Digital Story Proposal: Body Image in the Media

It is no secret that the media puts an enormous amount of pressure on teenaged girls in society to fit a certain body type and image. The media paints a picture of a specific image that women all over the world see as "the ideal figure". It’s no surprise that many teens have unrealistic expectations about their physical appearance. Teenaged girls tend to be the most severely and commonly affected group in society from the media’s standard of beauty. For some, this focus on perfection may lead to extreme measures,such as eating disorders or drug use to lose weight and improve body image. Girls tend to feel a sense of failure for not living up to this image, instead of being proud of and loving who they are and the image they have. From an early age, they are exposed to the use of super thin cultural icons representing ‘feminine beauty'. Constantly being compared to computer-manipulated images of already thin and cosmetically ideal models, women of all ages, not just teens, develop and suffer from body dissatisfaction, depression, anorexia, bulimia, perfectionism, low self-esteem, and other psychological damages. The drive for thinness inherit to many women is a learned behavior that media sources, especially magazines, explain how to achieve. Women are expected to have certain body characteristics that just aren’t realistic: not everyone has large breasts, a small waist, and long legs. Girls also grow up believing that they should fit into some sort of category, not appreciating diversity and uniqueness that truly makes someone beautiful. Although at some point it becomes apparent that the majority of women do not fit into media’s definition of beautiful, psychological damages are already incurred and the time spent unhappy cannot be given back. For my digital story, I plan to create a video of pictures. These pictures will contain example images of the "ideal figure" that the media presents through television and advertisement. There will also be images of girls negatively effected by this media pressure. My video will also contain slides of facts and statistics about my this topic. It is possible that a clip of an interview will be included as well. Sources: Just Say Yes- Self Image Media Influences Google Image NEDA Feeding Hope