The Effect of the Media on Male and Female Body Images Essay - 1

The Effect of the Media on Male and Female Body Images - Essay Example The author of the essay begins with that the media exposure happens to everyone these days and even the younger people like the pre-pubescent children are not spared. These exposures lead the audience into believing certain things to be realities. These are common in body image problems in the society today, as the mass media are promoting body types that are perceived to be the ideal body type, as well as the desirable body type by the audience. This construct about the perfect body is vital in an individual’s aspect in building self-identity. The images that we see in the mass media, however, are not representations of the real body types that exist in reality. In the end author concludes that discrepancies in body image and mass media presentations of the ideal body can largely be blamed on mass media itself. Today’s media do not distinguish fiction and reality and thus makes the society regard the images that they see in the mass media as realistic representations. This is aggravated by the media trying to present artificial, airbrushed and heavily made up personas as realistic representations of beauty. These representations, therefore, become targets of comparison for themselves and these comparative activities make the audience, become less satisfied with their own appearance and make them vulnerable to eating disorders and the like. This is especially true for the females. Because of this, the males view the women as less attractive and rate their current relationships as less favourable.