Ballard 1

Taylor Ballard
K. Hensel
English IV
13 Oct. 2015
How Media Affects Body Image
With the rise of magazines and internet, media has had a negative effect on body image in
males and females. Media can negatively affect the views and thoughts on body image by
making it seem like women have to have a small physique and men have to have muscles. They
may go to unhealthy lengths to get the body that they see on television and most magazine
covers. The effects can cause people to have low self-esteem, eating disorders, and physical and
mental problems.
Pro-eating disorder websites and social media accounts have been popping up left and
right on the internet for the past few years and they can make eating disorders worse than they
already are. On so-called pro-ana websites, eating disorders are treated like a religion, and
Christian psalms are reappropriated to propagate cruel and unhealthy rules (Pro-Anorexia Web
Sites Put Young People at Danger). Young people will use the websites and accounts to give
advice on how to keep up with their eating disorders and to stick to the program. A lot of the
users will call their eating disorders a lifestyle (Pro-Anorexia Web Sites Put Young People at
Danger). Thinspiration is a popular term used on the internet that means using pictures to
scare people into going deeper into their eating disorder. People will post photos of celebrities
and thin models to make it as a goal for where their own bodies. They also will post photos of
over-weight women as reverse thinspiration to scare them ("Pro-Anorexia Web Sites Put
Young People at Danger."). In a recent study, a group of women reported that viewing a website

Ballard 2

featuring overly thin images and a strong, consistent message that being thin is important had
negative consequences on the viewers ("Pondering Pro-Anorexia Websites: What Effects Do
They Have?"). Young girls will sexually objectify themselves and others in a way of
thinspiration. They will post nude photos of themselves or models in hopes that they will look
like them. "Girls and women are consistently objectified and sexualized in the media. The site
hosts are only mimicking what they see ("Pro-Anorexia Web Sites Put Young People at
Danger.").
Media makes it seem that men have to have muscular bodies in order to be seen as
attractive. Some men will abuse steroids, drugs, and alcohol in order to get to the body that
media shows them and it can have serious, long lasting effects. A recent study shows that 18
percent of boys are highly concerned about their weight and physique. They are more likely to
become depressed, and engage in high risk behaviors ("Body-Image Pressure Increasingly
Affects Boys."). People are concerned that boys as young as ten years old are becoming
obsessed with building a muscular physique, a condition that is thought to be related to changes
in how muscular male sex symbols have become over the last few decades ("Body Image
Boys."). You want people to be concerned enough about their weight to make healthy
decisions, Dr. Alison Field, an associate professor of pediatrics at Boston Childrens Hospital,
says, but not so concerned that theyre willing to take whatever means it takeshealthy or
unhealthyto achieve their desired physique ("Body-Image Pressure Increasingly Affects
Boys.").
Altering images has become a big thing in todays media and the way that photos of the
human bodies are altered makes it unrealistic for the average person. Photoshopped images can
lead to young girls growing up with the idea that they need to look a certain way in order to be

Ballard 3

accepted into society. the feminine ideal is tanned, healthy slenderness, with no unsightly
bumps, bulges or cellulite, and bodily and facial perfection that results from hours of labor:
exercise, makeup and hair care ("Photoshopping: Altering Images and Our Minds."). Those who
have bodies opposite of the ideal body are often ridiculed on television, cartoons, games, and
magazines. Bullying because of someones body type has played a big role in the way people see
themselves.
With the way that media has affected the way that people view themselves, it is important
to try to make a change. Caregivers should start teaching children about natural body types and
that not all you see on television and magazines is true. There have been many groups made to
try to make a change in altering images, websites being made, and what people think to be the
idealistic body. Media can make people of all ages, gender, and ethnicity develop habits that can
harm both their mind and body.

Works Cited
"Body Image Boys." Body Image Boys. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.

Cruz, Jamie Santa. "Body-Image Pressure Increasingly Affects Boys." The Atlantic. Atlantic

Ballard 4

Media Company, 10 Mar. 2014. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.

"Media Exposure and the "Perfect" Body." Psychology Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.

"Photoshopping: Altering Images and Our Minds." BEAUTY REDEFINED. N.p., 12 Mar. 2014.
Web. 12 Oct. 2015.

"Pondering Pro-Anorexia Websites: What Effects Do They Have?"Pondering Pro-Anorexia

Websites: What Effects Do They Have? N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.

Rhodes, Constance. "Pro-Anorexia Web Sites Put Young People at Danger." Anorexia. Ed.
Stefan Kiesbye. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. At Issue. Rpt. from "Pro-Anorexia
Websites." CPYU-Center for Parents and Youth Understanding, 2007. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 15 Sept. 2015.