Unit 1, Issue 2

"Do Media Cause Individuals to Develop Negative Body Images?"

Through the reading, I felt like Dworkin and Wachs brought up an important point on the portrayal of females, and most recently males as well. The media has, in some way, developed an ideal way that both men and women should look like. They have portrayed the "perfect thing" or "muscular", and in doing so society has picked up this idea and compared their own image to that. The media has also given a set of things that people must do in order to "look taken care of"...things that are necessities, such as going to the spa, buying make-up, wearing certain hair products, lifting a specific amount of weight at the gym, wearing certain clothes, wearing a certain perfume, etc. 

Now seeing Levine's and Murnen's answer to this question, I felt like they didn't really defend their answer. Instead they stated facts on how the media may not be the main factor of why women become anorexic or binge eat. 

Placing both views together, i feel like the media doesn't necessarily develop negative body images, instead it portrays something that is unrealistic - a perfect body - through technological advancements, airbrushed photos, and perfect bone structures. Although the media does constantly portray the "ideal" body, most of the headlines consists of some sort of exercise or healthy eating techniques, and regardless of whether people interpret this as becoming extremely thin, or simply picking up the habit to exercise and eat healthier, i dont think theres anything wrong with shedding some unnecessary fat. Everything is possible in moderation. When people become obsessed with counting calories, skipping meals, too much exercise, etc., then i feel like they enter a self issue - not so much being influenced by the media. I do think there is a fine line between coming to understand the media will always portray entertainment, most of it being "ideal and made up", and its society that needs to draw the line in being healthy and not taking the extreme of having goals for their image that will harm their bodies.