Has the Media’s Portrayal of Women Negatively Affected the...

Has the Media’s Portrayal of Women Negatively Affected the Body Image of The Wykeham Collegiate Senior School Girls? Table of Contents Page Cover Page 1 Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Review of Literature 4 Methodology and Presentation of Findings 8 Processing of Findings 12 Conclusion 14 Reference list 16 Appendix 17 Introduction It seems that the media’s portrayal of women has negatively affected the body image of The Wykeham Collegiate senior school girls. The media has a negative effect on the youth of today, primarily amongst the female population when it comes to how young girls and women regard†¦show more content†¦Through the survey, questions were asked of senior school students at The Wykeham Collegiate concerning on the influence of mass media. Literature Review The importance of the body image and what is considered to be the ‘ideal’ body are two of the primary factors that contribute to the negative affect of the media on the teenage society of today. Body image is a major concern amongst the majority, primarily the youth of the female population, ranging from as young as five years old to tertiary students, ’74.4% of the normal-weight women stated that they thought about their weight or appearance ‘all the time’ or ‘frequently’’ (Brown University, unknown). The female body image is highly influenced by the mass media and the media’s portrayal of women, ‘70% of college women say they feel worse about their own looks after reading women’s magazines’ (University of Massachusetts Stanford University, 2006), the portrayal of women in the media has an unrealistic approach and brings out body dissatisfactions and this results in eating problems and disorders. The factors that affect the dissatisfaction with body image are that of the ideals of