Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Maria Enriquez
English 115
Professor Rodrick
December 7, 2017
If you scroll down on any of your social media feeds, it is easy to find a picture of a girl
you would probably never see on a daily basis. In the picture she may be with friends or taking a
hike, but this girl is more than a girl shes the ideal body image of young teenage girls. Its easy
to be on social media and find many of these types girls who are thin and have an hour glass
body shape, but these girls impact other girls in a negative way. They make young girls believe
that having this particular body is what beauty really is and most dont own that particular type
of body. Social media affects a persons identity through body image because it creates false
beauty standards, eating disorders lead by dieting, and causes girls to be unsatisfied with
themselves by using Photoshop and comparing themselves with other girls online. Although we
know these images are not 100% accurate because of Photoshop, it is still easy to fall under the
impression that a girl is supposed to be skinny and beautiful. Girls feel the need to change
themselves in order to conform to what society expects them to look like making them change
Girls are exposed to false beauty standards when they are on social media. What we see
on social media may not always be real, but girls who view the ideal body create a standard for
themselves and the rest of society to view and aim for. According to the article Social Media
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Effect on Young Womens Body Image Concern: Theoretical Perspectives and an Agenda for
Research Perloff states, Exposure to media messages can impart unrealistic images of female
beauty [] and meta-analysis of research indicates that media portrayals of thin-ideal body exert
an impact on body concerns. Perloffs point is that the unrealistic beauty standards that are
shown to girls on media tend to create body dissatisfaction creating concern about what a girls
body should look like implanting thin-ideals into young girls minds. Girls end up believing that
the beauty standards that are shown on media are standards that make a girl beautiful, so they try
to achieve a standard that isnt there for them to reach. Therefore they change their identity to
become someone who they wish to be online and the real world. They try so hard to be someone
they are not and end up losing their identity to the idea that they must be perfect to society.
Since girls want to reach false beauty standards they go to extreme measures to reach it leading
to eating disorders. This then becomes a part of a persons identity because having an eating
disorder affects the way the person identifies themselves by the amount they eat and lose weight.
According to the article, Concurrent and Social Media Influences on Body Dissatisfaction,
Eating Disorder Symptoms and Life Satisfaction in Adolescent Girls the authors Ferguson,
Munoz, Garza, and Galindos view, Compared to clinical eating disorders, which remain
relatively rare, non-clinical body dissatisfaction is very common, affecting 50% of girls and
young women. They argue that girls suffer from eating disorders because they view images that
effects how they view their body trying to find a way to change themselves on how to look
somewhat similar to the girls presented on social media I agree because these girls are admired
by people and girls want to have that same admiration therefore try to figure out ways they can
look like this and turn to eating disorders to get there quicker. Girls want to be fit as well and
turn to eating less because it would be the fastest way to be as skinny as those girls.
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There are websites online that promote dieting as a good way to lose weight. Although
sometimes going on a diet is good for a person who has an unbalanced eating system, these girls
are not doing it to benefit their health. Perloff himself writes, Websites are devoted to
promoting proanorexic ideals [] Healthy Living blogs also emphasize thin appearance values
and disordered nutritional messages, while also containing self-objectifying messages about
woman. In other words, Perloff states that websites can provide some pretty tough and easy
ways to lose weight that could harm girls because they are so desperate to lose weight. In other
words, Perloff believes these diets that are being promoted on the websites are causing harm
while giving information on what is fit and what is not to girls such as not having belly fat or
stretch marks. Models also promote dieting through their photos. They take pictures of
themselves eating salads, fruits and working out leading woman to want to follow these routines
in an unhealthy way. These pictures online present a powerful message because they are stating
that if they eat salads and fruits all the time they will be thin and good looking as them. Once a
girl goes through an eating disorder that persons identity is no longer the same they are forcing
themselves to not eat or eat very little, changing how they interact with others and changing their
appearance as a whole.
In society it is easy for a person to be unsatisfied with their body and social media
contributes to it. As we see these loved and craved bodies online we begin to see that our bodies
dont match up to them. In Perloff views, Scores of experiments have demonstrated that
exposure to thin-ideal media images increases womens dissatisfaction with their bodies, as well
as negative affect. To further Perloff statement he is saying young girls are no longer happy
about what they see in front of the mirror because of social media presents body image to be tall
with long shiny hair and skinny, but still have enough breasts and a butt. In a YouTube video
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Body Image Affected by Media according to Alicia she states, Eight out of ten women are not
happy with their body. Alicia points out that a high number of women are not happy with
themselves and the number of woman who is feeling this way is an increasing because of the
media. No body type is the same its part of a persons identity, who they are and social media
has been making young girls feel unsatisfied with their own identities.
Photoshop is used so many times with models in their pictures to portray a certain way;
girls view this and still want to have this false standard. Even at a very young age, Perloff
himself writes, Internalization of body perfect ideals and body size stereotypes begin when
girls in Western societies as young as 3 years old. Mass media have been implicated as an
especially significant source of influence of these perceptions. Beginning with young girls
exposure to mass communicated images of the Barbie doll- the cultural icon of female beauty.
Basically, Perloff is stating that body image can impact girls at such a young age through media
promoting Barbie dolls with images online that may not seem to be a big deal, but actually
promote a perfect body that is not ideal since it provides a small waist that a girl cant have
Comparison is done by many women that are not satisfied with themselves and look upon
others noting the differences between the models and them. As you go through your social media
and you look at a friends picture you begin to compare yourself with that friend. According to
Perloff, Social comparison with attractive peers can actually lead to more negative self-
attractiveness ratings than comparison with attractive advertising models. He argues that
people online not only do they find effects on their friend but also themselves, I agree because
even I do that myself I tend to compare myself to other attractive friends of mine on my social
media making me feel upset about my own body. You want the features your friend or a random
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girl online has because it satisfies the wants of the ideal body for a woman. Social media then
becomes a competition on who gets more likes based on their body pictures. The skinner you
look in a picture the more attractive you seem the more likes you get. Then Perloff states
Another important social learning factor is self-objectification, the process by which girls come
to view their bodies as objects to be looked at, much like an observer would. In other words,
Perloff believes that girls compare their bodies as if they are no longer attached to their head but
are now objects that have to satisfy men. Their identity is no longer surrounded by them but upon
what others want to see online, the identity that will get them the most likes.
Social media issues on body image affect the persons identity in the real world. That
person is no longer confident in themselves and online. They make themselves suffer through
dieting that leads up to an eating disorder only to reach a false beauty standard that doesnt exist.
Their identity is not based on them being happy about themselves, but on being constantly
worried that they are not skinny enough to be loved both online and in the real world. Girls and
even sometimes men want what they see online and find ways to be the standard they all want.
They become shy and conservative because they no longer believe they are enough for society.
Identity is no longer theirs to claim, its all put into one picture they see online or social media
and that is the ideal body image for a young teenage girl.
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Work Cited
https://youtu.be/47cbEeSKIZo
Ferguson, Christopher J., Galindo, Mariza, Garza, Adolfo and Munoz, Monica E. Concurrent
And Social Media Influences on Body Dissatisfaction, Eating Disorder Symptoms and
Life Satisfaction in Adolescent Girls. Journal of Youth & Adolescence, Vol.43, no.1,
January 2014, pp.1-14, Social Sciences (H.W. Wilson). Ebscohost. Accessed December 7,
2017.
Perloff, Richard M. Social Media Effect on Young Womens Body Image Concern: Theoretical
Perspectives and an Agenda for Research. Sex Roles, Vol.71, no.11-12, December 2014,
Ricciardelli, Lina A and Williams, Robert J. Social Media and Body Image Concerns: Further
Considerations and Broader Perspectives. Sex Roles, Vol.71, December 2014, pp.389-
392, Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Ebscohost. Accessed December 7, 2017.