Literature Review

Literature Review: Women and Body Image

Everywhere we go we see some kind of beautiful man or woman that is thin and fit. We see it on billboards, television, magazines, and many other things that the media likes to throw at us, but who does this affect the most? These advertisements affect women because we are so self-conscious of our bodies all of the time, even if we are a size two. Women will get so caught up in their appearance that they will work out daily for many hours at a time or will develop eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia. The media not only affects how older women perceive themselves but also teens and even young girls.

            Centuries ago it was thought to believe that women that were bigger, not thin, were thought as healthy, attractive, and very wealthy women, because they were able to afford food unlike the skinny peasants. In this century though it is believed that a woman is healthy and attractive when she is thin, toned, and just has an amazing body overall. There are many studies done to show that being thin affects young girls, for example there was a survey done on nine and ten year old girls and it showed that 40% of those girls have already tried to lose weight (Teen Health and the Media).

            We all know that the advertisements and billboards that companies use are just a propaganda technique to make more money off of their products, but the companies most likely know that the people that they advertise have an affect on the rest of society. They would say it is just to make money, but to the rest of us we say it is to show us how we should really look and act. There is a quote on one of my sources and it says, “real women are not perfect, real beauty is in imperfections” (We Are The Real Deal). If women would follow this quote to what it truly means then the world would be a much better place. Women do not have to starve themselves to look great, but for now they do because it is what they think they have to do.

            Women are reminded everyday of how their bodies look and most women are not satisfied with how they look. We are faced with many obstacles with our body image such as other women, men, and what we see in advertisements. Other women judge us if we do not look good, men compare us to other women, and the advertisements do not help when the women look gorgeous and have flawless bodies. Body image has become a problem in the past few years, especially with women. We are always looking to better ourselves and may not always do it in the most healthy of ways. We all should be satisfied with how we look but having so many distractions does not help us with our confidence.