Body Dissatisfaction in Young Women
Running Head: BODY DISSATISFACTION IN YOUNG WOMEN
Body Dissatisfaction in Young Women as a Result of Fashion Magazine Advertisements
Chelsea Levy
Chapman University
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Body Dissatisfaction in Young Women
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Body Dissatisfaction in Young Women as a Result of Fashion Magazine Advertisements
In the past decade, increased body dissatisfaction has become prominent among young
women, specifically between the influential ages of 15 and 21. Possessing a negative body
image not only has harmful psychological effects, but can also directly lead to the development
of an eating disorder. Intense body dissatisfaction is a hallmark characteristic of anorexia
nervosa and bulimia nervosa (Wiederman, 1996). According to Park (2005), there are an
estimated 10 million young women suffering from anorexia nervosa and an additional 25 million
affected by bulimia nervosa. These increasingly common disorders are diseases that can be
“characterized by an all-consuming pursuit of thinness that overrides the patient’s physical and
psychological well-being” (Brownell & Foreyt, 1986, p. 266). The increase in eating disorders
and the desire to be thin among young women in our society has led to a large body of research
regarding these issues. The causes of such extreme body dissatisfaction must be investigated in
order to reduce the number of women suffering from an eating disorder.
Brownell, et al. (1986) explains that the dissatisfaction that young women feel with their
bodies may be partially due to the societal pressures for thinness. It is widely agreed that eating
disorders are brought on by a variety of social factors - the media being one of the most
prominent and widely studied. Distinguishing what these factors are and why they are having
such a great effect on young women is of great importance (Brownell et al, 1986).
Review of Literature
Body dissatisfaction in young women (ages 15-21). Conceptually, body dissatisfaction is
expressing or showing lack of satisfaction in the external appearance or image of a person’s
body. Consequently, a woman who is not pleased with how her body appears in the mirror will
have the desire to become thinner in order to compare to the mediated thin ideal that is
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personally and socially promoted. The larger the discrepancy between one’s actual body image
from one’s ideal body image, the more an individual is likely to experience discomfort and body
dissatisfaction (Hendrick & Burgoon, 2003).
Previous research has measured body dissatisfaction in terms of self-esteem levels,
weight satisfaction, body esteem, drive for thinness, attitude toward eating, peer and family
influence, and concerns about body shape (Park, 2005). A more recent theory that explains the
onset of body image disturbance problems, according to Hofschire (2002), is the selfobjectification theory. This theory argues that women are socialized to evaluate themselves
according to external qualities rather than internal traits, because they believe that this is how
others will judge them. Tests of this theory indicate that self-objectification is positively
associated with disordered eating among women because it enhances feelings of shame sue to
falling short of a physical ideal. The mass media, including print advertising, is a prominent
conveyer of these objectification messages (Hofschire, 2002).
Self-evaluation based on physical appearance is also affected by a women’s need to meet
the acceptable thin body type that persists in society. According to Harrison (2000), thinness is
portrayed as a desirable trait in our society, whereas fatness is deemed disgusting, sloppy,
unacceptable, and greatly unappealing. The problem with this socially endorsed thin ideal is that
it is exceedingly thin and biologically unattainable for most women, causing women extreme
discontent with their natural images (Sheffield, Tse, & Sofronoff, 2005). When a woman
perceives that she does not match a socially acceptable body image, her weight concerns can
become excessive and detrimental to her health and psyche. The more dissatisfied a woman is
with her body, the more likely it is that she will engage in drastic means to lose weight
(Sheffield, et al., 2005).
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Women are exposed to the images of the ideal body through the media as well as through
other sources. Park (2005) mentions the importance of other people in shaping women’s body
images and their level of body satisfaction. Parents can be an early and influential source of
pressure to be thin. As well, an adolescent’s peers have been found to have a strong influence as
well. These pressures combined with socio-cultural influences (the media being one of the most
important), can directly lead to a women’s strong desire to become thinner. These added
pressures can also turn a woman into another woman’s enemy, making a competition out of who
is the skinniest and therefore the most beautiful and desirable. This causes many young women
to waste important personal resources: knowledge and empathy from peers, and relationships
that could have been used for positive self-development.
Since eating disorders typically begin in girls during late adolescence, on average around
18 years of age, most prior research involving body dissatisfaction focuses on college aged
students (Corcos, Flament, Giraud, Paterniti, Ledoux, Atger, & Jeammet, 2000). However, more
recently, eating disorders and the desire to be thin are also affecting younger girls of all
ethnicities in our society. One study showed that 40% of 6-year-old girls reported wishing they
were thinner (Park 2005). It is important to consider in body dissatisfaction research, those
younger girls around age 15 and up who are in the midst of experiencing puberty. According to
Fay & Price (1994), “The physical and social changes that occur during puberty can be very
challenging and confusing… There may be feelings of inability to control the body, occurring at
a time when peer pressures that encourage body-image awareness are increasing. When the
adolescent is unable to adjust to these stressful changes, feelings of helplessness and
ineffectiveness can result” (p. 6). Since this age group is just as susceptible to experiencing high
levels of body dissatisfaction as college aged students, studying them is crucial.
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Beauty and thinness is emphasized above all else in our society by our own selves, our
peers, our families, and the media. Even though Myers & Biocca (1992) found that a women’s
body image tends to be elastic (that is unstable, subject to fluctuations and mood swings) and
therefore can be influenced to feel fat or even thin, the external influences present will more
likely cause a women to feel unsatisfactory or overweight. Therefore, women would tend to feel
fat more often than they feel skinny. A major external influence on body dissatisfaction is the
media. The media does have influence on a women’s body image, however, many research
studies overlook what specific form this influence takes. Is the influence direct or indirect? Is
the mass portrayal of skinny women influencing young women or are they being influenced by
the overexposure of fashion models in magazines?
Fashion magazine advertisements. Fashion magazine advertisements are those that are
found in fashion based magazines, like in Vogue or Glamour. These advertisements are typically
selling products such as designer clothes, perfume, hand bags, shampoo, lingerie, jewelry,
makeup, or swimwear. According to Cafferata & Tybout (1989), advertisements “can
substantially influence social behavior and cognitive processes such as memory, judgment,
decision making, and problem solving” (p.91), often times in a negative manner. Females are
also more persuadable and less self-confident than are males, making them the perfect
advertising targets. They are easy subjects of influence in the habitual presence of an influential
and powerful media machine.
Fashion magazines generally target a female audience with their advertisements for
womanly products. Those who are regularly exposed (readers who subscribe to and/or purchase
any type of fashion based magazine on a monthly basis) are faced with numerous advertisements
exposing scantily clad and extremely thin models. Advertisers consciously and explicitly target
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females, usually promoting an unrealistic body type. Specifically, Sheffield, et al. (2005) found
that adolescent girls endorsed their ideal body as the models found in fashion magazines,
described as being 5 ft 7 in, 100 lb and size 5. This is both unrealistic and unhealthy, since the
body mass index (BMI) of someone with such proportions is 16 (which is categorized as
anorexic), whereas a normal BMI is in the range 20–25 (p. 113).
Myers, et al. (1992) found that advertising has more of a psychological effect on viewers
than actual content programming on television—specifically concerning body image. They
explain that, psychologically, the viewer is part of the commercial; it addresses her and invites
her to take action regarding her body image. In television programming, there is more of a third
person point of view, making the viewer part of someone else’s reality. The study’s results
disturbingly do suggest that advertising messages that are fixated on the representation of the
ideal female body lead female subjects directly to thoughts about their own bodies. Thus, when
fashion advertisements show the female form, the female viewer is immediately and personally
affected.
Park’s (2005) study also confirmed the effects that ideal body images have on women
who read beauty and fashion magazines. Not only do women receive pressure directly from the
media, but they also receive pressure indirectly because of the presumed influence they think that
the media has on other women. Women assume that other women are being affected by the
images they see and since they are being presented similar images, these women feel they must
be getting affected too. In addition, Harrison’s (2000) study showed that it is important to
remember that even though media users may be affected by what they view or what other women
view, they are also selectively exposing themselves to media content that is congruent with their
existing worldview. An interest in fashion, for instance, may lead an adolescent female to
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selectively expose herself to such media offerings in magazines, thus allowing the
advertisements in these magazines to affect her in a larger way.
Rationale. Since mass media forms have such a great psychological effect on viewers
and readers, it is pertinent to examine the negative side effects of this phenomenon. Specifically,
this concept pertains to the present study because advertisements selling fashion often use
models with bare body parts and unrealistic body sizes. These advertisements focus on showing
young women products that they supposedly need. By means of accessorizing falsely thin, airbrushed models with these products, females are invited to join the model’s idealized world, but
only if their physical appearance is congruent with the how the models appear in the
advertisements. Since the models are normally unrepresentative of a realistic female body,
young women feel forced to conform, thus experiencing high amounts of body dissatisfaction
and a great desire to be thin.
This review of literatures indicates that female body dissatisfaction and the desire to be
thin can be linked to a women’s regular exposure to fashion magazines and their advertisements.
Fashion magazine advertisement, which promote an overly unrealistic thin ideal body image take
advantage of easily influenced adolescent women by imposing these images on them. When
female readers are unable to compare their own bodies to those they see in the magazines, they
are pressured to conform to this thin ideal, thus increasing their level of body dissatisfaction and
their desire to become thinner. These negative effects combined with self-imposed pressures,
peer and family pressures, and other socio-cultural pressures imply serious consequences for
young women.
With more use of and exposure to fashion magazines and their advertising, a female will
more likely have the desire to be “thin” in comparison to the media ideal. This in turn will
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support a greater chance of developing an eating disorder in order to obtain that thin ideal and
retain a certain level of body image satisfaction.
H: Regular exposure to fashion magazine advertisements increases a female’s level of
body dissatisfaction and her desire to be thin.
References
Brownell, K., & Foreyt, J. (Eds.). (1986). Handbook of eating disorders. New York: Basic
Books, Inc., Publishers.
Cafferata, P., & Tybout, A. (1989). Cognitive and affective responses to advertising. Lexington:
Lexington Books.
Corcos, M., Flament M.F., Giraud, M.J., Paterniti, S., Ledoux, S., Atger, F., & Jeammet, P.
(2000). Early psychopathological signs in bulimia nervosa. a retrospective comparison of
the period of puberty in bulimic and control girls. European Child & Adolescent
Psychiatry, 9, 115-121.
Fay, M., & Price, C. (1994). Female body-shape in print advertisements and the increase in
anorexia nervosa. European Journal of Marketing, 28(12), 5-18.
Harrison, K. (2000). The body electric: thin-ideal media and eating disorders in adolescents.
Journal of Communication, 50(3), 119-143.
Hendrick, A., & Burgoon, M. (2003). The relationship between fashion magazine consumption
and body satisfaction in women: Who is most at risk of influence? Paper presented to the
International Communication Association, San Diego.
Hofschire, L. (2002, October). The media's role in enhancing self-objectification and eating
disorders. Paper presented to the International Communication Association, San Diego.
Body Dissatisfaction in Young Women
Myers, Jr., P. N., & Biocca, F. A. (1992). The elastic body image: the effect of television
advertising and programming on body image distortions in young women. Journal of
Communication, 42(3), 108-133.
Park, S. (2005). The influence of presumed media influence on women's desire to be thin.
Communication Research, 32(5), 594-614.
Sheffield, J. K., Tse, K. H., & Sofronoff K. (2005). A comparison of body-image dissatisfaction
and eating disturbance among Australian and Hong Kong women. European Eating
Disorders Review, 13, 112–124.
Wiederman, Michael W. (1996). Women, sex, and food: A review of research on eating
disorders and sexuality. Journal of Sex Research. 33(4), 301-311.
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