Karyna Rodriguez

November 23, 2010

ENGL 1312
OP-ED final
Media’s Pressure on Body Image and Ways to Avoid it
More and more do we hear about celebrities who
are losing weight and look too thin. However, it is not
just celebrities who are feeling pressured to look good
for their audience anymore. This pressure to be thin is
impacting your everyday women and girls, but it is only
recently that this trend has become evident. It poses as a
threat to overall health as many of these females end up
taking an unhealthy and quick approach to losing
weight. There is more to life than having a perfect body.
For the sake of you, me and people around us, this must
come to a halt.
In many advertisements, the main object usually
includes a woman and whatever the advertisement is
trying to sell. As Professor DeAnna Varela said during
an interview, these women are all of the same body type;
they are tall, lean and have a prominent chest, but these woman that are shown only make
up a small percentage of the population (D. Varela, personal communication, November
19, 2010). Because this body type is often depicted in advertisements, it is recognized as
what the body should look like, creating a difficult standard for women and girls to
achieve.
It takes a lot of hard work and time to sculpt a lean body, but American society is
known for wanting fast, easy and simple results. This,
along with frustrations towards a healthy weight loss
approach, can lead to extreme dieting and may lead to
eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia
Nervosa.
Don’t believe that the media can have an effect on
body image? These struggles are not exclusively in the
United States. A study was done on the island of Fiji,
where curvy women are praised, and being called skinny
or thin deemed as an insult. These women and girls were
happy with the way they looked until they were exposed
to American television programs, such as Xena: Warrior Princess and ER. Before the
exposure, the number of females that reported to self-induce vomit to control their weight
was only about 3%. Three years later, after the exposure, this number increased to 15%
(Chiu 1999).
 So what are we to do about this dilemma? We might not be able to stop the media
from using tall, lean and big-bosomed women in their advertisements (not any time soon
at least), but we can choose to not be so heavily influenced by them. Change can happen,
and it starts with you. These next three suggestions will give you a leap into resisting
media standards and promote a healthy way of living.
1. Learn to appreciate the beauty of the different shapes and sizes of people around
you. Take a look at couples you may pass by. They are not all of the perfect body
shape, but they are happy together regardless.
2. Think of the perfect body as one that is within a healthy weight range and works
efficiently. Who cares if you think you have a little bit of extra weight? If you do,
go ahead and alter your eating and exercising habits if you want to change your
physique, but do not let it control your life. Do not make it the number one
priority in your list of goals. You will save a lot of stress by avoiding
imprisonment by weight loss and fitness goals, especially because those things
take time and effort to achieve.
3. Also, remember that the way you look does not define you.
Focus on your goals and achievements, such as getting an A
on that tough college exam or being a good friend, child,
parent, lover, et cetera. Go out and volunteer at an animal
shelter or donate items to underprivileged children. Eat
healthy, walk your pet, or learn a new hobby! Do things that
involve personal enrichment and make you feel good as a
whole and not just good looking. Your overall well-being
depends on it.
And remember, it’s okay to enjoy that extra piece of
chocolate every now and then; maybe just not as much as this
woman has in the picture.
 REFERENCES

Chiu, A. (1999, May 19). Eating disorders accompany television to fiji, study finds.
Retrieved from http://www.dimensionsmagazine.com/news/0,2107,50700-81467-
578111-0,00.html
[Girl standing on a scale thinking she is bigger than she really is]. Retrieved November
23, 2010, from: http://www.thewrap.com/files/u8027/eatingdisorders.jpg
[People Magazine; Portia DeRossi’s struggle eating disorder]. Retrieved November 23,
2010, from: http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2010/news/101115/portia-de-rossi-
240.jpg
[Woman eating chocolate]. Retrieved November 23, 2010, from:
http://d2eosjbgw49cu5.cloudfront.net/dating-weblog.com/imgname--
weight_loss_and_love---50226711--images--
weight_loss_falling_in_love_relationships_gaining_weight_fat_and_happy_weig
ht_fluctuation_losing_weight_for_a_wedding_c679bd4d2bbef103177b10afd25cd
46c.JPEG