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Amber Henderson

November 3, 2019

Professor Williams

Editorial Essay

Bad Body Image

As time goes on, things change, and one of the fastest evolving things is media. Our

whole world basically revolves around media these days. We use it for news, checking the

weather, looking at the hottest trends, and even stalking our favorite celebrities. On average,

adults spend about 12 hours and 9 minutes a day on media, according to a report made by Mark

Dolliver on emmarketer.com. Add it all up, and that’s 24 days spent on media a year! While

there are many benefits to having media, there are many negatives too. There are many people

out there, however, that make sure that those issues don’t go unnoticed. One of the most

common issues is body image. Or, more specifically, women’s body image.

For decades in advertising and other forms of media, all of the females have always been

gorgeous and had the “perfect” body. In more recent years, the body image for women has

changed, and companies and businesses are using models with more “average” body types. Even

though there are changes that have been made, the image of the “perfect” body still exists

everywhere. One article, “Positive Uses of Social Media in Body Image” states that there are

many negative impacts caused by body image “, but there are also many ways it can be used to

spread body positivity.” (Courtney Howard, B.A.) It goes on to talk about organizations and

online communities that help people who have developed eating disorders. The root cause of
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many of the eating disorders is body shaming. People see advertisements or look on social media

and see people with perfect bodies. After seeing this, many people, especially women, result in

having eating disorders in an attempt to make themselves look like the women they see in the

media. I agree that having communities and organizations for those things are positive. However,

if it were not for the “perfect” body images that the media uses, there wouldn’t be much of a

need for those communities and organizations.

Bad body image in the media can affect people in several different ways; mentally,

emotionally, and even physically. In the article “Body Image of Women”​ ​it says that “In addition

to leading to the development of eating disorders, a poor body image can contribute to

depression, anxiety, problems in relationships, the development of substance abuse problems,

and consequently various health problems.” (Tabitha Farrar) Although some disorders may be

pre-existing for someone, body image can leave tremendous effects on an individual. There are

already movements and campaigns such as “... the #WhatMakesMeBeautiful campaign to

encourage women to celebrate personality traits, talents, and other factors outside of appearance

that make them beautiful.” (Courtney Howard, B.A.). It is with movements like these that we are

able to help those that have already been affected by negative body image portrayed by the

media.

In the future, I believe that images of the “perfect” body will still exist. I do not think that

they will ever go away. Instead of just helping those who have already been affected by poor

body image, we need to help those who haven’t. By raising more awareness about the negative

impacts poor body image can have on a person, we can help people see that there is so much

more to them than what is just on the outside. Through more movements and campaigns about
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this, we could help people before they become affected by the negative impact that poor body

image can do on a person. As time goes on, things change, and all we can really do is adapt to

our ever changing world and stand up for what matters to us.
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Works Cited:

“Body Image Of Women.” Body Image Of Women, Tabitha Farrar,

https://www.mirror-mirror.org/body-image-of-women.htm​.

“Positive Uses of Social Media in Body Image Advocacy.” Positive Uses of Social Media in

Body Image Advocacy, Courtney Howard, B.A.,

https://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/blog/positive-social-media-body-image​.

“Tweet Selfie-Esteem: The Relationship Between Body Dissatisfaction and Social Media in

Adolescent and Young Women.” Tweet Selfie-Esteem: The Relationship Between Body

Dissatisfaction and Social Media in Adolescent and Young Women, Bindal Makwana,

https://www.in-mind.org/article/selfie-esteem-the-relationship-between-body-dissatisfaction-and

-social-media-in-adolescent​.

“US Time Spent with Media 2019 Digital Time Keeps Rising as Growth Subsides for Total

Time Spent.” US Time Spent with Media 2019 Digital Time Keeps Rising as Growth Subsides

for Total Time Spent, ​https://www.emarketer.com/content/us-time-spent-with-media-2019​.