Affect of Media on Young Women
In a world surrounded by billboards, commercials and magazine advertisements, the grasp that the media holds and how it influences society has become an accustomed and accepted part of our daily lives. Whether these influences are present it is the evening news, reading a magazine with your coffee in the morning, or simply seeing yet another catchy advertisement for another catchy product, the target in all situations is the same- Appeal to society in whatever way suits a company best. This has resulted in the so called new and improved North America, with its sexy provocative models and young bubbling girls just waiting to help the corporate world sell just a little more. But where do we draw the line between selling and brainwashing? Advertising not only sells products, it sells ideals, morals and standards for society and communicates what it believes is acceptable and favored behavior. A generation ago, the average model weighed 8% less than the average women, while today that same model weights 23% less (Crow magazine). The grasping power of media has an impact on young women all over the continent. As adolescent women are redefining themselves and their relationships, dealing with the changing bodies and look towards the fut
Lastly, more than a third of girls surveyed admitted to adopting unhealthy eating habits to try and improve themselves, and those same girls watched more television than girls who were comfortable with their own body. These girls were reading more magazines and watching more television other girls who felt more comfortable with their own bodies and it is clearly evident that the media's influence had a substantial role in the ideals and beliefs these women had about their own bodies. The majority of girls don't understand that women in the media today are not realistic, how could they? Their main source of information is the media itself, and its not going to ruin its number one marketing tool to young girls just so they can know the truth, and unknown word in the world of advertising. What we need in our society is self-awareness. This ideal women approach is not ideal at all. Women resort to eating disorders because it is their only road to achieve this goal. According to a recent survey of adolescent girls, the media is their main source of information about women's health issues (EDAP). For instance, girls who rated themselves zero to three on the scale of one to ten, watched an average of 5. Lastly, the media through commercials and ideals of improving oneself with self-beautifying products on television gives women the idea to not only buy the product, but to follow the ways of the thin flawless, happy and successful model showcasing the product. Also, when women constantly see beautiful skinny women and countless dieting ads and exercising programs in magazines and on television, they begin to believe that to be happy and successful the need to look like those women. Because these seem to be the main attribute to their success as a beautiful woman and actress, girls tend to see that these are their main problems and that to be happy and carefree like those in media, they must lose weight, or even worse, change their entire bodies. In the survey of fifty young girls ages fourteen through nineteen, there is a direct correlation between the amount of media they are exposed to and the self-esteem issues they acquire. The image that the media portrays of thin and flawless women has a direct and damaging effect on the self-esteem of young females. 44 hours of television a week and read 14.
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