Negative Body Image on Adolescent Girls

Negative Body Image on Adolescent Girls

Shalisa Cunningham

Professor Sandra Alagona

Indiana Wesleyan University

        Negative Body Image on Adolescent Girls

When you look into a mirror, the first things that you always notice are all of the imperfections that you have, and you feel like that is the only thing anyone will see. The image of beauty that is being portrayed is unattainable and unrealistic and it can led to major problems. Both the media and companies out there do this by showing women that are a size zero, and that has a flaw-less complexion. In the world of marketing, the only care that a company may have is how much of a product can they sell, such as make up, clothes, and shoes, they are counting on the insecurities of females. When girls see this, they think to themselves, that is how I should look. The media negatively influences girls' perception of body image, which can cause eating disorders and low self-esteem, bullying.

Low Self-Esteem

Today, girls have a difficult time with maintaining their high self-esteem due to numerous factors. One major contributor to low self-esteem is their exposure to media (Roberts, 2012). Even through everyone may feel like they have to impress others, the main group that suffers from having low self-esteem the most are girls and young women. The media is the one place that you will see women that that are a stick thin that are a size zero. In the world of marketing, the only care that a company may have is how much of a product can they sell, such as make up, clothes, and shoes, they are counting on the insecurities of females. When girls see this, they think to themselves, that is how I should look.  

Eating Disorder

An eating disorder is a life-threatening condition, such as anorexia or bulimia that which is usually found in young women. When trying to be like Taylor Swift or Beyoncé, young girls tend to try any and everything that they can to look like them, from the clothes to the make-up that they buy to that type of food that will eat, or in some cases not eat at all. The most common forms of an eating disorder are anorexia and bulimia. Many people with anorexia nervosa see themselves as overweight, even when they are clearly underweight. Eating, food, and weight control become obsessions. People with anorexia nervosa typically weigh themselves repeatedly, portion food carefully, and eat very small quantities of only certain foods (National Institute of Mental Health, 2014). Two studies have examined whether media literacy interventions can disrupt social comparisons with media images and, therefore, prevent negative exposure effects (Posavac, Posavac, & Weigel, 2001; Yamamiya, Cash, Melnyk, Posavac, & Posavac, 2005).

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