Michelle Humphrey

Research Proposal

November 4, 2020

Toxicity of Media on Body Image

Introduction
Imagine a young, teenage girl sitting in front of a mirror sobbing at the sight of herself,

disgusted with the slight marks, rolls, or imperfections on her body. This is the reality for many

teenagers in today’s society. The emotions and hormones of growing up combined with the

stresses of finding oneself create a perfect storm for body image issues. The growth of media and

advertisement has constructed an “ideal body” that serves as a burden to be compared to. In

addition, this body is often highly unachievable to the majority of the population. With media’s

growing influence in today’s generation, the creation of extremely toxic and negative influence

on body image has become more prevalent.

In this research paper, I will use reliable papers to explain how media has affected body

image. I will also be explaining how this image came about and the formation of ideals placed on

society today. This research is important to help us better understand how media came about

such a toxic image and how society should go about changing for the future.

Literature Review
Body image insecurities are no new topic in society; starting in the 1800s, the tiny waist

ideal was popularized and forced women to wear corsets in order to achieve it. As author Ann

Arbor explains, in her timeline on the history of body image, that “to achieve this look, women

wore whalebone and steel corsets which cause a variety of health problems, including difficulty

breathing.” This created a mass spread of women and men in media becoming more and more

thin and using unsafe practices to do so. These issues started being fixed about 100 years after
creation, when Seventeen magazine in 1944 “earned criticism for contributing to unnaturally thin

standard of beauty” (Arbor). The models and representatives of the company were spreading

very unrealistic body standards that highly influenced the teen audience who were seeing them.

Although it is no longer the 1940s, society still sees conflict in the media in recent years.

According to Arbor’s Body Image Timeline, “Suicidal impulses and attempts are much more

common in adolescents who think they are too fat or too thin, regardless of their actual weight.”

This body dysmorphia plays a very vital role in the lack of confidence and esteem that is

extremely common in almost every single teen today. Vogue editors no longer use models under

16 years of age because of all the negative effects that are consequently created from it (Arbor).

This push for older models and study on body image are a step in the right direction from

history, but negativity still occurs to this day.

It is easy to compare followings and trending images because media is much more

accessible in this day and age. In her article about the effect of social media on esteem, Hennessy

discusses the negatives to the growing media in today's society: “41.5% compared themselves

with other people on social media.” In addition to this, Hennessy notes, “More than 53% rarely

or never speak positively about their appearance.”

Research Questions
This research will serve to answer these three questions:

● How has society’s ideals over the perfect body changed in the past hundred

years?

● What effects has this ideal caused on teenagers around the world?

● How should social media go about changing their toxic standard of beauty?
Method
This research will be accomplished by reviewing multiple scholarly articles on

reliable databases, and investigating the facts within them. This review will be

summarized and explained in three sections:

● The changes in societal ideals in the past hundred years

● The effects of this ideal on teenagers all around the world

● The future plans for changing the standard of beauty

Discussion
By examining the changes in societal ideals, the effects of this ideal on teenagers, and

future plans for changing the beauty standard, we can better understand how to improve

confidence and get rid of unrealistic ideals. Not only can this be seen in social media, but also in

magazines and news too all around the world. Author Jordanna Schriever illustrates the growing

problem that exists on the body image of Australia’s younger generation: “More than half of

Australian girls in their mid teens are afraid of gaining weight, and turning to extreme measures

to shed kilos.” Also in that article, Schriever writes, a “study of Australian 14-15 year old found

many had taken action to try to control their weight by skipping meals and not eating anything

all day.”

This research is necessary today because negativity towards oneself and others affects

such a large amount of the population around the world. Society prefers the “skinny” model over

the “fat” model and it is extremely toxic. With time, this issue will spread and spread and

without a change, will lead to catastrophe.

Works Cited
Hennessy, Annabel. "Social Media is Eating Up our Esteem." Daily Telegraph (Surry Hills), 03

Sep 2018, pp. 11. sirsissuesresearcher,

https://explore.proquest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2265922096?

accountid=3785.

Schriever, Jordanna. "Living Up to the Body Image." Advertiser (Adelaide), 14 Nov 2018, pp.

21. sirsissuesresearcher,

https://explore.proquest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2265927570?

accountid=3785.

Staff, Proquest. Body Image Timeline. ProQuest, Ann Arbor, 2019. sirsissuesresearcher,

https://explore.proquest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2250548093?accountid=3785