Body Image Essays -- Psychology, Physiology

When navigating to the official website of Self, one of today’s leading women’s magazines, I was not surprised to immediately stumble upon a photograph of two slender women, in skimpy shorts and sports bras, exercising on the beach. â€Å"Flat belly Secrets† was the headline under the image, along with the subtopics â€Å"Magic Moves that Work Your Whole Core,† â€Å"Superfoods for a Sexy Stomach,† and â€Å"4 Ab Mistakes Everyone Makes.† It is no secret that modern American culture gives great importance to body image, namely to having a â€Å"perfect† physique, although a vast majority of the population is far from attaining said physique. I struggled for years to â€Å"make peace† with my own body and obtain a positive body image, hence why I have chosen to research body image and the media, focusing more on the female aspect of it. With so much attention being given to people’s perceptions of their own physical beauty, numerous studies have been conducted on men and women of all ages. Every single study I read about in gathering information for this report showed that body image dissatisfaction, â€Å"the feeling that people may have that their actual physical appearance is not how they would ideally like it to be† (Kovar), is experienced by an astonishing number of men and women. That being said, it was also evident from the research that women are significantly more affected by body image dissatisfaction. One particular study of male and female undergraduates concluded that compared to men’s perceptions, â€Å"women's [body image] perceptions place [greater] pressure on them to lose weight† (Fallon and Rozin). Body dissatisfaction is a risk factor for eating disorders and is said to be most common in Western cultures, predominantly with teenage girls (Boone and... ...ave A Negative Impact On Body Image And Behaviors? Factors And Processes Related To Self And Identity." Journal Of Social & Clinical Psychology 28.1 (2009): 1-8. Academic Search Premier. Fallon, A. E., & Rozin, P. (1985). Sex differences in perceptions of desirable body shape. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 94(1), 102-105. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.94.1.102 Kovar, Allie. "Effects of Media on Body Image." Health Psychology. Vanderbilt University, 30 Apr. 2009. Web. 02 Feb. 2012. . SELF Magazine, Nutrition, Health and Advice: Self.com. Web. 03 Feb. 2012. . Thompson, J. Kevin, and Eric Stice. "Thin-Ideal Internalization: Mounting Evidence for a New Risk Factor for Body-Image Disturbance and Eating Pathology." Current Directions in Psychological Science 10.5 (2001): 181-83. Print.