Media Influence on Body Image

Growing up female is rough on body image. I began to question my body and weight in the sixth grade. Looking back now, the fact that I felt such pressure to look different at such a young age makes me incredibly sad. I compared myself to actresses, models, and every other girl walking the hallway of my school. I continued to struggle for years, battling an eating disorder through my teenage years. It was one of the darkest times of my life, and I would not wish that self-hate on anyone. The media and images of unrealistic body sizes for girls and women contribute significantly to these issues in our society, and it's critical that we scrutinize the messages that we are handed.

We need to be aware of just how much false imaging we are being bombarded with every day. Women's bodies are digitally altered to an extreme. When we browse online, walk past a billboard, or flip through a magazine in the waiting room, we are taking in these false images. We compare ourselves to these imaginary women without even thinking about it. We believe we are just ignoring all of the annoying advertisements, but we walk away feeling just a little less than we did before and sometimes we don't even know why. It's time that we not only wake up to the lies, but we reject them. The first step is awareness.

Take a look at Jean Kilbourne's video discussing this topic. She asserts that we must become media literate to really understand how these destructive messages are affecting our body image and self esteem. Research supports this approach, and Media Smarts is a great resource to arm yourself to reject the lies and form a more confident, realistic vision for yourself. One of the lessons that this resource teaches is that the messages are fueled by money. The marketers want us to feel dissatisfied with ourselves so that we will buy their products. Miss Representation is an incredible summary of this reality. I don't know about you, but I don't want my identity defined by a company looking to get me to give them my money.

Why does all of this really matter? It matters because little by little girls and women are sucked into believing that their value is wholly dependent upon their appearance. This lie not only makes us miserable, but it drains all of our energy. We have more to offer the world than that. We are unique, beautiful, lovable, and worthwhile regardless of how we look. When we forget that fact, we severely limit our self-confidence and  reroute our personal goals toward a dead-end path to nowhere. We can do so much better. Spend some time countering those messages. Take action to expose your mind to confidence building truth. The real and confident you deserves that boost.