size two (Stewart).
Discussion
Most of the issues I thought to start off with, ended up being true. Just about every article I read I agreed with and vise versa. One thing that hit me hard was how we need to get the message across to young kids so that they don’t grow up with the same idea of beauty and weight as people do now. I think that parents need to become more involved with young children lives as far as what they see in the media. Mother of teenage or younger girls need to emphasize on the fact that these women are not real and not just tell them that but tell them why they aren’t real. They need to teach them that they are computerized and melded with. Young children need to be taught what airbrushing is and photoping. I think that not only should these things be taught in the home but it could be very helpful to send retired models around to speak to schools so they can hear it first hand. Most all the static’s surprised me. I couldn’t believe that the average American saw three thousand ads a day, and that eating disorders were most common in the ages of twelve to twenty-five. I didn’t realize that it began so young.
Method
Through out the study the research attained confirmed my hypothesizes and thoughts on the issue of the media and weight loss. In a couple of my sources studies were done on girls between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. In one of the studies preformed sixty-nine percent of girls said that magazine pictures influence their idea of the perfect body shape, and forty-seven percent reported wanting to lose weight because of the pictures (Fields).In the research I also hit on eating disorders and discussed some of the ways media can contribute to women’s disorder. The research showed that women are clearly affected by the media.
Conclusion
How the media affects young women’s weight loss? The research shows that young women are affected heavily by magazines, television, video games, billboards, internet and movies. Young women tend to use the ads as good use of determining ideal body weight, because so many women believe these images to be true, they find themselves unhappy, depressed, continually dieting, and even in danger zones. Some women go as far as to become anorexic or suffer other eating disorders. Twenty percent of people suffering from anorexia will prematurely die from complications related to their eating disorder, including suicide and heart problems. In order to stop this outrageous trend in society we need to teach and educate people what ideal really is. Most importantly we need to teach young children what is normal and that the people we see are not real, express to them that there are several different measures taken in order to make them look the way they do. Education is key to this problem.