Body Image in the Media

nas00059
Jun 5, 2021
4 min read

*Trigger Warning: mention of eating disorders*

From the beginning of time there has always been beauty standards. In medieval times all people wanted to be was bigger because it showed that you had lots of money and could afford to eat well. In the 1950’s all any girl would want was to have a tiny waist and have an hourglass figure. Then things changed again in the early 2000’s and it became the new and beautiful thing to be very thin. Now, as a society we have created a new beauty standard – which involves a mixture of all the previous body standards. And because technology has advanced, we have social media pressuring young teenagers to think that they have to look a certain way to be beautiful.

What is a beauty standard?

A beauty standard is the idea that everyone in the world has to look like one person/people that look a certain way to be beautiful. Beauty standards can be about wanting to look young and youthful for as long as possible, but it can also have to do with people’s hair colour, eye colour, skin colour and the shape/size of someone’s body.

How is this an issue?

Beauty standards have been around for a long time but it hasn’t been until more recently that people are starting to recognise how toxic it is – especially when it comes to body image. Having these standards force people who look different to this ideal body or “look” to feel self-conscious, insecure and can really have an impact on their mental health.

What is body image?

Body image is how we see our own bodies and how attractive we think our own bodies are. This can be negative or positive - depends on how we view ourselves.

How does this involve the media?

The media includes things like magazines, newspapers, social media (Instagram, Youtube, TikTok, Snapchat etc.) and movies/tv shows. For quite some time now only one body and “look” has been represented in the media. And this is how beauty standards are formed and coerced into our minds. This is mainly affecting teenagers – specifically teenage girls although it can affect boys just as much. In the media this beauty standard is shown that girls have to be tall – but not too tall, you have to be slim – but not too slim, you still need to have hips, a butt, large breasts. Girls have to have a small nose, with big lips, big eyes with long eyelashes and thick eyebrows. Every single part of the female body is altered until it looks a certain way, and the media shows that that certain way, is the only way to be pretty. And not just pretty, but successful and happy in life. The same thing for boys. The media only represents tall, muscular, very masculine guys and it’s having an impact on how younger boys view themselves.

But why is this an issue?

If you are still confused on how this is an issue and how this is affecting younger people’s body image (and even sometimes older people too), let me dive deeper for you. Showing only slimmer people in the media is forcing teenagers to believe that they also have to be slim. This can lead to people trying to lose weight – no matter how they have to do it. People who want to be skinny and look like these beautiful, happy people on the internet want fast results, so common ways they try to lose weight would be things such as – starving themselves, over exercising, trying so many different diets and restricted eating. These all can be extremely dangerous and lead to more severe problems – like an eating disorder. Now of course there are more people and things that are excluded in the media, but today we’re focusing on body image. So, let me give you some facts.

Around 17% of Australia’s population have been found to have an eating disorder or disordered eating.
63% of people with eating disorders in Australia are female.
One of the leading causes of eating disorders is due to the media.
15% of all woman will experience an eating disorder in their lifetime.
Most people who are diagnosed with an eating disorder are between the ages of 12 and 25.
Up to 80% of young teenage girls have reported to being scared of becoming “fat”.
Using social media for just thirty minutes every day can have an impact on body image.

The body image representation in the media is very limited. And the beauty standards on bodies of all genders and all ages are very unrealistic. It is important to remember that what we see online isn’t always real – people can pose, suck in, tense, edit. And just because all we see in magazines, Instagram, movies are one certain type of body, does not mean that we have to look like them to be beautiful, happy or successful.

If you are ever struggling please check out these websites (see below) for help or reach out to a trusted loved one.