How Media Positively Influences Body Image

Name: Course: Instructor: Date: Annotated bibliography: How Media Positively Influences Body Image In the contemporary society, the media is a powerful tool that provides the people with daily information about diverse perceptions about real-life issues including body image. The media has been used as a reference about what can be considered as an ideal or right body despite the multiple and complex dimensions of the human body. Mainstream media outlets including televisions, magazines, and the internet often use extremely thin models and actresses in advertisements, especially in beauty and cloth industries. Consequentially, the women who come across such adverts as current fashion trends end up with the belief that an ideal women body should be thin. Previous studies show that uncontrolled perceptions of body images can result in severe problems such as eating disorders and low self-esteem. If the current trend is not addressed properly, body image might become a public health issue in future. The problem of body image is mainly propagated through the media, which is seemingly the most appropriate way of addressing it. To investigate how the media can be helpful in addressing issues related to body images, I researched on a few sources that I believe will offer reliable and sufficient information to meet my research gap. Alentola, Anni Emilia. "Changing the narratives of marginalized bodies-a study about body positivism." (2017). In this article, the author presents an analysis of the body positivity movement in Instagram, and how it empowers the women involved in the movement. According to the author, the movement aims to show diversity in the portrayal of women and to encourage acceptance of all body types, skin colors, and body flaws by examining the hashtags #bodypostivity and #bodypositive which have more than three million pictures on Instagram. The study on the body positivity movement was carried out through visual content analysis and interviews that involved women participating in the movement. For explanation and analysis, the author incorporates the theories of gender-norms, Western beauty standards, and the general feminism framework to address the issue of identity and body image. According to the findings of the study, a majority of the participants in the body positivity movement are white women and often in their underwear. Although the pictures have no major body flaws, analysis of the interviews shows that the movement is meant to empower the women and help them develop positive body image and better self-esteem. I find the study more realistic because of the personal narration of the participants. However, the most important feature in the study is the detailed explanation and illustration of the characteristics of a positive body picture and how body positivity in social media affect self-image and identity of women. Grose, Michelle Leigh. Individual body satisfaction and perception: the effect of the media's ideal body image on female college students. Diss. 2009. The article presents an investigation on the relationship between the consumption of different forms of media and how they affect body image. The study also discusses what it takes for individuals to change their body image. In this case, the stu...