User:Jillgeib/sandbox

Societal Influences
Contents of "thin-ideal media" include the portrayal of thinness as a desirable trait, and protagonists in media are thin, exceptionally beautiful, desirable, and successful. According to the sociocultural model of bulimia, eating disorders are a product of the increasing pressures for women in our society to achieve an ultra-slender body. There are two components to the social comparison theory: Downward social comparison, comparison to others perceived to be less fortunate than ourselves, and usually serves to enhance mood or self-worth; upward social comparison, comparison to others we perceive as socially better than ourselves, which usually leads to negative moods and self-evaluation. Women in the media are presented as having different roles in society depending on context and demographics. Television, magazines, and newspapers along with advertisements have a powerful and influential role in society, and women in the media are often role models for young, impressionable girls. Mass media affect dominant societal values

Stereotypical Female Roles
Women are commonly portrayed in traditional female roles including stay-at-home-mom and homemaker. There are few portrayals of women in positions of power, authority, or responsibility. Media stereotypes of women as housewives may impede the employment of women.

Thin-Ideal Impact on Women
Correlational studies have linked exposure to media that contain ultra-thin ideals to increased body-dissatisfaction, thin-ideal internalization, self-discrepancies, and eating pathology in young women. Sociocultural theory maintains that current societal standards for beauty emphasize the desirability of thinness, and thinness at a level impossible for many women to achieve by healthy means.

Women in Magazines
Women’s magazines focus mainly on “domestic” aspects of life, including marriage, child-rearing, beauty, etc. (Gaye Tuchman. The Symbolic Annihilation of Women by the Mass Media). More than 75% of women’s magazines include at least one ad or article about how to change their physical appearance by diet, exercise, or cosmetic surgery

Women in Television
Women on TV shows rarely appear in the same professions as men; for example, men are doctors, women are nurses; men are lawyers, women are secretaries; men work in corporations, women tend boutiques (Gaye Tuchman. The Symbolic Annihilation of Women by the Mass Media).