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Mackenzie Bonetti

ENG 112- Issue Report

Mrs. Carroll

30 June 2019

A Look into How Mass Media and Social Media Effects a Person’s Body Image

Research that has been conducted “primarily in the U.S., UK, and Australia, have

obtained considerable evidence for media effects on thinness ideals and body dissatisfaction”

says R.M. Perloff. (Perloff) Social Media and Mass Media have created outlets that make not

having the “perfect body” seem like it is a bad thing. This report will discuss how social media

effects body image, if mass media is to blame for eating disorders, and how positive body images

should be promoted with credible resources to support the information.

Social Media has raised the idea of the “perfect body” image insinuating that to have the

“perfect body” a person must be thin and petite. “Moreover, young independent-constructing

women with particular personality characteristics such as centrality of appearance to self-worth,

may find social media-based comparisons particularly relevant”(Perloff), it’s effecting all

women and not just certain ones, but it will highly influence the ones who care the most about

their appearances. For example, there are Media influences who know what they are and try

influence young women in to doing activities to make sure they will look a certain way and they

are the ones who are proven to be the most powerful and have the most effect. This idea can lead

to the division of social groups allowing social media outlets to suggest that “if an attribute does

not meet society’s normative expectations” (Goffman) it’s wrong for them and they will be

discriminated against. Humans being are socially strong, and dependent on one another; this is

not something that is new it is something that has been around since the western days, and it is
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linked to the view of needing to fit into these certain groups. Creating the idea that if someone

does not look the same as everyone around them, they will be discriminated against. Another

example would be the unrealistic body ideas led by the “… magazines covers in the supermarket

newsstands…” (Levine; Murnen), the covers show for very unrealistic results for females’

bodies that cannot be reached be being a possible cause to eating disorders in females. The

women on the front of magazines covers have been highly edited and they are put out in front of

everyone to show what could come of them if they do things in a certain way to make them look

a certain way.

There is an idea that Social Media is to blame for eating disorders. First knowing what

the word an eating disorder means and how it is altered, an eating disorder is the “range of

physiological disorders characterized by abnormal or disturbed eating habits” (Seibell). Also

eating disorders “are severe, self-sustaining psychiatric illnesses with a genetic and biochemical

basis” so of course there are numerous scientist who say that social media is not to blame

(Levine; Murnen). Mass media is designed to reach and influence huge masses of people, but

should they be not be influencing in a negative way. Yes, there is always going to be negativity

when it comes to mass media but is there a way to prevent the unrealistic ideas of thinness, and

body dissatisfaction that can be linked to eating disorders that are beginning at a young age in

boys/girls and men/women. There is also the influence of to many “good ways” to lose weight,

social media influencers but these fabs on their site saying how they lost this amazing amount of

weight in a short amount of time with little to no exercise causing a possibility of unhealthy

weight loss it’s called “fitness inspiration”(Raggett). The idea of “fitness inspiration” allows for

social media users to express “ views on a “healthy” appearance and “correct” dieting” (Raggett)

which could be unhealthy for many people since no one body responds the same as others and
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the information being provided may not be the whole truth and cause serious health issues.

Currently there are no laws to discuss the body issues that are constructed from the unrealistic

body images placed on young females, because there is so much controversy on whether not

these issues are real. The risk factors are their they are just relatively rare so they don’t get the

attention that they should because they are considered casual risk factors.

To begin promoting positive images the source of the issue needs to be “hit head on”.

Begin with, “a person’s perceptions, feelings, and thoughts about his or her body…” the eternal

root of their problems and what is affecting the way they feel (Grogan). When positive body

images are promoted it releases the minor body concerns and allows for the underlying issues to

be dealt with especially in women/men. The good thing about promoting positive body image is

that it could lead to positive ways of shaping the body; instead of negative ways such as

“exercise avoidance; use of anabolic steroids, eating disorders and other drugs,” (Choi). There

are many “wrong ways” to lose the weight that someone does not like but by promoting positive

body images you’re allowing them to control their body dissatisfactions in positive ways.

This paper was meant to educate the minds of readers on the effects of social and mass

media on a person’s body image. In conclusion the reader should walk away knowing more

about social media and effects then when they first sat down to read it.
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Works Cited

Levine, Michael P., and Sarah K. Murnen. ""EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT MASS MEDIA

ARE/ARE NOT [Pick One] A CAUSE OF EATING DISORDERS": A CRITICAL

REVIEW OF EVIDENCE FOR A CAUSAL LINK BETWEEN MEDIA, NEGATIVE

BODY IMAGE, AND DISORDERED EATING IN FEMALES." Journal of Social and

Clinical Psychology, vol. 28, no. 1, 2009, pp. 9.

Raggatt, Michelle, et al. "“I Aspire to Look and Feel Healthy Like the Posts Convey”:

Engagement with Fitness Inspiration on Social Media and Perceptions of its Influence on

Health and Wellbeing." BMC Public Health, vol. 18, no. 1, 2018, pp. 1-11.

Perloff, Richard M. "Social Media Effects on Young Women’s Body Image Concerns:

Theoretical Perspectives and an Agenda for Research." Sex Roles, vol. 71, no. 11, 2014,

pp. 363-377.

Perloff, Richard M. "Act 2: Extending Theory on Social Media and Body Image Concerns."Sex

Roles, vol. 71, no. 11, 2014, pp. 414-418.

Schrimpf, Anne, et al. "Parasympathetic Cardio-Regulation during Social Interactions in

Individuals with obesity—The Influence of Negative Body Image." Cognitive, Affective,

& Behavioral Neuroscience, vol. 17, no. 2, 2017, pp. 330-347.

Grogan, Sarah. "Promoting Positive Body Image in Males and Females: Contemporary Issues

and Future Directions." Sex Roles, vol. 63, no. 9, 2010, pp. 757-765.