Just Feel Good About Yourself!

Women need to not let the media influence the way they look. Women need to feel good about themselves; both inside and out. http://www.womenshealth.gov/bodyimage/ When women don't feel good about their body image; it comes off in their personality. Women need to feel comfortable in their own skin by having a positive and healthy body image. "A poor body image can lead to emotional distress, low self-esteem, dieting, anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. Developing a positive body image and a healthy mental attitude is crucial to a woman's happiness and wellness." Women just need to think positively and not try to be a life size "Barbie." Nobody is perfect. Family and friends can influence your body image positively by giving compliments.

The strive to be thin

When I think of media influence, I immediately think of women striving to become thin. There seems to be an obsession with being skinny. Women feel that they need to look better than other women. Guys don't look at girls that have a beer gut. On the other had, if a guy has a beer gut, it really isn't a big deal and they still get attention from women. http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/tcom/faculty/ha/tcom103%20fall%202001/gp6/ When women are waiting in line at the supermarket or wherever, all the magazines that they see and skim through are filled with beautiful thin women. The picture is just an example of a very skinny model that women aim to be like.

Men

So far, all of my posts have been about how the media influence women and children. However, men are just as easily influenced by the media. Some men do think about their body image, just like women do. A lot of men now think that they need to have the perfect body and work out everyday just like celebs. I think that the media has led men to believe that woman only like men with rock hard abs. Men feel pressure to be attractive. Media doesn't just affect their appearance though, it can also affect they way they act. In a lot of movies and tv shows, it's the men that are very violent and aggressive. Men watching these type of movies might want to do the same thing in real life.

What to do...

Young children watch a lot of tv and are very easy to influence. The website that I found describes ways that parents can prevent media influence. http://www.family.samhsa.gov/monitor/unhealthyhabits.aspx The website says to "make yourself the number one influence in your child’s life." I think this is a very important factor. Children should look up to their parents and parents should have a positive impact on their lives. As a parent, they have the right to monitor how much time their children should spend watching tv and being on the computer. This is a good idea because children should not be inside frying their brains on tv; they should be outside playing. Another good tip is that when children are watching tv, parents should watch it with them and talk to them about it.

Commericals

http://www.family.samhsa.gov/monitor/unhealthyhabits.aspx
A lot of tv ads that we see as adults we can see the built in bias. We can tell sometimes when there is false advertisement. Children see the same commercials as we do, but can be very easily influenced by them. Beer advertisements should be directed at adults, but children might see them to and be influenced at a young age. "According to researchers, beer ads, are shown often during sports events and are seen by millions of children, creating both brand familiarity and more positive attitudes toward drinking in children as young as 9-10 years of age."

Commercials for pop and junk food are mainly directed at young children which may lead to unhealthy eating habits and cause obesity in young children.

A big topic of discussion on media influence is video games. Many people say that it is very likely for a child who plays a violent video game to have aggressive behavior. That aggressive behavior could continue with them when they become adults, leading them to possibly go to jail.

Music Videos

On the Oprah Winfrey show, she had an author of a book on the show that talked a lot about media influence. Her name was Jean Kilbourne and she focused on how music videos have a huge affect on teenagers. http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/tows_2002/tows_past_20020228_e.jhtml In the book Kilbourne wrote, she discussed ways for parents to talk to their children about the music videos they see on television. It is not all music videos; it is mostly the rap videos that could have a negative influence on teenagers. In the videos there are beautiful women wearing next to nothing. "Girls get the message that men who dominate them are sexy, and boys get the message that it's cool to treat women disrespectfully." Teenagers may not realize that that is not the way the real world is, and that it is just a music video.

Side Effects

In the last post I discussed the new fad to lose weight easy, which is diet pills. Diet pills are very dangerous and have serious side effects that could harm you and possibly lead to death. Diet pills promise you that you will burn fat and pump up your metabolism, but they don't tell you that some ingredients may be dangerous.

"In 2004, the FDA banned weight loss supplements that contained ephedra, a stimulant that causes stroke and death in some people." http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=health&id=3911004. To replace ephedra many pills have caffeine and citrus aqurantium. Taking those two stimulants together can effect your blood pressure and heart rate.

Diet pills are not the way to go if you want to lose weight. Like I said in the last post, if you wanna lose weight the best and safest way to go is eat healthy and exercise daily.

Diet Pills

In a lot of magazines and a lot of commericals we hear about diet pills. In magazines there are usually a couple of pages devoted to diet pills. Diet pills seem to be the latest and greatest way to lose weight. The magazines explain how diet pills make you lose weight and make you look perfect. The ads seem to forget to mention all the dangers of taking diet pills. The pills can start to be addicting, and once you can finally stop taking the pills your body is left in worse shape then it was before you started taking the pills. http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Danger-of-Diet-Pills&id=214089 The best method of losing weight is still always to simply eat healthy and exercise on a daily basis.

Paparazzi

http://www.abc.net.au/melbourne/stories/Paparazzi_m1333629.jpg

The main reason why media influence is mostly negative is due to the paparazzi. The photographer's job is to get the most unflattering picture and catch celebrities doing unusual things. Photographers need to sell their photos, and gossip magazines need to sell their magazines. Unfortunately, this is done by showing celebrities lives unfairly and sometimes not always being truthful. http://www.aug.edu/~mduignan/Magazine/Influence_Of_Celebrities.htm Magazines will make much larger profits if the cover has an unflattering picture as well as a story to go along with it that is often times short of the truth.

Tyra Banks

http://www.carbwire.com/2007/01/31/thanks_to_tyra_banks_for_standing_up_to_the_fat_bullies
Tyra Banks who was formerly a model and is now a talk show host as well as head of a reality show titled "America's Next Top Model," has been called fat by her critics. Tyra is finally standing up for herself and admits that she has gained 30 pounds and she still looks beautiful. Tyra now weighs approximately 161 pounds and that is still average for a woman of her height. It is good to see that Tyra doesn't take what the critics say to heart. So many young hollywood celebs would read that they're fat in a magazine and then lose tons and tons of pounds. Tyra was hurt by the remarks of her critics but did not let it go to her head, which is a lesson that many young girls should try and copy.

Half my size!

http://theskinnywebsite.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/cover_blog_13.jpg

A lot of gossip magazines always have a section about dieting and losing weight. I agree that everyone should stay in shape by exercising and eating healthy. The way magazines portray these diets aren't necessarily about being healthy though. It seems they just focus on how you look on the outside. It just seems that magazines sometimes make average people feel like they need to lose more and more weight and be super skinny. Notice on the picture, the biggest words on the cover of the magazine are "HALF MY SIZE!" It also shows a before and after picture where they choose a bad picture for the "before" picture and a model picture for the "after" picture.

Violent Video Games

Video games have been a topic of huge discussion in the past couple years. A lot of video games involve fighting and the media puts the spot light on those games; making them more popular. Reporters believe that the Columbine shootings and the Virginia Tech shootings involved young men who enjoyed playing violent video games. An example of a violent game is Grand Theft Auto. This game is all about killing prostitutes, shooting random people, beating up gangs, and stealing people's cars. It is a fun game to play, so it easy for young minds to think it would be a fun thing to do in real life. http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2004/features/historyofvgc/historyofvgc_screen021.jpgThere are so many shooting games that young children play and are influenced by. Thankfully, the violent shooting games usually have age restrictions on them; making it up to the parents if they think their kids are ready to be able to play a game like that.

Positive influences

I think that celebrities need to put themselves with positive people if they want to change. A lot of young Hollywood completely block out positive influences. For example, Britney Spears refuses to talk to her mom now. Now, Lindsay Lohan is dating a new guy that she actually has a lot in common with. His name is Riley Giles and he has been arrested on a few occasions as well as been booked under suspicion of DUI. I just don't think rehab is the place to meet a new boyfriend. http://www.perezhilton.com/ Unfortunately, there are young girls that look up to Lindsay Lohan and if they see her dating a "bad boy," then they are going to want to do the same thing. A lot of decisions Lohan makes are very poor and sadly girls will follow in her footsteps. When a person is Hollywood every decision that they make affects not only them but their fans as well.

"No Wonder Our Perception of Beauty is Distorted"

http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/dsef07/t5.aspx?id=7373&filmno=1

This video is a great video for young girls to watch. It starts with an average looking woman with no make up. It then shows her go through a transformation as tons of people apply make up to her face and fix her hair. After that is all said and done, a person fixes her photograph to look perfect. It is a good video to watch and it finally shows us that celebrities don't wake up looking as perfect as it may seem. It shows that they have a lot of people to help them look the way they do. This is actually the first instance I have found that the media is making a positive influence on woman. I think every girl should watch this.

Examples of Direct Media Influence

The classic study involving the Bobo Doll is an example of media influence that I remember discussing in my Psychology class. The study started out with two different groups of nursery children with a bunch of toys they had never seen before. One of the toys was a Bobo Clown with a weighted base that was designed like a punching bag toy. One group of children observed an adult playing gently and quietly with toys and ignoring Bobo. In the other group of children, an adult took agression out on the doll. The adult punched Bobo in the nose, sat on its head, used a toy mallet to hit it, and even kicked it in the air. After leaving both groups of children alone, those that observed the adult acting aggresively toward the doll imitated many of the same moves. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_influence
Young children are very easy to influence. When they see adults acting a certain way or saying certain words, they assume it's okay for them to do also.

Plus Size Models...

http://www.cwtv.com/thecw/gen-gallery-antm09-models/12/1

A lot of people have been talking about the new cyle of America's Next Top Model. Each season there is usually one or two plus size models. A girl in class today informed me that in cycle 9, Sarah is being called the plus-size model, weighing approximately 150 pounds. After seeing Sarah's picture I was shocked that she is getting called "plus size." I guess having meat on your bones and not looking anorexic means you're plus size. In my opinion, there are no plus size models this season. Young girls are who view this tv show! What are they going to think when they see that Sarah is the plus size model? I haven't watched the show, but I'm wondering, does Sarah actually believe that she is plus size?

Definition of media influence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_influence "media influence refers to the theories about the ways the mass media affect how their audiences, think and behave." We only see what the media wants us to see. We only hear what the media wants us to hear. The mass media sometimes tries to persuade the public's opinion. Celebrities are not the only people involved in influencing the nation; the reporters and newspaper writers also influence us. There are many tabloids that are known for not telling the exact truth but people still read them and some people still believe them.

California dreamin...

I'm going to stay on the topic of plastic surgery for this post. Since most celebrities live in California, I think that the people that live there are more easily influenced. My 19 year old cousin who lives in California has thought about getting plastic surgery. She has told me many times that some day she would like to have plastic surgery. She's afraid of needles; she won't even get her ears pierced, but yet she would like to get plastic surgery. I think the environment she lives in tells her that plastic surgery is a good thing. I live in Indiana so I just see it on tv and in magazines. My cousin in California actually sees it in person; everywhere she goes.

Dr. 90210

In my last post, I discussed a lot about plastic surgery. In this post I'm going to talk about how there are shows on tv that show plastic surgery being done. The one that I have seen before is called Dr. 90210. On this show, they show different doctors giving different types of plastic surgery on their patients. The show makes it out to believe that everybody can be perfect and every one should have plastic surgery done. On the episodes that I have seen, nothing ever goes wrong and all the patients claim they are so happy that they went under the knife. People that watch the show, probably just see how easy it looks, and they don't see the pain they are in afterwards. Dr. 90210 is just another tv show that young people can watch and get ideas for what kind of plastic surgery they think they need.

Plastic Surgery

Plastic Surgery is huge in hollywood. Celebrities want to look perfect. I don't think it is a positive example to be getting surgery all the time. There are some people that have had so much surgery that they look fake. In my opinion, a lot of times after the surgery, they look worse. Celebrities just need to realize that there is no perfect. They need to realize that they are idols for a lot of young people and need to send them a positive message. http://susanslattery.com/images/6gal.05.jackson.gi.jpg I hope this image of Michael Jackson is sending the right message, too much plastic surgery is bad.

Music

In my business law class the other day, we discussed how music can have a huge affect on a persons life. Some song lyrics today are absolutely horrifying to hear. There are a bunch of popular songs about doing drugs, underage drinking, and killing yourself. Here is an example of an Ozzy Osbourne song lyric about suicide.
http://www.lyricsdir.com/ozzy-osbourne-suicide-solution-lyrics.html
Breaking laws, locking doors
But there's no one at home
Make your bed, rest your head
But you lie there and moan
Where to hide, Suicide is the only way out
Don't you know what it's really about

These lyrics are not as bad as others but in this example it is telling people that suicide is the only way out. It's hard to believe that music has such an influence on us, but it does.

Violence in the media

On tv there are cop shows and crime reports that show us the way some people in our society actually act. These shows can make us scared to go out at night. They can also make us scared to help out strangers because you never know what they're going to do. Maybe that is the point of those shows, but watching those shows can also lead to violence.
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/20/media_influence_intro.html
Watching violence on tv does makes some people want to repeat those actions. There are many movies and tv shows that show people robbing banks. There's an old movie called Butch Cassidy and the SunDance kid; and in this movie you actually want the bad guys to win. It's sad when they die at the end. People just think that if they can do it on movies so easily, then they can do it in real life.

Clothing

Earlier I discussed how the media influences our weight in a negative way. The media also influences the way we dress negatively. I used to work at the mall and I couldn't believe some of things young girls were wearing. Did their parents let them out of the house like that? It seems like some girls want to push their limits and wear as little clothing as possible. Maybe their role model is Britney Spears. She is always shown in the media wearing next to nothing. Maybe their role models are girls straight out of rap videos.

Magazines

Magazines make us think that to be in shape we must be extremely skinny. Often times in gossip magazines paparazzi will take bad pictures of celebrities and write about how fat they are. In the media it doesn't seem like there's a middle ground, you're either too fat or you're too skinny. In actuality when gossip magazines write about how fat celebs look, they are probably at the right size. Apparently if you have a little meat on your bones and you can't see your ribs popping out; you're fat. I have a cousin who lives in Los Angeles, California who you can tell has been affected by the media just by how skinny she is. She is always on some new diet or working out. She doesn't need to lose any wieght, but the media has put it into her head that she's fat.

Negative Influence

The media influences us all whether we like it or not. Many people probably don't even realize how much the media controls our lives. I think that almost all media influence is negative unfortunately. The reason I say this is because people don't want to read about the good things celebrities do, so reporters don't write about it. People want to read about Paris going to jail, Lindsay in Rehab, and why Britney shaved all her hair off. It is always the young girls making head lines and the majority of people who read these head lines are young influential girls. As bad as it sounds, people don't want to read about celebrities going to church or doing charity events. That's too boring. As much as parents don't like it, young girls look up to celebrities and unfortunately all they see are the negative.

Advertisers

A lot of the media is geared towards young adults. It isn't just the celebrities that are influencing us. It is the people involved in advertising, spending millions to make their product look good. They are finding ways to make expensive boring clothes look great. Advertisers are finding good looking people to wear their clothes. Youth respond to visual advertising more so than others. You might here an ad for a hat on the radio, but you can't see the photo of how you would look in it. Then, you might see this new hat on a commercial worn by a young good looking person singing and dancing to their ipod. Then, you associate that hat with having fun; making you want to buy it.

http://www.youthandviolence.com/gpage25.html

TV

There is a show on TV called America's Next Top Model. On the show, young women compete to become models and be in magazines. Everyone on that show who is competing is skinny. There have been bigger women on the show that could be plus size models, but the judges never let them get very far in the competition. The media is constantly showing us that skinny is beautiful. It is showing us that we should have no ounce of fat on our bodies. It is showing us that we should all be size zero. The media has a huge impact on our lives, more than some may realize.

Eating Disorders

A lot of media influence is negative, and can even lead to eating disorders. In all the magazines young girls read, all they see are perfect skinny models with their ribs sticking out. Girls need to realize that there is no such thing as perfect; and skinny does not mean beautiful. It is good to stay in shape, but being able to see bones popping out is not in shape.

http://www.ejumpcut.org/trialsite/PerezHilton/images/Image-33.jpg

The above link shows a picture of Nicole Richie during her eating disorder. What kind of message is this sending to young girls? I hope it is sending the message that being extremely skinny is not pretty.