Body Image and Media

Body Image and Media http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25wiEVfkWsM

Popular Media Types • television • movies • music • videos and video games • Internet

Statistics on Canadians and Media • Children and youth are big media consumers • more than eight in ten listen to music and watch TV every day • 66% of youth report that they play video games at least once or twice a week • 99% percent of young people aged 9 to 17 have used the Internet • five in ten say they go online at least one hour every day • Media Influences self image

Girls • Images of female bodies are everywhere selling everything from food to cars • Popular film and television actresses are becoming younger, taller and thinner

Women’s magazines are full of articles urging that if you can just lose those last 20 pounds, you will have it all: the perfect marriage, loving children, and a rewarding career

Why do they do this? • Economic gains • Cosmetic and diet industries present an IDEAL physical look and are assured continual growth and profits. • It’s estimated that the diet industry alone brings in $60 billion (U.S.) a year selling temporary weight loss, with 80 per cent of dieters regaining their lost weight • Marketers know that girls and women who are insecure about their bodies are more likely to buy beauty products, new clothes and diet aids

Boys http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHE5BTPjd3k • Are less likely to talk about their insecurities but they too experience anxiety about their bodies • Body dissatisfaction amongst boys and young men comes from: 1. the idealized male bodies they see in media 2. the ideal images of women that are represented

There has been an increase in eating disorders in male adults • A study by the UK National Health Service found that hospital admissions for men with eating disorders had risen by two-thirds between 2001 and 2011 • Also on the rise amongst boys, particularly athletes • Some boys (as young as age 10) are becoming obsessed with building a muscular physique. They become fixated with exercise particularly weightlifting, use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs

Boys who are unhappy with their bodies are almost equally likely to be concerned about being too thin as being too fat

Primetime Dramas and Reality Television • Associate thinness with other desirable attributes such as wealth and appeal • Examples: Gossip Girl and Grey's Anatomy • They reinforce the idea that it's better to be underweight

Advertising and Magazines • Advertising has a powerful effect on how we see ourselves and how we think we should look…especially with fashion and cosmetics • Women's magazines have a huge influence on body image • Teenage girls rely heavily on them for information on beauty and fashion, valuing their advice nearly as highly as that of their peers

Bodies in magazines also send messages • There has been a progression towards thinner and thinner models in ads and magazines • 20 years ago, the average model weighed 8 per cent less than the average woman • today’s models weigh 23 per cent less

Even the underweight models are not seen as being thin enough by editors, who use Photoshop and other image tools to create thinner women • Men in magazines are also edited to be shown as more lean and muscular

Efforts for Change • In recent years the magazine industry has tried to change EXAMPLES: • Jacob clothing has committed to not using underweight models • An Australian magazine New Woman included a picture of a heavy-set model on its cover, it received a lot of letters from grateful readers, but its advertisers complained and the magazine returned to featuring bone-thin models • Châtelainehas guaranteed not to touch up photos and not to include models younger than 25 years of age

Music • A significant medium in a young person's life • Other media may take more hours out of a teens day, but it is most often from music that teens define their identities and draw cues about how to dress and to behave

How do music videos, and other images associated with music influence youth? • For girls, the message is that they should be thin, attractive and sexual • This message isn't different between different genres of music • Almost all performers must meet this standard to be commercially successful

When female musicians/stars gain weight, the media always places a greater spotlight on them Who’s Fatter: Pregnant Kim Kardashian or Pregnant Jessica Simpson?

Boys and Music • Boys receive different messaging: • the heavily ripped physiques among male hip-hop, heavy metal and even country singers • THEREFORE, teenage boys who watch music videos are at higher risk of becoming obsessed with bodybuilding

Overall Risks of Media Images/Messages • Health concerns: • aggressive behaviour • substance use and abuse • poor nutrition • obesity • unhealthy body image • risky sexual behaviour • media dependency

Reality… We are ALL DIFFERENT!

Dove Campaign for Real Beauty About the Movement • “Imagine a world where every girl grows up with the self-esteem she needs to reach her full potential, and where every woman enjoys feeling confident in her own beauty. Imagine the world of possibilities we can open up by helping to build self-esteem in the people we love most.”

Interesting … • Up to 1994, women on this tropical island were considered beautiful if they were big and round. Slender women were not considered attractive. Suddenly, in 1995, women starting dieting and 74% of teenage girls dieted, saying they felt, “too big or too fat.” Also in 1995, cable TV, mostly from the U.S., became available in Fiji.

Jesus’ words about the value of our bodies? • But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7 • Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Matthew 6:25 • Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. John 7:24

Reference • http://mediasmarts.ca/

Body Image and Media