Media, Body Image and Self-Worth

Media, Body Image and Self-Worth

Running Head:   (MEDIA, BODY IMAGE AND SELF-WORTH)

Media, Body Image and Self-Worth
How the Media Influences the Development of a Woman's Self-Esteem

Every women's dream… to be 5'10, 115 pounds or underweight as to be considered thin, have long slender legs, a flat stomach and to have generously proportioned breasts.   Why?   Simply because media has deceived young women into thinking as though that is the standard of beauty, and every woman wants to be beautiful.   This generation of young women and girls are plagued with the dissatisfaction of their bodies.   They struggle with body image, low self-esteem, and dieting.   What causes their self-hatred for their bodies?   A selection of sources show the outcome that media has on women in America and around the world.    
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Beauty and Body Image in the Media. (N.D.). Retrieved September 18, 2004. from http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls.
This web site is about the standards of beauty being imposed on women, and the effects that those standards have on average women.   It states that exposure to media images of thin, young, air-brushed female bodies is linked to depression, loss of self-esteem and the development of unhealthy eating habits in women.   Women are sold to the diet industry by the magazines we read and the television we watch, almost all of which make women feel anxious about their weight.   Media images of female beauty are unattainable for all but a very small number of women.   This article uses an example of how if a woman had Barbie-doll proportions, her back would be too weak to support the weight of her upper body, and her body would be too narrow to contain more than half a liver and a few centimeters of bowel.   A real women built that way would suffer from chronic diarrhea and eventually die from malnutrition.   Television and movies reinforce the importance of a thin body as a measure of a woman's' worth.  
Berger, J., (2002).   Tradition vs. TV...