Persuasive Speech- Mikaela Gatewood

Mikaela Gatewood

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     Media has become a dramatically large part of today’s society. It’s an influential part of our culture, and has the ability to change people’s opinions and perceptions. The most alarming result of the media’s prominency is it’s effect on people’s body image. Increasingly, the media has changed society’s idea of the “perfect body” into a largely unrealistic and hyper idealized size. This image has had a profound effect on younger generations, leading to eating disorders and overall lower self esteem. Through frequent images of “perfect” bodies the media has actively promoted a thin ideal. I’m going to tell you about how it’s influenced younger generations, the negative effects of that influence, and what’s being done to help. 

     A huge contributor to the new idealized body are the photos of perfect physiques that are constantly being presented to the population. These photos have a large effect on young girls and their body image. Over time, studies have shown that models and women in general within the media have decreased in weight, becoming increasingly skinnier. Their representation within magazines articles, television shows, and advertisements have all helped in creating a distorted social standard of a thin ideal that girls often hold themselves to. Radar Programs did a study showing that an estimated 83% of adolescent girls read fashion magazines for an average 4.3 hours a week. This sort of time consumption has had a profound effect on younger generations and their opinions on their bodies. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, 69% of girls in 5th to 12th grade said that magazine pictures influence their idea of a perfect body shape. Not only are advertisements and magazines affecting body image, but TV shows, movies, and online videos have all been shown to influence young girls as well. With women in pop culture becoming alarmingly skinnier and skinnier, girls are increasingly striving to look like them as well.  

     This sort of influence has had a profoundly negative impact on teenage body image. While most of the time the images are photoshopped, the frequent appearance of perfected magazine advertisements have set a disturbing precedent for what normal bodies should look like. The bombardment of perfect bodies can make it hard for younger generations to not compare themselves, and often times become upset or dissatisfied when they don’t look the same way. It’s been shown by the National Institute of Mental Health, that 53% of girls are unhappy with their bodies by the age of thirteen, with the number increasing to 78% by the age of seventeen. Studies have shown this to be directly proportional to the consumption of mass media. An experiment published by the British Journal of Psychiatry helped to provide support for the correlation between the two as well. Researchers introduced various media and increased television exposure to adolescent girls in Fiji, a relatively media-naïve society with little Western influence. The results showed that after several weeks of consumption of media the girls exhibited a significant increase in eating disorder attitudes and behaviors. In America as well as most of the Western world, which is a much more media driven society, this influence has led to more dramatic results, such as the development of eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. According to Family First Aid, 90% of eating disorders have been seen in women between the ages of 12-25, the prime age group for fashion media and advertisements. However, despite the large influence the media has, it’s been shown that the body type portrayed is only possessed by about 5% of the American population, as proven by the National Association for Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. Not only does this mean a disproportionate amount of women are unable to achieve the body the want, but that the ideal is unrealistic and generally unattainable. 

     So what’s being done to help? More and more magazines are promising to remove photoshopped images from their products, eliminating some of the pressuring images. In August of 2012, Seventeen magazine pledged to stop publishing any photoshopped image, vowing to only feature “real girls and models who are healthy”. This was the result of a petition started on change.org by teenager Julia Bluhum, with more than 84,000 signatures. If more magazines, as well as fashion companies, promised to participate in this movement as well, I believe the effects would dramatically decrease the number of teenagers suffering from eating disorders or negative body image. With the elimination of unrealistic images from magazines, hopefully television shows, movies, and other media sources will begin following suit, thereby getting rid of the majority of the unhealthy standard. The normalization of healthy bodies is essential in stopping the cycle that influences so many teens today. 

     Overall while the media hasn’t solely contributed to the increase in body dissatisfaction among teenagers, it’s certainly been an large factor and source of the problem. With recent developments and future progression, hopefully one day the set standard of the perfect body will be eliminated. Thank you.