Media Effects Body Image Essay

Over the quondam(prenominal) 10 years, bundle media and the access to friendly net passs has evolved good causing the works of contradict self- two-bagger and what is considered better- timbre. Body image expectations for both black male and female per centum the battles of societys expectations, yet African American women physical structure images come with a stricter and more than unwholesome stigma growth of genial media much(prenominal) as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter brings these expectations of self-image into our homes and our children minds. The Internet is easily the most distributive form of mediated communication that we encounter in our lives. Even traditional forms of mass communication compact us toward the Internet (Bryant, Thompson & Finklea, 295).Social networks influences negative self-image and expectations of what is beautiful to society. Beauty expectations has a long standing biography into our lives, but comparing the accession in trunk augmentations, extreme dieting and plane bulimia head-in-the-clouds in our generation is heavily related to mass media. Over exposure to social networks may commit to the development of low strain for sexual go for with partner, negative views toward self- luggage compartment image, and even the imply to depictk sinful avenues for p lastlyic surgery.As humans, we lean to rate ourselves fair harsh and I believe social media networks commit cause an augment for the expectations of organic structure image. Recently, the media has had a huge violation on alliances, the proper raising of children and especially the r atomic number 18fied trunk that an African- American fair sex should concord. Although, I do highly believe that we should improve charrs health, I also k straight that every soulfulness doesnt look like the model we see on television. In the African American culture, recently, it has been a turn of times and the media trim- pattern is being curvy at heart our community. Every new music impression recording and social media networks put the swarthy woman with the tiny cannon with huge thighs and butt as the perfect woman. The disturb of themedia is causing a change in African American women views on their lives, dead body and oerall expectations as what a black woman should look like. It is headspring kn admit that obesity and being curvier than other races is substantially documented deep down society, yet its now becoming an issue with our society to enhance these features that we atomic number 18 so well kn protest for. Even for the prevalent thin-ideal woman that is frequently envisioned in the media is typically 15% below the average weight of women, representing an false standard of thinness (tall, with narrow hips, long legs, and thin thighs) (Johnson, Tobin, & Steinberg, 1989).Yet indoors the African American culture, video recording vixens promote their bodies as a sign of owning who they be and controll ing the situation regardless of what they may stick out on. Still another perspective is that of Melyssa fording, the highest paid video girl to date (Byrd and Solomon, 2005) who describes her vulnerability on video shoots, objectification by men, and the process of reclaiming power over her own body, which she describes as her commodity. With unwrap denial, Melyssa Ford is a well-educated woman and one of the few vixens who have used her body to open doors to new opportunities, but believing her body is the golden ticket is the main issue that I have with the media influence. These contrasting perspectives demonstrate the complexity of issues (e.g., the arena of perceptions about womans objectification) and pose particular questions for scholars who seek to understand contemporary Black womens experiences (Byrd and Solomon, 2005). The idea that the African American woman has been created as an object and should have a particular body to be accepted into their culture as the ide al African American woman. Black culture has everlastingly been the more voluptuous curves in women, yet those women were considered cornbread ply and the ones who werent blessed with these assets, didnt go out their way for unethical surgical practices.The social media negative influence on African American women developing up within the 21st century has make it seem the simple life is depending on the curves of your body, rather the knowledge of your mind and the power in your beliefs. meet parenting is started at home, yet with social networks being such a part of our childrens lives, the media is also in the homes. In the process of the media influence, I believe the impressiveness of the media understanding the black culture and the expectations of a womans curves also cause many medical exam issues that we are associated with, such as Type I and II diabetes,high blood pressure and obesity. With great(p) being accepted in most black families homes, the media and social networks should deter as much as possible from promoting the oversexed woman is the ideal woman. The effect social networks has on the children coming behind us is powerful and I believe the power of the media should be used more effectively. There is evidence that social media influences behaviors at home because women such as Ford promotes her body as her job, just as woman who is a part of the corporate community, but her body expectation is for her job, natural African American women are not all curvy. I had the opportunity to verbalize with several close friends who utilize social networks as often as I do and I wanted to know their take on their own body image when looking at incompatible women on Facebook or Instagram.Do they feel the need to conform and seek that particular body? Do they feel less beautiful that moment when looking at these women? Although all of them stated they didnt feel any less beautiful and was comfortable within their skin, they did state it causes them to want to stay in the middle school more or avoid a meal for the sake of staying the ideal body type as an African American woman. But 23 of the women claimed they did have a sink sexual discrepancy when it came to being with their mates and questioned themselves during sexual intimacy subsequently looking at these women. 13 of the women even resulted in having plastic surgery for a face implant after seeing the changes in a models career off of Instagram because she felt like this would increase her chances of pictureing a husband. Social comparison possibility is one of the few theories that are commonly used by mass communication scholars to understand the relationship mingled with media exposure and body image ruffle (Zhang, Dixon & Conrad, 266). The ideal African American woman portrayed in the media and on social networks is difficult, almost impossible, for the absolute majority of the women if you want to live a normal, healthy life.When you have a certain type of body within the African American community, the woman seems to be more glorified by men and catches the attention quickly. Yet, often African American women who have curvy shapes find themselves not liking the attention because of comments. The effects of lower discrepancy are basically the lack of compatibility between two individuals and this may increase with the harsh media influence. I believe social networks and media influence has caused African American women to want a voluptuous bodybecause obviously this is what gets a man attention. Stice and Shaw (1994), suggested that as women internalize the thin-idea/media image, they tend to experience heighted body dissatisfaction, set unrealistic body dimension goals, and ultimately engage in split behaviors designed to achieve the thin-ideal body image (Hawkins et al, 2004). The increase of plastic surgery within the Black American culture probably has increased within the last five years due to the wanting of mountainous b uttocks and smaller waist which media makes to believe this is what a Black woman should look like.The media so- called expectations of the perfect African American woman cant be the only problem when it comes to the issues the culture experiences toward wanting a certain look. Possibly, the future research will get the attention of media and social media executives to realize their power over the younger generations to develop positive influences and promote healthier lifestyles. In this research, I was able to find that African-American women often compare themselves to images on social networks and although it causes them to work out more, it isnt necessarily causing a healthier lifestyle and positive self-body image.Works CitedBryant, Jennings, Susan Thompson, and Bruce W. Finklea. basic principle of Media Effects. 2nd ed. Boston, MA McGraw-Hill, 2002. Print. Byrd, Ayana, and Akiba Solomon. Naked Black Women plain All About Their Skin, Hair, Hips, Lips and Other Parts. New Yo rk Penguin Group, 2005. PsychINFO. Web. 4 Apr. 2014. . Hawkins, Nicole, P. Scott Richards, H. Mac Granley, and David M. Stein. The Impact of Exposure to the Thin- Ideal Media escort on Women. University of Houston- PsychINFO. Taylor & Francis, Inc., n.d. Web. 4 Apr. 2014. Johnson, C. L., Tobin, D. I., & Steinberg, S. L. (1989). Etiological, developmental and treatment considerations for bulimia. special(a) issue The bulimic college student Evaluation, treatment and prevention. diary of College Student Psychotherapy, 3(2-4), 57-73. Stice, E. Risk Factor for Eating Pathology