Social customs demand that the body of a human being be tamed so as to differentiate it from that of an animal. If a person, for example, walks into the public realm naked, then they may not be considered normal human beings. The human body has to be dressed and decorated so as to make it look beautiful and acceptable (Borel, 1994). The media influences the way people view themselves in a very significant manner. It creates ideas about what body image and beauty is all about. People then become obsessed with what is an ideal body image and what is not. Through advertisements, the media creates an ideal body image by depicting celebrities and models as such perfect beings that the youth want to be like them. According to Chernin (1981), the media portrayal of an ideal body image is one of the leading causes of low self-esteem, eating disorders, depression and individual harm among the youth. As they seek to look like the models they are exposed to in the media, young people increasingly become dissatisfied with their body image, and this may lead to psychological problems.
As children advance towards puberty, they increasingly become aware of their body image. This particularly affects those who have constantly been exposed to the media from early in their lives. Bruno (1996) observes that weight is not an issue among children below the age of six since they do not mind about their body image and appearance because they have not yet mastered the art of comparison. They do not have the ability to compare what is ideal and what is not in terms of body image. Decorating their bodies is the responsibility of their parents and guardians who may not consider the issue of fashion and image as a priority (Borel, 1994). However, as they move towards early adolescence, the issue of body image takes center stage. Girls want to be slim and beautiful while boys want to be strong and muscular (Bruno, 1996). These ideas stem from the kind of media images that these young people have been exposed to. They start believing that body image is everything and one has to do whatever it takes to have a perfect body image, from weight to the kind of clothes one wears. Girls want to look like princesses. While the media seems to hammer the point that outward appearance is everything, the society seems to concur and portray to the young that one has to be slim and muscular so as to look like a normal person (Beller, 1977). Those who cannot withstand the pressure slip into self-dissatisfaction and depression as they are unable to look like their peers (Kaplan, 1980). Nevertheless, the point being driven home is that body image in the contemporary society matters more than one can imagine.
Although advertisements and magazines are expected to be objective in terms of dissemination of information, they are rather subjective in most cases. This affects the view of the perfect body image of the consumers. The observation by Borel (1994) that the naked human body is threatening and intolerable thus needs to be covered or rather decorated is nothing but the truth. However, the decoration and covering should not mean that only the slim bodies should enjoy the privilege. The media seems to be particularly interested in feeding the consumers with images of underweight models as the only people possessing perfect bodies. Consequently, many consumers become dissatisfied with the way they look, and this affects the way they view themselves in terms of body image. It encourages them to attempt to change their looks. Young women are particularly fascinated by the seemingly perfect image. In that case, some will do anything possible, including starving themselves, in an effort to manipulate their shape and size (Chapkis, 1986). Since the media portrays slim women as happier, successful, healthy, attractive and pleasant to the society, some women think that they would be happier if they were slimmer, and this sets the stage for eating disorders such as Bulimia and Anorexia Nervosa (Brown, 1989). Even so, slim is not a true reflection of success. For one to be successful, it is not their appearance but actions that matter, what they do and how they do it is all that determines success, not the physical appearance (Johnstone, 1996). However, the media seems to have made many people believe that body image is all that matters in life, and this, in turn, makes many people become increasingly dissatisfied with their appearance.
The fashion industry has particularly influenced the way people view body image in the contemporary society. According to Borel (1994), dressing the body not only covers a persons nakedness but also transforms them and differentiates them from the wild nature. In the process, the human being is set apart as a product of culture, not nature. The media, in this case, fills the gap by giving an opportunity to the fashion industry to advance its agenda. Companies dealing in fashion items take advantage and advertise their wares in such a way that the consumers have no choice but to critically evaluate their body image. The fashion companies use models who, on the face value, seem to hammer the point that body image is everything. The well-dressed model influence the young people to try and go for the fashion that would make them look like these models. In the process, some people may buy fashion items that they dump as soon as they buy them after realizing that they do not look as good on them as they did on the model in the advertisement. Fortunately, some former models such as Jennifer Strickland have had powerful programs that educate young people on the unrealistic expectations of the fashion industry. She encourages them not to yield to the pressure of media images and work on their own self-image and strengths if they want to live happy lives. According to Lakoff, Robin and Scherr (1984), beauty is not determined by the face value of an individual but what lies within them. Those who struggle to look like others hence buying every other fashion item end up in frustration and depression. It is unfortunate that advertisers of fashion, the media, are not as objective as they ought to be.
As Borel (1994) puts it, the human body is a product of culture and civilization. The aspect of body image has been existent among human beings since time immemorial. However, the media has amplified the issue so much that the society seems to concur with it that for one to be acceptable, they have to possess the perfect body image. Unfortunately, what the media portrays is an unrealistic body image that many young people try to blindly achieve with some ending up harming themselves. This is rather unfortunate. Therefore, the media should endeavor to portray healthy lifestyles by featuring people of all shapes, color, and sizes in advertisements so as to erase that aspect of the perfect body image since each person is unique in their own way.
References
Beller, Anne Scott. 1977. Fat and thin: a natural history of obesity. New York: Farrar Strauss and Giroux,
Borel, France. 1994. The decorated body+ clothing and the culture of ornamentation. Parabola-myth tradition and the search for meaning, 19(3), 74-77.
Brown, Laura, PhD, and Rothblum, Esther, PhD, Eds. Overcoming fear of fat. New York: Harrington Park Press, 1989.
Bruno, Barbara, PhD. 1996. Worth Your Weight: What you can do about a weight problem. Bethel, CT, Rutledge Books
Chapkis, Wendy. 1986. Beauty secrets: women and the politics of appearance. Boston: Southend Press.
Chernin, Kim. 1981. The obsession: reflections on the tyranny of slenderness. New York: Harper & Row
Johnston, Joni E., PsyD. 1994. Appearance obsession: learning to love the way you look. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, Inc.
Kaplan, Jane Rachel, Ed. 1980. A womans conflict: the special relationship between women and food. Englewood, NJ: Prentice-Hall,
Lakoff, Robin Tolmach, and Scherr, Raquel L. 1984. Face value: the politics of beauty. Boston: Routledge and Kegan, Paul
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