Media Influence on Women's Body Image

I have a proposal to make upon the influence of media on young girls and women.  Media can affect the things that we do, say, think, and feel. Since 1960s, media has portrayed society’s expectations and their perception on norm. People in the society tend to be influenced by the type of messages that are released through different visuals and diction.  The media stream consists of advertisements, music, news prints, television, radio, and movies. These different forms of media enable companies to convey their message to their audience. One of the messages that are more likely to be conveyed to the audience is the “ideal image of a woman.” Ideal is defined as a standard of perfection or excellence. For example, television and movies reinforce the importance of a thin body as a measure of a woman’s worth. According to Gregory Fouts reports that over three-quarters of the female characters in TV situation are underweight, and only one in twenty are above average size. Furthermore, characters who are overweight receive negative comments from their peers and society. We are all affected in some shape or form, especially women who are bombarded with images that tell them how they are suppose to look in order to be considered beautiful in the society’s eyes. Media manipulates the minds of our women and releases unrealistic images. In addition, our young children, of the ages from nine and up, are being influence and victimized. They need to have positive and legitimate role models to look up to, not fake images of women that have been photo-shopped by technological software.  As a result of these false visuals, women are aiming for the ideal look, which in reality is unobtainable. The reason why these reflections are false is because they are digitally edited by companies and photo producers so they can be more appealing to their intended audience, but in turn make their audience depressed as they are unable to obtain those looks, as they do not physically exist.   Action needs to be taken or else we are going to lose our women and young girls to mental problems such as depression, low self esteem which can lead to becoming bulimic and/or anorexic, which can then result in the ultimate destroyer of a women’s life: suicide and death. Now Foundation claimed that there are ten million women and girls suffering from anorexia and/or bulimia in the United States alone. There are complications involved in starvation and severe dieting such as amenorrhea, cognitive impairment, and dangerously low heart beat. I want to address women health and safety, so I propose the statement to reinforce companies that discharge natural images of a women’s physical body and to censure unrealistic images that will be harm to our women psychological and physical health. Images need to be managed so they reflect only positive emotions upon women all over the world, and so they are not reduced to these disastrous results. We should exile all body editing technology, or at least not allow it to be portrayed by the media to have negative effects upon women and girls alike. Policy should be passed and enacted to secure the future for the young girls in our country, they should be made to feel beautiful and accepted for the way they are, and not be stereotyped into ways that lead to mental breakdown effects as discussed earlier.  Women of our time should be relieved of these images and not feel the need to put false standards upon themselves to be like the digitized women in those false visuals. We should penalize the companies that refute and degrade women and reward those companies that reveal the true and natural visuals of a women’s body.  There should be a law passed protecting women and their rights to stop manipulating them and only produce realistic images of women.

Thank you,
Medlyne Metayer