1. My social issue is that media has a negative effect on women's body image. The messages are sent everywhere, in almost every magazine add, billboard, commercial, and even children's dolls. 90% of girls ages 3-11 have a barbie, which serves as a role model. The doll's figure is impossible to achieve and Barbie now is an unrealistic role model. Everyone sees models in magazine adds and most of the time they are thin. It is rare to see a average sized or overweight model. Model's are usually "flawless", usually air bushed or computer edited. Articles saying how to lose weight or achieve a better figure dominate magazines. The causes are simple, the image of an "ideal body image" are everywhere. Females will see images every day. The "ideal body image" is also unattainable if one is to remain healthy. Solutions are easier said then done, yet surprisingly simple. Make barbies, cartoon characters average sized, not unrealistically thin. Also, for magazines to stop printing articles about weight loss that dominate their pages.
2. Artifact #7 was one of the most surprising to me. (Dittrich, Liz, Ph.D. "About-Face facts on the MEDIA ." About Face. 17 Jan. 2007 http://www.about-face.org/r/facts/media.shtml.)
Also, Artifact #4 (Dittrich, Liz, Ph.D. "About-Face facts on the MEDIA ." About Face. 17 Jan. 2007 http://www.about-face.org/r/facts/media.shtml.)
Both articles suggested that younger children can be effected by what they see on television or even in their toy chests. Also, artifact #4 said that even ten year old girls were dissatisfied with with their bodies after watching a Britney Spears video. This proves that media in the form of television effects outlook on body image .
3. All of the the media portrays this topic. I have songs, magazine articles, newspaper articles, and websites posted throughout my blog.
The mass media suggests that women should be thin and stereotypically "beautiful". Artifact #8 bluntly stated that media urges women to be "...cute, sexually available, thin..."
4. I found most of my information on the Internet. Using search engines worked best for me. Some of my information came from what I already knew, and applying it to what I needed to find out. I did not use the books listed as sources of my sources. I would go back and find those books to use them.
5. My attitude changes from knowing that this was around to strongly feeling that the effects on girls are absolutely ridiculous. I always knew that media had effects on girls, but I never knew the extent of the problem. I believe that more people should learn to have the outlook of Treneice Whitehead (artifact #5). Also, personally, I've learned to not compare myself to models as much and look at what is real.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Artifact #8
"Leading Authority on American Studies to Discuss Media Impact on Body Image." The Washington Post 9 Oct. 1997. 23 Jan. 2007 http://www.whitman.edu/ news/News96-97/sdouglas.html.
This was an article announcing that Susan Douglas, a "leading authority on American studies, pop culture, and media" was to give a speech on "How Mass Media Effects Women's Body Image". It contained a few small facts key to my topic. It suggested that the media can send mixed messages. Also that "the media urges women to be... cute, thin, pore-less, wrinkle free..."
I agree and believe it is necessary to be blunt about the topic, like this article was.
This was an article announcing that Susan Douglas, a "leading authority on American studies, pop culture, and media" was to give a speech on "How Mass Media Effects Women's Body Image". It contained a few small facts key to my topic. It suggested that the media can send mixed messages. Also that "the media urges women to be... cute, thin, pore-less, wrinkle free..."
I agree and believe it is necessary to be blunt about the topic, like this article was.
Artifact #8
"Leading Authority on American Studies to Discuss Media Impact on Body Image." The Washington Post 9 Oct. 1997. 23 Jan. 2007 http://www.whitman.edu/ news/News96-97/sdouglas.html.
This was an article announcing that Susan Douglas, a "leading authority on American studies, pop culture, and media" was to give a speech on "How Mass Media Effects Women's Body Image". It contained a few small facts key to my topic. It suggested that the media can send mixed messages. Also that "the media urges women to be... cute, thin, pore-less, wrinkle free..."
I agree and believe it is necessary to be blunt about the topic, like this article was.
This was an article announcing that Susan Douglas, a "leading authority on American studies, pop culture, and media" was to give a speech on "How Mass Media Effects Women's Body Image". It contained a few small facts key to my topic. It suggested that the media can send mixed messages. Also that "the media urges women to be... cute, thin, pore-less, wrinkle free..."
I agree and believe it is necessary to be blunt about the topic, like this article was.
Artifact # 7
Dittrich, Liz, Ph.D. "About-Face facts on the MEDIA ." About Face. 17 Jan. 2007 http://www.about-face.org/r/facts/media.shtml.
The fact that 90% of all girls ages 3-11 have a barbie doll doesn't surprise me. I don't know a girl who never played with Barbies. Barbie serves as an early role model who's figure is impossible to attain. This made me think that something as harmless as playing with barbies can effect a child's idea of body image, even if they aren't old enough to realize it at the time.
The website also mentioned that in recent years, teen, women, and nutrition magazines all focused on loosing weight and getting a good figure.
I wonder that if this type of media, magazines, didn't dedicate pages to "weight loss solutions" then maybe the reader wouldn't be as concerned about weight loss.
The fact that 90% of all girls ages 3-11 have a barbie doll doesn't surprise me. I don't know a girl who never played with Barbies. Barbie serves as an early role model who's figure is impossible to attain. This made me think that something as harmless as playing with barbies can effect a child's idea of body image, even if they aren't old enough to realize it at the time.
The website also mentioned that in recent years, teen, women, and nutrition magazines all focused on loosing weight and getting a good figure.
I wonder that if this type of media, magazines, didn't dedicate pages to "weight loss solutions" then maybe the reader wouldn't be as concerned about weight loss.
Artifact #6
Artifact #6: Baer, Deborah J. "Nicole Rocks." Cosmo Girl June-July 2006: 128-131.
The pressures to be thin are no secret. Rumors were circulating about Nicole Ritchie having an eating disorder, which she says she does not have. "Its just as hurtful being called anorexic as being called overweight" Nicole said. Nicole admitted that she could "stand to gain a few pounds". One moment the media is saying how overweight people are, now that people ate too thin. This makes me wonder, can a person achieve the perfect body? Is it even possible? You shouldn't have to be perfect to anybody but you.
The pressures to be thin are no secret. Rumors were circulating about Nicole Ritchie having an eating disorder, which she says she does not have. "Its just as hurtful being called anorexic as being called overweight" Nicole said. Nicole admitted that she could "stand to gain a few pounds". One moment the media is saying how overweight people are, now that people ate too thin. This makes me wonder, can a person achieve the perfect body? Is it even possible? You shouldn't have to be perfect to anybody but you.
Artifact #5
"Get Real." COSMO Girl Feb. 2007: 66.
This article is inspiring. It also reveals a source of pressure to be thin. In elementary school, Treneice Whitehead was made fun of for being overweight. It is not uncommon, and is all over the world. This story took place in Maryland. To overcome the remarks, she didn't give in to eating disorders or fad diets, she organized fashion shows for plus sized girls. Treneice says that "there is no such thing as being too big to be beautiful".
This article is inspiring. It also reveals a source of pressure to be thin. In elementary school, Treneice Whitehead was made fun of for being overweight. It is not uncommon, and is all over the world. This story took place in Maryland. To overcome the remarks, she didn't give in to eating disorders or fad diets, she organized fashion shows for plus sized girls. Treneice says that "there is no such thing as being too big to be beautiful".
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Artifact #4
"Media's Effect On Girls: Body Image And Gender Identity." Media's Effect On Girls: Body Image And Gender Identity. Mediawise. 3 Jan. 2007 http://www.mediafamily.org/facts/facts_mediaeffect.shtml.
Did you know?
Gender identity begins in toddlerhood (identifying self as a girl or boy) with gender roles being assigned to tasks early in the preschool years (Durkin, 1998).
A child's body image develops as the result of many influences:
A newborn begins immediately to explore what her body feels like and can do. This process continues her whole life.
A child's body image is influenced by how people around her react to her body and how she looks.
A pre-adolescent becomes increasingly aware of what society's standards are for the "ideal body."
Media's Effect on Body Image
The popular media (television, movies, magazines, etc.) have, since World War II, increasingly held up a thinner and thinner body (and now ever more physically fit) image as the ideal for women. The ideal man is also presented as trim, but muscular.
In a survey of girls 9 and 10 years old, 40% have tried to lose weight, according to an ongoing study funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (USA Today, 1996).
A 1996 study found that the amount of time an adolescent watches soaps, movies and music videos is associated with their degree of body dissatisfaction and desire to be thin (Tiggemann & Pickering, 1996).
One author reports that at age thirteen, 53% of American girls are "unhappy with their bodies." This grows to 78% by the time girls reach seventeen (Brumberg, 1997).
In a study among undergraduates media consumption was positively associated with a strive for thinness among men and body dissatisfaction among women (Harrison & Cantor, 1997).
Teen-age girls who viewed commercials depicting women who modeled the unrealistically thin-ideal type of beauty caused adolescent girls to feel less confident, more angry and more dissatisfied with their weight and appearance (Hargreaves, 2002).
In a study on fifth graders, 10 year old girls and boys told researchers they were dissatisfied with their own bodies after watching a music video by Britney Spears or a clip from the TV show "Friends" (Mundell, 2002).
In another recent study on media's impact on adolescent body dissatisfaction, two researchers found that:
Teens who watched soaps and TV shows that emphasized the ideal body typed reported higher sense of body dissatisfaction. This was also true for girls who watched music videos.
Reading magazines for teen girls or women also correlated with body dissatisfaction for girls.
Identification with television stars (for girls and boys), and models (girls) or athletes (boys), positively correlated with body dissatisfaction (Hofschire & Greenberg, 2002). Media's Effect on Gender Identity
Many children watch between two and four hours of television per day. The presence or absence of role models, how women and men, girls and boys are presented, and what activities they participate in on the screen powerfully affect how girls and boys view their role in the world. Studies looking at cartoons, regular television, and commercials show that although many changes have occurred and girls, in particular have a wider range of role models, for girls "how they look" is more important than "what they do."
In a 1997 study designed to study how children described the roles of cartoon characters, children (ages four to nine) "perceived most cartoon characters in stereotypical ways: boys were violent and active and girls were domestic, interested in boys, and concerned with appearances" (Thompson, 1997).
In another study, three weeks of Saturday morning toy commercials were analyzed. Results found that:
50% of the commercials aimed at girls spoke about physical attractiveness, while none of the commercials aimed at boys referenced appearance.
Boys acted aggressively in 50% of the commercials aimed at them, while none of the girls behaved aggressively.
With regard to work roles, no boys had unpaid labor roles, and girls were mainly shown in traditional female jobs or roles of unpaid labor (Sobieraj, 1996).
Dr. Nancy Signorielli, Professor of Communications at the University of Delaware examined the types of media most often viewed by adolescent girls: television, commercials, films, music videos, magazines and advertisements. While the study did find positive role models of women and girls using their intelligence and acting independently, the media also presented an overwhelming message that girls and women were more concerned with romance and dating (and it follows how they look), while men focus on their occupations (Signorielli, 1997).
I was appalled after reading this article. I said out loud "that is ridiculous". Some of the statistics were crazy, for example, 40% of 9 and 10 year old girls have tried to lose weight. Also, fifth grade girls and boys both admitted that they were unhappy with their bodies after watchng a Birntey Spears video or a clip from "Friends" the T.V. show.
Artifact #3
Young Children May Begin to Develop Eating Disorders by Watching TV
August 2, 2000Communication Research/MedscapeWire
August 2, 2000Communication Research/MedscapeWire
" Young Children May Begin to Develop Eating Disorders by Watching TV ." Counseling COrner. Associated Counselors & Therapists. 3 Jan. 2007
Research has shown that most eating disorders begin in adolescence, but a University of Michigan researcher has found that even young grade-school children can develop eating problems — simply by watching television.
"The most straightforward explanation for this finding is that television viewing increases children's exposure to dieting images, ideas and behaviors, which in turn, lead to changes in their eating-related cognitions and behaviors," says Kristen Harrison, University of Michigan assistant professor of communication studies.
"Because research on other media effects, such as violence and aggression, suggests that young children are more likely than adolescents or adults to model viewed behaviors, it is reasonable to expect that young children would model the lean body ideal they observe on television. It is also reasonable to expect that television exposure will be correlated with children's understanding of the thin body as the socially ideal body, and the fat body as the socially stigmatized body."
In a new study to appear this fall in the journal Communication Research, Harrison surveyed about 300 students, aged 6 to 8 years, at 2 mostly white elementary schools in the Midwest about the amount of television they watch, their favorite television characters, and their beliefs about the ideal body shape and fat stereotyping.
She also measured the students' disordered eating symptoms by using the Children's Eating Attitudes Test, an empirical scale containing more than 2 dozen cognitive and behavioral self-report items. Sample items include "I stay away from foods with sugar in them" and "I think a lot about having fat on my body."
Even after controlling for the fact that some children with eating problems specifically seek out body-related information on television, Harrison found that television viewing, in general, predicts eating disorder symptoms for both boys and girls.
"The fact that the correlation remained suggests that even for children who have little or no interest in fitness and dieting television content, increased television exposure is still linked to increased disordered eating," she says.
However, while children's television viewing may indicate the development of eating disorders, Harrison did not find that children necessarily favor thin body-shape standards. This suggests that children may begin modeling the dieting and exercising behaviors they see on television even before they actually begin to internalize the thin-body ideal.
In fact, the girls in the study who watched the most television chose a heavier figure as representing the ideal body size for adult women and a thinner figure as representing their own. This is opposite the pattern one might expect, in which television viewing would predict the overestimation of one's own body size and the choice of unrealistically thin standards for the ideal size of females in general, Harrison says.
"Girls who were interpersonally attracted to average-weight female characters reported the healthiest (or normal) body-size choices and believed thinness to be relatively unimportant," she says. "This suggests that adopting normal-weight role models on television could be beneficial for girls."
In contrast, those girls attracted to thin female television characters are more likely to view their own bodies as heavier, while boys attracted to thin male characters favor a thinner ideal-body size for males, the study shows.
In addition, television viewing, in general, predicts an increased tendency among boys to negatively stereotype a heavy girl (but not a heavy boy) — a finding that Harrison says is not surprising since prior research has shown this. She adds that the media may teach young children, and boys in particular, to "denigrate fatness before they learn to idealize thinness."
"Children's interpersonal attraction to television characters appears to play an important role in the outcomes of television exposure vis-à-vis fat stereotyping and body-shape standards, although this role is more complicated than I had initially predicted," Harrison says.
For example, she found that attraction to heavy male characters is associated with decreased "fat-boy" stereotyping among both boys and girls, but attraction to fat female characters is not linked to less "fat-girl" stereotyping.
Further, Harrison says, girls' attraction to average-weight female characters decreases their risk of developing thinness-favoring cognitions and behaviors, but for boys, attraction to average-weight male characters predicts increased eating disorder symptoms.
"It is clear that we need more research to clarify the relationships between children's interpersonal attraction to characters of varying body types and their eating- and body-related cognitions and behaviors," Harrison says. "Only through increased understanding of how children of varying ages and both sexes may develop damaging body standards through early-life media exposure can we increase our understanding of how interventions, especially media-based interventions, may be adapted to a child audience to minimize their risk of developing eating disorders in adolescence and beyond."
"The most straightforward explanation for this finding is that television viewing increases children's exposure to dieting images, ideas and behaviors, which in turn, lead to changes in their eating-related cognitions and behaviors," says Kristen Harrison, University of Michigan assistant professor of communication studies.
"Because research on other media effects, such as violence and aggression, suggests that young children are more likely than adolescents or adults to model viewed behaviors, it is reasonable to expect that young children would model the lean body ideal they observe on television. It is also reasonable to expect that television exposure will be correlated with children's understanding of the thin body as the socially ideal body, and the fat body as the socially stigmatized body."
In a new study to appear this fall in the journal Communication Research, Harrison surveyed about 300 students, aged 6 to 8 years, at 2 mostly white elementary schools in the Midwest about the amount of television they watch, their favorite television characters, and their beliefs about the ideal body shape and fat stereotyping.
She also measured the students' disordered eating symptoms by using the Children's Eating Attitudes Test, an empirical scale containing more than 2 dozen cognitive and behavioral self-report items. Sample items include "I stay away from foods with sugar in them" and "I think a lot about having fat on my body."
Even after controlling for the fact that some children with eating problems specifically seek out body-related information on television, Harrison found that television viewing, in general, predicts eating disorder symptoms for both boys and girls.
"The fact that the correlation remained suggests that even for children who have little or no interest in fitness and dieting television content, increased television exposure is still linked to increased disordered eating," she says.
However, while children's television viewing may indicate the development of eating disorders, Harrison did not find that children necessarily favor thin body-shape standards. This suggests that children may begin modeling the dieting and exercising behaviors they see on television even before they actually begin to internalize the thin-body ideal.
In fact, the girls in the study who watched the most television chose a heavier figure as representing the ideal body size for adult women and a thinner figure as representing their own. This is opposite the pattern one might expect, in which television viewing would predict the overestimation of one's own body size and the choice of unrealistically thin standards for the ideal size of females in general, Harrison says.
"Girls who were interpersonally attracted to average-weight female characters reported the healthiest (or normal) body-size choices and believed thinness to be relatively unimportant," she says. "This suggests that adopting normal-weight role models on television could be beneficial for girls."
In contrast, those girls attracted to thin female television characters are more likely to view their own bodies as heavier, while boys attracted to thin male characters favor a thinner ideal-body size for males, the study shows.
In addition, television viewing, in general, predicts an increased tendency among boys to negatively stereotype a heavy girl (but not a heavy boy) — a finding that Harrison says is not surprising since prior research has shown this. She adds that the media may teach young children, and boys in particular, to "denigrate fatness before they learn to idealize thinness."
"Children's interpersonal attraction to television characters appears to play an important role in the outcomes of television exposure vis-à-vis fat stereotyping and body-shape standards, although this role is more complicated than I had initially predicted," Harrison says.
For example, she found that attraction to heavy male characters is associated with decreased "fat-boy" stereotyping among both boys and girls, but attraction to fat female characters is not linked to less "fat-girl" stereotyping.
Further, Harrison says, girls' attraction to average-weight female characters decreases their risk of developing thinness-favoring cognitions and behaviors, but for boys, attraction to average-weight male characters predicts increased eating disorder symptoms.
"It is clear that we need more research to clarify the relationships between children's interpersonal attraction to characters of varying body types and their eating- and body-related cognitions and behaviors," Harrison says. "Only through increased understanding of how children of varying ages and both sexes may develop damaging body standards through early-life media exposure can we increase our understanding of how interventions, especially media-based interventions, may be adapted to a child audience to minimize their risk of developing eating disorders in adolescence and beyond."
I just turned to my classmate sitting next to me and I asked her "when I say eating dissorder what age group comes to mind?"
"Teens" was her answer.
It is not common knowledge that eating disorders can begin when childern are only in grade school. I don't ever remember thinking about my body when I was in grade school. Now that I am in highschool, it goes thruogh my mind every day.
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