1. Changing the Image of Women in the Media

2. The Problem with the Media In North America, it is hard to deny that with the increased technology, the mass media is a well established entity in our everyday lives. It has become so familiar to us, that it is almost impossible to get away from it. We are saturated in media images every single day from such things as television, magazines, billboards, etc., that we hardly recognize this as a problem.

3. The mass media has claimed itself as an unstoppable, powerful force, and has made it very difficult for anyone to escape its influence. Due to this constant exposure, women seem to be the ones getting the brunt of the media’s impact. Women are bombarded with images of the female form; usually of a young, extremely thin and attractive version of the female form.

4. Overtime, many women experience feelings of discontent and negativity towards their own bodies as they compare themselves to an unrealistic image of a woman in the media.

7. Due to this over saturation of unrealistic media images, many women among different cultures, consequently, have developed negative feelings about their body, low self esteem, and even eating disorders. “Young women often aspire to be perfect when it comes to their physical appearance, and describe the perfect ideal as tall, extremely thin, and blonde. Unfortunately, this ideal is unattainable to the vast majority of women, contributing to depression, low self-esteem, and eating disorders” (Schooler & Ward, 2004, p.38).

8. Body Image To so many women, body image is something that we have been aware of since childhood. We’ve been conscious of the ideal female form since the days of playing with Barbies, watching Disney movies, and hearing the word “diet” from our mothers and other women. The bar has steadily been raised as we got older, however, and trying to keep up with these expectations that the media has presented us with is a losing battle.

9. “Media stereotypes play a central role in creating and exacerbating body dissatisfaction. It is suggested that comparison between the self and media ideals creates dissatisfaction and ‘shame’ and that media stereotypes create and perpetuate the association between ideals of thinness and positive attributes such as a sense of control, success and attractiveness”. (Ogden and Mundray, 1996, p.172)

10. Self Esteem Too often, women criticize their own bodies and pick apart every inch of what they have, whether it’s their hips, legs, stomach, etc., and compare themselves to models, actresses, and other celebrities. Women are wasting too much of their time feeling not good enough, and not enough time, feeling good. “An image of how one is “supposed” to look is formed and the pressure to conform to this image often results in unfavorable appraisal during self-evaluation” (Baker, Sivyer, & Towell, 1998, p.320).

11. “Regardless of whether perceived and actual body image match and regardless of one’s actual weight, perceived body image influences self- esteem, behavior, and psychosocial well-being, which can impact physical health” (Byrd-Bredbenner, 2003, p. 117).

12. Eating Disorders Despite decades of research into the causal factors of eating disorders, understanding how these factors influence disordered eating in any given individual is unknown (Polivy & Herman, 2004, p. 1). One possible explanation is the influence of media, creating unrealistic expectations, pressure to look a certain way, and constant criticism among women. “Increased prevalence of dieting behaviour has been related to the decreased size of fashion models and the differences between… models of the late 20th century are often cited as possible reasons for the increase in eating disorders” (Ogden & Mundray, 1996, p.172).

13. So What Needs to Change? The change that needs to be made is to transform the current image of women in the media from an unrealistic and unattainable image, to a more realistic, healthy, and positive one. By changing the way women are currently portrayed in the media into a more positive and healthy way, perhaps women of society will change their way of thinking and will want to be healthy for the sake of being healthy, and not just because it’s in the media, but because it makes more sense than striving to be ultra-thin.

14. Here are some examples of how the media can promote a healthy body image in women… Let’s see if we can make some more…

15. Paradoxical Theory of Change Awareness of Issue (Personal) Acceptance of Issue (Collective) Communication (Organizational)

16. Awareness By reaching women on a personal level, they might for a brief moment, forget about their weight or physical appearance, and want to look deeper into themselves for who they really are. “Change can occur when the [individual] abandons, at least for the moment, what he[/she] would like to become and attempts to be what he[/she] is” (p.1). The first step is awareness of the issue. This means, trying to educate women in order to bring about awareness. By doing this, women start to become invested in the subject and start to care about the issue, and eventually, they become passionate about getting involved and creating change.

17. Acceptance The second step is acceptance of the issue. This step aims to ensure that, collectively, women acknowledge that this issue needs to change. Awareness is comparable to Gestalt Theory’s perception of change: It is a “possibility when the reverse occurs, that is, when structures are transformed into processes. When this occurs, one is open to participant interchange with [one’s] [own] environment” (Beisser, 1970, p.2). As women join together, they are taking part in a process in which they are becoming one with themselves and one with their environment; they are open to and accepting of the change process that will occur.

18. Communication The third and final step is communication. This step seeks to: –communicate with other subsystems, communities, organizations, etc. –enhance the development of an integrated, harmonious system (society) as a whole –strengthen the cause by building alliances and lobby towards the media, marketing companies, politicians, etc. “The most crucial issue before us is the development of a society that supports the individual in his[/her] individuality” (Beisser, 1970, p.3).

19. By creating a society that accepts diversity in women, the problems associated with the current female image may not exist, and women would be liberated to be comfortable with who they are and wouldn’t continue to strive to live up to the unrealistic standards the media created for them. “By being what one is – fully – one can become something else” (Beisser, 1970, p.2).

20. This is what the media doesn’t want people to know. It doesn’t want us to think that they are the motivations behind our decisions; rather, it wants us to believe we are the ones making the decisions, that way, it is not to blame. Is the thin ideal what women want, or is the thin ideal what the media wants women to want?

21. The End

23. References Baker, D., Sivyer, R., & Towell, T. (1998). Body image dissatisfaction and eating attitudes in visually impaired women. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 24(3), 319-322. Beisser, A. (1970). Paradoxical Theory of Change. Retrieved October 1, 2007, from http://www.gestalt.org/arnie.htm Byrd-Bredbenner, C. (2003). A comparison of the anthropometric measurements of idealized female body images in media directed to men, women, and mixed gender audiences. Topics in Clinical Nutrition, 18(2), 117-129. Dittmar, H., & Howard, S. (2004). Thin-ideal internalization and social comparison tendency as moderators of media models' impact on women's body-focused anxiety. Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, 23(6), 768-791. Fister, S., & Smith, G. (2004). Media effects on expectancies: Exposure to realistic female images as a protective factor. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 18(4), 394-397. Ogden, J., & Mundray, K. (1996). The effect of the media on body satisfaction: The role of gender and size. European Eating Disorders Review, 4(3), 171-182. Polivy, J., & Herman, C. (2004). Sociocultural idealization of thin female body shapes: An introduction to the special issue on body image and eating disorders. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23(1), 1-6. Posavac, S., & Posavac, H. (2002). Predictors of women's concern with body weight: The roles of perceived self-media ideal discrepancies and self-esteem. Eating Disorders, 10, 153-160. Schooler, D., & Ward, L. (2004). Who’s that girl: Television’s role in the body image development of young white and black women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 28, 38-47. Trampe, D., Stapel, D., & Siero, F. (2007). On models and vases: Body dissatisfaction and proneness to social comparison effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(1), 106-118.