Below is the recorded clip which was aired on chanel 5 last night. :))
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by Mattel, Inc. It has been an important part of the toy fashion doll market for nearly fifty years. Apart from all the merits, it has been the subject of numerous controversies and lawsuits. According to different surveys, it is believed that Barbies image can highten body disatisfaction for girls especially aged 5-10. When they see barbie images they in turn feel more negative about their own body which is concerning to think that girls recieve these negative images at such a young age. "The dolls make women all over the world worry about not having the legs or the looks to keep up "
A new study released in the well-respected American Journal of Health Behaviour suggests that High School girls view themselves as 5kg over their perceived ideal bodyweight, on average, which can then lead to potentially dangerous issues such as substance abuse, low self-esteem, poor eating habits and excessive dieting and even mental health issues. Some of the reasons behind the female students' perception of the 'ideal' body size inlcude overestimating their current body size and the constant 'skinny girl' bombardment seen in the media, which again can be related to the former reasoin. Whether it's on TV, magazines or computer games, young women today face massive pressure to conform to what are generally unrealistic and often unhealthy body sizes. This new study sheds light on the effect that mass media and the 'beautiful people' have on school girls and young women, who feel as though they need to measure up to what are often unachievable and dangerous body sizes.
CELEBRITIES KNOWN FOR BEING 'SIZE 0'
Nicole Richie, socialite
Kareena Kapoor, Bollywood actress
The Olsen Twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen."Mass communication is a form of communication through which institutional sources address relatively large, heterogeneous and anonymous audiences physically seperated from one another. "
This week's question: What is your opinion about this issue? Do you support the media? If not what actions would you take?
My opinion- :))
Media theories like Moderate effect model comes into play here. Agenda setting function, where the media through repeated coverage of 'body weight', raises the importance of this issue in the public's mind. Pictures of skinny models be it on the runway or product promotions or advertisements develop peoples mindset about the 'perfect physique'. Media hegemony on the other hand talks about the powerful elite. Constantly celebrities are criticized about their body shape,size,weight etc by the media. Often we see actresses suffering from eating disorders trying to meet the industries 'requirements'. This behaviour influences young women and children in a large way. Spiral of silence occurs here as people have the tendency to refrain from expressing unpopular ideas or views. (In this context, size 12 or 14 considered as being fat) The consumers tend to agree with all the media scrutiny and try to abide to them. Very rarely it is noticed that people who are sizes that are not recognised by the media, are honestly happy with the way they look. Media influences the opinion and behaviour of people, largely.
This week's question: What is your opinion about this issue? Do you support the media? If not what actions would you take?
My opinion- :))
The media often has narrow definitions of beauty. I think people need to be able to critically view the media messages by which we are bombarded with each day. Media messages about body shape and size will affect the way we feel about our bodies and ourselves only if we let them. When we effectively recognize and analyze the media messages that influence us, we remember that the media's definitions of beauty and success do not have to define our self-image or potential. Using our creative mind to view all media with a discriminating eye is essential. All media images and messages are constructions. They are not reflections of reality.
Advertisements and other media messages have been carefully crafted with the intent to send a very specific message.
When you see an ad or hear a message that makes you feel bad about yourself, your body, or others by promoting only thin, formulaic body ideals, talk back to the TV and the advertiser by writing a letter. It works, you can make a change.Also write to advertisers who you think are sending positive, inspiring messages that recognize and celebrate the natural diversity of human body shapes and sizes. Compliment their courage to send positive, affirming messages.
Advertisements and other media messages have been carefully crafted with the intent to send a very specific message.
When you see an ad or hear a message that makes you feel bad about yourself, your body, or others by promoting only thin, formulaic body ideals, talk back to the TV and the advertiser by writing a letter. It works, you can make a change.Also write to advertisers who you think are sending positive, inspiring messages that recognize and celebrate the natural diversity of human body shapes and sizes. Compliment their courage to send positive, affirming messages.
Another masterpiece from missie minu :D hehe. Well clearly hats off to you for that article. I loved it and i strongly believe that one shouldnt be influenced so much by the media that one is forced to madly reduce one's weight in order to be 'in'. To be 'in' depends on each individual, how do they perceive themselves to be. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree to some extents that media has a heavy influence on encouraging young teenagers, especialy females, to be aneroxic. Although media do not directly encourage females to be aneroxic, however, media is such a strong medium of communication that teenagers, through repeated coverage, will eventually get influenced
ReplyDeleteAshish- hehe thanks a ton! Yeah well everyone wants to look good! I know of so many of my girl friends who are afraid that their either plump or 'not thin enough' to be tagged as being 'hot' etc. They go through stupids diets, some even skip their meals just to capture media's perception of 'looking good'! well i think it is quite horrifying to know that all this could play on their health, self esteem of an individual...
ReplyDeletefs29- I agree with whatever you said! thanks for that! :))
ReplyDeleteIt is ludicrous to see how women nowadays strive to be stick thin to look plainly better in certain clothes. For reasons unknown, men are catching up fast too. Indulgence in workouts, spas and manicures are no longer exclusive to our maternal population. In Osaka, Japan there is a mall dedicated for men. Ranging from clothing to accessories and the aforementioned manicures just for men! Anyway, everyone can see the ugly side of size zeros. Their lifestyles are not anywhere close to healthy, so why spend so much time, effort and money to look worse than a malnourished kid in impoverished regions?
ReplyDeletei guess its a very good issue to bring forward...the media has mocked celebrities of being overweight and make them take actions on it and they experiment with different harmful ways to get rid of their body mass or they starve themselves or they have vigorous workout..so i guess really well executed my cynera..gr8 job once again...as she is highlighted a good issue!!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat work! You have analysed well in the various aspects of mass media.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do agree idealized beauty standards are seen everywhere from commercials, to TV shows and movies. This ideal puts pressure on young women to look like the people featured in these mass media formats, even if the goal of being that thin is unattainable without harming your body's health.
It is clear that the media has a tremendous influence on young people everywhere. Whether it is through film, music or any other mass media the public is constantly pressured to fit into today's ideal of what beauty is.
I love the topic! Explicit piece of work. I strongly believe that this is something,myself and many women around the world could relate to!
ReplyDeleteThe influence of the media on the proliferation of eating disorders cannot be refuted. From an early age we are bombarded with images and messages that reinforce the idea to be happy and successful we must be thin. Today, you cannot read a magazine or newspaper, turn on the television, listen to the radio, or shop at the mall without being assaulted with the message that fat is bad. The most frightening part is that this destructive message is reaching kids. Adolescents often feel fatally flawed if their weight, hips, and breasts don’t match up to those of models and actors. Today even elementary school aged children are obsessed with their weight. To illustrate the media’s obsession with thinness, try and name 5 current female television personalities who are overweight. Compare that task to naming 5 female television personalities who are underweight or at ideal weight. Even if the argument is made that the media’s portrayal of women is just a mirror of society and not an initiator, the media’s still needs to take responsibility for at least perpetuating the dysfunction.
Your doing a good job in highlighting this issue :) Keep up the good work!
Yes, I agree with all that is mentioned above. From early-on children are taught by society that their looks matter. Think of the three and four year old who is continuously praised for being "oh so cute". With an increased population of children who spend a lot of time in front of television, there are more of them coming up with a superficial sense of who they are. Images on T.V. spend countless hours telling us to lose weight, be thin and beautiful, buy more stuff because people will like us and we'll be better people for it. Programming on the tube rarely depicts men and women with "average" body-types or crappy clothes, ingraining in the back of all our minds that this is the type of life we want. Overweight characters are typically portrayed as lazy, the one with no friends, or "the bad guy", while thin women and pumped-up men are the successful, popular and powerful ones. How can we tell our children that it's what's inside that counts, when the media continuously contradicts this message? I applaud the writer for spreading this awareness, I think it is important to let women, teenage girls especially realise that the bodies that models portray are nothing but unrealistic, unhealty and harmful and should not be followed.
ReplyDeletesize zerooo doesn suit everybodyy .. its basically how well one carry d size zerooooo :)
ReplyDeleteu need to have dat right attitude in u to look hot with dat size zeroo or else one will end up lookin like a drumstick .......
What an interesting article, concerning a social problem which really needs to be talked about rather than left hidden !!!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, it is important for young girls to evaluate themselves in other ways rather than merely their weight.
The images seen in the media are often unhealthy, and actually unrealistic.
Unfortunately, it is no secret that our body image tends to be greatly influenced by what we see on TV, in movies and in magazines. Education may prove to be the key here.
This is indeed a very interesting topic to debate on.......
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I don't blame the girls entirely, as the Media has a very important role in creating such a rage among the teenagers these days.Due to constant coverage of bigshots like Lindsay Lohan,Kareena Kapoor,Paris Hilton, girls somehow get influenced by their lifestyles and tend to immitate them.
Everyone wants to look good and be aprreciated by others.Physical appearance is still given a lot of importance over other qualities when it comes to initiating a relationship.Hence people who are overweight become insecure and adapt ways shown followed by the celebrtites to look pretty.But it is disheartening to see that they give more imporatance to style over health.I think the media is in many ways responsible for this issue.
I do agree that media plays a part in how most girls perceive the ideal weight nowadays. Girls are more unrealistic in terms of their own ideal body but then again, everybody just wants to look their best.
ReplyDeleteAside from the media, I think one's character/mindset also plays a part of how the girls perceive their own ideal weight to be. If one's mindset is strong enough, he/she will not be easily influenced by others.
And..I still think Kelly Clarkson is fat. Hahahaha!
LOL Atas girl! Kelly Clarkson is NOT fat! HAHAHAHA :P :D
ReplyDeletethanks for all the comments loves! :D
much appreciated.
xoxo