Changing

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Changing
the Image of Women
in the Media

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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.

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• 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 medias impact.
  Women are bombarded with images of the female
  form usually of a young, extremely thin and
  attractive version of the female form.

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• 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.

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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).

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Body Image

• To so many women, body image is something that we
  have been aware of since childhood. Weve 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.

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• 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)

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Self Esteem

• Too often, women criticize their own bodies and
  pick apart every inch of what they have, whether
  its 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).

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

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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).

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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
its in the media, but because it makes more
sense than striving to be ultra-thin.
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Here are some examples of how the media can
promote a healthy body image in women

• Lets see if we can make some more

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Paradoxical Theory of Change

• Awareness of Issue (Personal)
• Acceptance of Issue (Collective)
• Communication (Organizational)

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Awareness
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.

• 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).

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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 Theorys
  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
  ones 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.

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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).

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• 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
  wouldnt 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).

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Is the thin ideal what women want, or is the thin
ideal what the media wants women to want?

• This is what the media doesnt want people to
  know. It doesnt 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.

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The End
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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.