Body Image

The Media Changes Our Perspective of Body Image

Body Image is the way we look on the outside, not how we feel on the inside. The television has a big impact on our lives. We look to the television for fashion, dieting, make-up, hair styles, just to name a few. What people don't realize is that they are looking too far into it. We look to find out information, but what happens is that we end up turning into someone we are not. There is so much more to a person than what he or she looks like.

Men, for example, sit down in front of the television to relax and what ends up happening? They see a gorgeous woman on some television show or movie. They then start to set their standards by that woman. An example would be "I want to find a woman with a body like that; she has a perfect body, long blonde hair, long figured legs, and a nice sized chest." What men don't realize is that women know that they get an image and set their standards by it. The problem with this is that these women then, try to change their image to look like these beautiful women that are seen on television because that is the kind of woman that every man wants.

It works the same for females, for example, women see that "hot guy" on television and then decide that they want a man who looks as good as that guy. Once again, we have the problem where standards have been set to high. Women want that guy with the sexy body, who is buff (strong), and looks great. Since this is what women want, men try to make themselves into that person that they are not.

We as a society are forcing people into becoming someone that they are not for multiple reasons. Young girls think that they need to look like Barbie or the Princess in a fairy tale. Young women feel they have to dress and look a certain way to not only have friends but also to get the guy. Young boys think that they have to look like their favorite action figure. Young men think that they need to be the guy who looks like they came out of the Abercrombie and Fitch ads. This is not who we are, we are not that guy from a clothing ad or that lady who looks like she just walked off the runway. There is so much more to us than the way that we look and we are competing against each other to look better than one another or to see who can look the most like our favorite actress, movie star, singer, etc.

Made by a UW-Waukesha Student