Women & Media
Beauty Pursuit for Perfection
Emily Motzkus, Natalie Jensen, Jessica St. Jeor
Afshan Nabi & Kirsten Whitworth
Why our Sex in the City
friends are dissatisfied
Social Comparison Theory
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Proposed by Leon Festinger in 1957
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Central proposition states the so-called similarity hypothesis. Under
this hypothesis it is assumed that people compare themselves with
others whom they consider relevant comparison targets rather than
compare themselves to with less relevant comparison targets.
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Comparison relevance is an important prerequisite for social
comparison effects to occur
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Helps explain why people emulate models they see in the media.
Experiment: On Models and Vases: Body Dissatisfaction and Proneness to Social
Comparison Effects
Question Asked: When and why do media-portrayed physically attractive women
affect Perceivers’ self evaluations?
Hypothesis:
Whether social comparison effects occur depends both on who the
comparison target is and on who the perceiver target is. & also that target features
and perceiver features jointly determine whether female body shapes will exert
contrastive social comparison effects on their perceivers.
Results:
Study 1- (focuses on target features) After exposure to a physically attractive
target, women’s self-evaluations were lower than after exposure to the same target,
when the target was presented as professional models.
Study 2- (Focuses on comparison tendencies of perceivers) It was found that the
more women were dissatisfied with their body, the more they reported that they
compared their own body with the bodies of other women.
Study 3- (Self-evaluations) Showed that body-dissatisfied women are more readily
affected by viewing images of thin female body shapes. Body-dissatisfied women
evaluated themselves negatively after exposure to a physically attractive target
regardless of whether or not the target was presented as models.
In contrast, body-satisfied women did differentiate between targets that were
presented as models, such that self-evaluations were lower following non-model as
compared with model.
A Developmental Perspective
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As early as age 5 or 6 children begin to recognize differences
among themselves and their classmates as they use social
comparison information to tell them whether they perform better or
worse in various domains than their peers.
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Today at least one-third of 12-13 year olds are actively trying
to lose weight by dieting, vomiting, using laxatives or taking diet
pills.
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A survey in Massachusetts found that the single largest group of
high school students considering or attempting suicide are girls who
feel they are overweight.
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It’s estimated that one out of every five college age women in
America has a serious eating disorder.
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80% of American women wake-up in the morning and feel inadequate
about some part of themselves.
The Unattainable
Ideal
• Ultra thin
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Large breasts and hips 34’’
Tiny waists 24’’
Narrow set shoulders
Long slender legs
European features
The Association of Model Agents (AMA) states that female
models should measure 34-24-34 inches and stand at least
five feet nine inches tall.
• Statistics given by the National Eating Disorders Association
reports, the average American woman stands 5’4’’ tall and
140 lbs. while the average American model stands 5’11’’ tall
and 117 lbs.
• The average American mannequin stands 6’ tall with
measurements 34-23-34
• Today an average model weighs 23% less than the average
woman.
“A Photograph Never Lies”
• Evolution Video
Make-up
• Widens eyes
• Smoothes skin tone
• Creates sculpted cheek bones
Digital Imaging
• gives a longer, slimmer neck
• Slightly narrower upper face
• Fuller lips
• Bigger eyes
• More space between eyebrows and
eyes
• Prominent cheek-bones
The Truth about
Beauty
With the help of make-up
artists, hair stylists and
digital transformations a
seemingly ordinary woman with
uneven skin tone, dull flat hair,
and slightly lopsided eyes can
easily become a beautiful,
striking woman.
What You See Isn’t Always What You Get
• Fluid Effects
References
Hoffmann, A. (2004). The beauty ideal: unveiling harmful effects of media exposure to children.
Retrieved March30, 2007. from www.umehon.maine.edu/documents/rezendes/hoffmann-2004.pdf
Kilbourne,J. (1999). Deadly Persuasion: Why women & girls must fight the addictive power of
advertising. New York, NY: Free Press
Lazarus, M. (Producer). (1987). Still killing us softly. [Motion Picture]. Available from Cambridge
Documentary Films, Cambridge Mass.
Olivieri, J.M. (1999, September 30). Body Image vs. the Fun House mirror. Colorado Woman,12 (6)
Postrel, V. (2007, March). The truth about beauty. The Critics. 125-127.
Trampe, D, Stapel, D & Siero, F. (2007).On Models & Vases: Body dissatisfaction & Proneness to
social comparison effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,92 (1), 106-118.
Shaffer, D.R. (2005) Social and personality development (5th ed.) Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Changing Images Over Time
The History of Female Body Modification
Natalie Jensen
REFERENCES
Gordon, B. (1996). Women’s domestic body: The conceptual conflation of women and interiors in the
industrial age. Winterthur Portfolio, 31 (4), 281-301.
Hyndman, A. (2006, April). Female body modification throughout time. Ecclectia, Retrieved March 23, 2007,
from
http://www.ecclectia.ca/issues/2006/1/index.asp?Article=23
Kitch, C. (1997). Changing theoretical perspectives on women’s media images: The emergence of patterns in a new
area of scholarship. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 74 (3), 477-489. Retrieved March
16, 2007, from EBSCOHost database.
Lewis, J. J. (2007). Early English costume: Women’s fashion from the time of William the conqueror. Retrieved March
25, 2007, from About: Women’s History Web site: http://womenshistory.about.com/library/etext/bl_cf_ee.htm
Witcombe, C. (2003). Women in prehistory: The venus of Willendorf. Retrieved March 15, 2007, from Images of
women in ancient art: Issues of interpretation and identity Web site:
http://witcombe.sbc.edu/willendorf/willendorfdiscovery.html
Witcombe, C. (2003). Women in Egypt: Menkaure and his queen. Retrieved March 20, 2007, from Images of women
in ancient art: Issues of interpretation and identity Web site:
http://witcombe.sbc.edu/menkaure/menkauredescription.html
Witcombe, C. (2003). Eve and the identity of women. Retrieved March 20, 2007, from Images of women in ancient art:
Issues of interpretation and identity Web site: http://witcombe.sbc.edu/eve-women/1evewomen.html
A Look Back…
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THE ISSUE OF A WOMAN’S IDEAL PROJECTION IN THE ART OR
POPULAR MEDIA HAS BEEN AROUND SINCE THE BEGINNING OF
OUR WORLD
– “Art has always played and continues to play an important role in
the service of what has been called “gender ideology”.
– How women should look
– How they should act
– How they should interact with men
– Gaye Tuchman’s “Reflection Hypothesis”
The cultural imagery of women serves as a mirror held
up to the real world. This mirror reflects the options for and value of
women, depending on the popular beliefs of the time.
-Sound familiar? “Looking glass self”
Early Representations of The Ideal Woman
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Prehistory and Ancient Times
• Representations are nearly always naked, small, and often
suggesting pregnancy or fertility.
» -”Venus of Willendorf” 24,000-22,000 BCE
» -Many early statues of women lack facial features
and feet.
» -Sexual organs exposed
Egyptian Times
• Art representations of women during this time emphasized
sexuality and beauty.
» -emphasis on breasts and “pubic triangle” -tight, thin
sheaths
» -evidence of tripartite wigs and henna use for dying
hair, make-up recipes, perfumes, etc.
Dark Ages-Reformation-ideal woman is chaste, virgin-like, motherly, round,
pale and soft. Women largely discouraged from sexual independence. (Eve)
Other Early Trends in Women Image
Modification
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Feet Binding-particularly in China
Earrings-as early as 3500 B.C.
Make up
Tattoos
Primitive surgeries-including Female Genital Mutilation
• And, you knew it would come up somewhere….
THE CORSET
An Interesting Analysis of the Woman’s Image in the Industrial Age”Women’s Domestic Body: The Conceptual Conflation of Women and
Interiors in the Industrial Age” -Beverly Gordon
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“The body and interior space were often treated as if they were the same thing.”
Woman is seen as the embodiment of the home and the home is seen as an
extension of her.
1878-”A lady must be in harmony with her surroundings. She should be the noblest
ornament of her ornamented dwellings.”
1910-”Every woman is a living example of good or bad taste, as is shown by her
dress and her immediate surroundings.”
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Lots of rules during this time on how to dress for each occasion.
Women would ideally appear “pleasingly soft and round”
The idea of the “civilized” woman meant a “distance or separation from the body”
Women would express “themselves” in their homes and at community fairs
Lots of symbolism in the way women dressed their bodies and their homes.
Watch for examples coming around room.
Other Ideas on Changing
Images of Women?
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1910-innocent girl and “vamp”
1920-flappers
1930-1940-the working woman
1950-the happy housewife and the sexpot
1960-the “flower children”
1970-the “single heroines”
1980-the strong woman
1990-the “have it all” woman
Why should we care?
-Popular images of women have more to do with a culture’s “values and
identities than literal description[s] of women.”
-Popular images are “intentionally constructed by societal leaders to
perpetuate political, economic, and social order.”
-All women, even those who try to fight or resist the cultural roles assigned to
them are affected by the attitudes and beliefs implied by the popular
images. This means that they will face expectations, stereotypes,
limitations, and societal/personal implications because of the images.
“Images of women and men can effectively incite both
sexes to adopt certain self images, attitudes and
behaviour. Male-constructed images of women are so
embedded in Western culture that they appear quite
“natural”. Once it is recognized that they are constructions,
it becomes necessary to ask not only how they are
constructed but why.” (italics added)
Objectification
Jessica St. Jeor
References:
• Aubrey, J.S. (2006). Effects of sexually objectifying media on selfobjectification and body surveillance in undergraduates: results
of a 2-year panel study. Journal of Communications, 56, 366-386.
• Frederickson, B.L, & Roberts, T. (1997). Objectification theory:
toward
understanding women’s lived experiences and mental
health risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 173-206
• Murnen, S.K., Smolak, L., Mills, J.A., & Good, L. (2003). Thin, sexy
women
and strong muscular men: grade-school children’s
responses to
objectified imaged of women and men. Sex
Roles, 49, 427-236.
Sexual Objectification
Viewing individuals as a sexual object by
emphasizing their sexual attributes and physical
attractiveness, while de-emphasizing their
existence as a living person with emotions and
feelings of their own. (Aubrey, 2006)
In the media women’s bodies are more likely to be
shown to advertise products and there is often a
focus on parts of the body, rather than the whole
body, which emphasizes the view of woman as an
object. (Frederickson & Roberts, 1997)
Objectification Theory
Developed by Fedrickson & Roberts as
an attempt to understand the consequences
of being female in a society that sexually
objectifies women.
Concluded that self-objectification can
lead to habitual body monitoring, which can
increase the opportunity for shame, anxiety
and diminished awareness of internal
body states.
Accumulation of experiences such as
these helps to account for the range of
mental health risks that affect women
particularly depression, sexual
dysfunction and eating disorders.
Research: Murnen S.K. et al
Thin, Sexy Women and Strong, Muscular Men: Grade-School Children’s
Purpose: Responses to Objectified Images of Women and Men
to examine the links between sexual objectification and selfobjectification from a developmental perspective by examining how gradeschool girls responded to objectified images of women. (Murnen, S.K. et al,
2006)
Procedure:
*included 88 girls ranging in age from 6 to 12
* girls to four pictures of female singing stars (Brittney Spears, Christina
Agulera, Shania Twain, and Jennifer Lopez).
*after seeing the pictures, the girls were asked to respond to a list of
questions relating to their experience and opinions relating to the picture
they had just seen.
Results
As predicted…
* consistently positive responses to the pictures correlated
to the girls awareness of objectification, high level of
internalization, and low body esteem.
* among the girls you showed acceptance and internal
consistency in response to the four images, some girls
showed a fairly sophisticated understanding of the role
objectification plays in women’s lives based upon their
responses. (Murnen S.K. et al, 2003)
Overall… these results advocate that girls who are aware of
this thin, sexy ideal (sexual objectification) and
internalize it (self-objectification) believe that it is
important to live up to these ideals to be viewed as valued
and capable
Media’s Effects on Selfesteem
of Teenage Girls
Afshan Nabi
References:
Self-image vs. Society’s idea of
Beauty
• As girls enter teenage years, they get mixed messages from
the media: there are ads and magazines showing exactly
what they should dress like, and other shows that say that,
“People should be respected for who they are.”
• The mixed messages widen the gap between self-image,
and society’s idea of a beautiful girl.
• This confusion makes it more difficult to make the transition
to adulthood.
Portrayal of Teenage Girls
• A serious pressure imposed of teenage girls
is by the media’s increasing portrayal of very
young girls in sexual ways.
• For the past decade, girls as young as 12year-olds have been portrayed as grown
women.
• Girls also get to see a narrowly stereotypical
portrayal of women in the media, like:
– Powerless, dependant, and
submissive.
– The girl is looking up at a taller man.
– A wounded and sorrowful expression
on the girl’s face.
Media’s Effects on Self-Esteem
• In a national media survey, 2 out of the 3 girls that
participated, said that they, “Wanted to look like a
character on TV.” And 1 out of 3 said that they, “changed
something about their appearance to resemble that TV
character.”
• In a study done in 2002, at Flinders University in South
Australia on how teenage girls relate to advertising, they
found: girls who watched commercials featuring extremely
skinny models lost self-confidence and increasingly
became more dissatisfied with their own bodies. And girls
who were spending the most time and effort to make
changes in their appearance, suffered the greatest loss in
self-confidence.
As a Result...
• During adolescence, the boys who are confident in themselves,
remains relatively stable. While the self-confident girls drop from
72% in 6th grade to 55% in 10th grade.
• As these girls become teenagers, many choose to tune out, but
others maintain a hungry appetite for these messages. As
Shawn Doherty and Nadine Joseph note, those who continue to
consume media images are strongly influenced "by stereotypical
images of uniformly beautiful, obsessively thin and scantily
dressed objects of male desire. And studies show that girls who
are frequent viewers have the most negative opinion of their
gender."
Media in other Countries
• The teenage girls in Fiji, after being exposed to the satellite
TV for 3 years, changed their societal values and body
images to reflect the western values which they were
exposed to. These girls became seriously conscious about
their body, and focused on dieting. However, before the
media influence, there had been little talk of dieting and
body satisfaction was much higher.
• A similar effect was found in Iran, due to which the western
television was banned there. Women are only shown on TV
with almost all of their bodies covered. It was found that
Iranian women had higher body satisfaction than their
American counterparts.
Anorexia Nervosa
Kirsten Whitworth
Clinical Definition’s
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DSM-IV Criteria for Anorexia Nervosa
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Refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for
age and height (eg, weight loss leading to maintenance of body weight less
than 85% of that expected or failure to make expected weight gain during
period of growth, leading to body weight less than 85% of that expected).
Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though underweight.
Disturbance in the way in which one's body weight or shape is
experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation,
or denial of the seriousness of the current low body weight.
In postmenarchal females, amenorrhea ie, the absence of at least three
consecutive cycles. (A woman is considered to have amenorrhea if her
periods occur only following hormone, eg, estrogen
administration.)administration.)
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Types
• Restricting Type: During the current episode of
anorexia nervosa, the person has not regularly
engaged in binge-eating or purging behavior (i.e., selfinduced vomiting or the misuse of laxatives, diuretics,
or enemas).
• Binge-Eating/Purging Type: During the current episode
of anorexia nervosa, the person has regularly engaged
in binge-eating or purging behavior (i.e., self-induced
vomiting or the misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or
enemas).ics
Causes Of Anorexia
• There are no Clear causes of anorexia. Psychiatrists are
unable to pinpoint a specific population that is prone to
this disorder. This makes treating and preventing this
disorder very difficult.
• One of the largest problems with anorexics is that their
bodies have abnormally high serotonin levels. This
helps to suppress their appetite and severely affects
their moods.
• Though no genetic or biological reasons have been
found for eating disorders the media and its negative
influence push many young women into eating disorders.
Causes cont.
• Studies have shown that girls with family history
of anorexia are 12 times more likely to develop
an eating disorder.
• Anorexia is the leading cause of death among
psychiatric disorders.
• Eating disorders often go hand in hand with
emotional problems such as anxiety and
depression.
No One Is Immune!