Body Image in America

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There is no doubt that the media influences our everyday lives. Consumerism and the modern ways of Western advertising is what drives our culture. This is evident within ourselves as well. We are constantly bombarded with harmful advertisements that have an impact on our body image. The media portrays very distinct and very firm representations of gender. The average woman is supposed to be thin, feminine and ready to be objectified, while the American male is supposed to be toned, masculine, powerful and heterosexual. There have been many definitions of the ideal body throughout the past few decades, but the general ideal figure has still been relevant in our culture. This ultimately has to do with a specific form of misogyny in the case of women. Women are exposed to televised and print media at an early age. They are told by society: their peers, co-workers and elders that you are to remain desirable, feminine and ready for a man. According to Eating Disorder Statistics and Research, “Eating disorders are a daily struggle for 10 million females and 1 million males in the United States.” The pandemic of body image issues among women is damaging for the representation of feminine values in our American society, which ultimately leads to an increase in male-influenced misogyny. Many people claim that the battle against a negative body image is an exclusive problem for women, but many studies have found that teenaged males and male adults struggle with body image issues, but in many different ways. While women focus on ways to get thin, men with muscle dysmorphia - an disorder characterized by a negative body image and an obsessive desire to have a muscular physique (a common eating disorder among males) try and find ways to gain muscle. According to the article Muscle Dysmorphia: Current Research and Potential Classification as a Disorder, the information for

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