Teenage Girls and Body Image Essay - 1291 Words

Teenage girls are at an impressionable time in their lives. Mass Media is a key idea in one of the factors of socialization that become important to teenagers. Teenagers look to the media for a sense of entertainment. Whether it is movies, magazines, or even some aspects of social media, teenagers get a lot of influence from the media’s message. The problem with this is the media has a specific way of doing things and can be negative to a susceptible teenage girl. Media’s way of portraying a woman can be skewed and unrealistic way from what reality is. Teenage girls then have a desire for this look or way. In this essay the three ways I will describe as to why the media can negatively affect a teenage girls body image is by showing†¦show more content†¦In a study done of female beauty icons, two time frames were studied, 1959-1978 and 1979-1988. In the research, the women who were portrayed as beautiful, and the icons in the media, were observed and over half o f them had fit into the standards of having one of the eating disorders, anorexia nervosa (Vonderen Kinnally, 2012). Mass media can have an adverse effect teenage girls by showing body types that are unrealistic as the normal and desirable type of body to have. Young women look to the mass media to see the societal norms for beauty, and what they see can influence the way that they view themselves. By portraying women who possess a body type that is uncommon, it shows teenage girls that they need to change themselves to reflect the images they are shown. Portraying body types that emphasize thinness and exaggerated features, the mass media try to establish what is socially acceptable. Teenage girls who see this message feel pressured to become what they see, often not realizing that the body types portrayed in media are unrealistic. One reason mass media is so effective at portraying unrealistic body types as normal is because the mass media helps to set what is perceived as normal. In an article about the mass media’s role in body image disturbance and eating disorders, J. Kevin Thompson and Leslie Heinberg state, â€Å"A sociocultural model emphasizes that the current societal standard for thinness, as well as other difficult-to-achieve standards of beautyShow MoreRelatedTeenage Girls and Media Essay576 Words   |  3 PagesTeenage girls receive around 40 hours of media exposure every week. This is the most time that teens spend on an activity other than school and sleeping. Teenage girls are highly influenced by the ideal body image that they see on screen. Girls have a difficult time trying to attain the ideal body image and may diet or develop eating disorders to take control of their weight and body figure. When girls fail to do so, they can become depressed and have a lower self-esteem. 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