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Women's Self Image and Mental Illness

The ideal body image of a woman is portrayed as thirteen to nineteen percent underweight. Additionally, the About-Face Organization's research concluded that women’s self image in the media has had an increasing effect on mental illness since the 1980’s. According to About-Face, the normative body image sets an unachievable goal for a woman, which can lead to various mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. Furthermore, the studies show that self-objectification can lead to self-devaluation, major depression, eating disorders, and helplessness.  One of the specific disorders related to body image is known as Body Dysmorphic Disorder; people diagnosed with this disorder are understood to be unhappy with parts of their body. These individuals often pursue persistent and invasive measures in order to alter their body to fit an “ideal” body image. These measures can vary from extreme makeovers to plastic surgeries. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, women with this disorder are consumed by their imperfections and portray their body parts as major defects; an individual without this disorder would typically view the “defects” as unnoticeable. This disorder can also be linked and lead to obsessive-compulsive disorder. This causes the individual to be obsessed with extensive measures such as grooming, plastic surgery, exercise, etc. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America states the leading cause of mental disorders like Body Dysmorphic Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder comes from the portrayal of women’s body image. Women often lose self-esteem when observing the media’s body image and develop these disorders.

Correspondingly, eating disorders are psychological disorders characterized by abnormal eating habits. The organization, About-Face, stated eating disorders are a result of mental illnesses developed from women’s image in the media. The organization’s research explained how the media affects the physical and emotional health of young women. One of their studies presented undergraduate women to forty photographs from Cosmopolitan, Vogue, and other popular magazines. The women that were presented full page images of models demonstrated more eating-disorder symptoms, negative mood states, and lower esteem than the women in the control group.

Furthermore, self-objectification has been shown to have an affect on women diagnosed with depression and low self-esteem. The effects on a woman's life can vary from declined motor skills to habitual body monitoring. According to these studies, negative self image can also put women at higher risks for eating disorders like anorexia and bulemia.  Anorexia is the lack of appetite for food; Bulimia is the self-induced puking or fasting. Both are linked to the excessive desire to lose weight in order to match the ideal woman body. Binge eating disorder is the rapid consumption of food on an irregular meal schedule; this disorder is linked to obesity and is also associated with the emotional factors caused by the media’s depiction of a woman. These disorders are proved to have negative effects on women that can be short or long term. Some effects consist of organ failure, muscle weakness, abnormal menstrual cycle, osteoporosis, etc. Consequently, women that are affected by self-image often face financial troubles with mental illnesses and treatment. Some treatment options offered are cognitive behavioral therapy and antidepressant medications. individual with these disorders experiences different symptoms and treatment is not always seen as helpful.

Development of Self-Image

According to Caroline Heldman, the average citizen in the United States encounters about 3,000 advertisements a day. She states the majority of these advertisements are participants in presenting women as sexual objects. As a result of the growth in media, the term self objectification was coined in 1997 at the University of Michigan by psychology professor Barbara Fredrickson and the Colorado College psychology professor Tomi-Ann Roberts. The term defines the amount of women that develop self image through double consciousness and judge themselves through the eyes of others. In addition, social scientists continue to study this term and have noticed the increased influence of media on self objectification over the decades. Caroline Heldman found that about seventy percent of women ages 15 to 34 are now using social networking cites such as Myspace, Facebook, and Instagram. Furthermore, Fredrickson and Kristen Harrison argue that self objectification has been proven to put women at risk for depression and anxiety; it can even impair a woman's motor skills. In order to come to this conclusion, the scholars conducted an experiment with two hundred and two girls, ages 10 to 17. They found that self-objectification conformed the girls’ capability to throw a softball even after differences in age and prior experience were ruled out. Self-objectification caused the girls to divert their attention to how their bodies were seen and away from the task they had to do; the girls' distraction resulted in weaker throws and worse aim. Self-objectification studies have also shown the increased dramatic impact on sex with the introduction of media. Due to this increase, some young women have described sex as an out-of-body experience. This represents how women's self image has impacted a new idea of sex; women see their sexual experience more through the eyes of their partner than their own. The out-of-body experience results in women focusing an excessive amount on their body image rather than their own sexual pleasure. 

Effects of Beauty Pageants on Self-Image

In the article, Darling Divas or Damaged Daughters, Wolfe discusses the emotional problems that beauty pageants inflict on toddlers and young girls. She includes the thoughts from psychologists, registered dietitians, and bloggers. One blogger states, “pumping your young daughter full of uppers, teaching her that self-worth is tied to what other people think of her and turning her into a total [expletive] monster". Starred in the reality television show Toddlers & Tiaras, Mia, a two year old girl, participated in a pageant wearing a cone-shaped Madonna bra, along with a mini-halter dress, which led some viewers to make the statement “these children [are] being trained to act like hookers, pole dancers and/or strippers". Psychiatrist Carole Lieberman believes that young beauty queens are victims because of their mother’s own insecurities, believing that some mothers are trying to live through their daughters. Social workers and parenting experts also have their disapprovals toward beauty pageants, particularly toward the way some participants are presented on stage. A three-year-old toddler participated in a pageant dressed as Julia Roberts, from the movie Pretty Woman and a four-year-old appeared on stage wearing breast enhancements to appear as Dolly Parton.

Wolfe then begins to describe the emotional harm that beauty pageants inflict on toddlers and young girls. The girls receive spray tans, fake nails, permanent eyelashes, and even fake teeth to measure up to societies beauty, problems associated with this are discussed. They grow up believing that they are supposed to have flawless skin, with no blemishes, perfect hair and body, and if not they are supposed to use products for enhancement. Psychologist and registered dietician Martina Cartwright argues that beauty pageants cause young participants to believe that the love and approval of their parents hinges on their beauty and continued success in pageants. After five-year-old Mia’s act gets cut short, her mother gets extremely upset yelling, “They hate her!”. leaving Mia feeling uneasy and sad. Seven-year- old Morghan adds, "When I don't win, I feel guilty”. The feelings expressed by these toddlers demonstrates what Cartwright argues which is that the young girls want to make their parents proud and when they feel as though they haven't they feel guilty and ashamed.

Wolfe also argues that beauty pageants lead to Princess Syndrome, a condition linked to extreme insecurities and eating disorders. Wolfe argues that beauty pageants put an emphasis on thinness by using the word “Little Miss”, also leading to a dissatisfaction of one's body and eating disorders. She argues that beauty pageants present toddlers and young girls as sexual objects, putting them at risk in encountering sexual predators. Some young contestants are seen on stage hip and booty gyrating, which leads some scholars to argue that overly sexual pageant behavior pushes disturbed individuals toward child pornography and pedophilic acts, Wolfe states that this can lead to sexual predators posing as fake agents and managers. Wolfe concludes by saying how the legal system should get involved and enforce laws and policies to protect toddlers and young girls from emotional and societal harm caused by beauty pageants.

Women's Image in Pop Culture

Advertisement is an overflowing billion dollar industry that can affect numerous numbers of women in the world. In the article, “Out of Body Image,” Caroline Heldman quoted that “girls are taught: your body is an image that needs work before you can attract others,” which presents the idea of women being accessories to men. Typically women’s bodies are stripped and dispositioned in social media, magazines, online ads, and commercials. There is a wide arrangement of groups in companies and organizations that are proven successful using women's image in selling products of men’s interests such as fishing reels and sports equipment. In addition, studies have shown individuals with increased time spent on media are more likely to compare themselves to what is fantasized in media-cite. In 1995, when television was first introduced only about three percent of women at the age of seventeen reported struggles with bulimia for weight control. Three years after this study, the percentage increased to fifteen percent. The women that watched television at least three nights a week had a fifty percent higher chance of seeing their bodies as overweight and thirty percent more likely to diet. Therefore, this study can be linked to the glamorization of thin women and standard body images of celebrities. Paris Hilton, Linsey Lohan, and the Olsen twins are popular role models in the media that are frequently in and out of rehabs; young women idolize these celebrities and experience their disorders while watching television. Furthermore, body image changes over periods of time and About-Face states self-objectification continues to increase; Marilyn Monroe was a popular figure in the 1950's, however would be considered thicker than the average model in 2016. Poor body image judgments begin as early as the age of 13 years of age; the judgement initially begins with photo-shopped images of women representing how women should be shaped. Many women are unaware that the media photo-shops their models displayed in advertisements. Correspondingly, women in media are idolized for body shapes and facial structures that are edited and created on computer programs.

Plastic Surgery Effects in Women's Self Image

The article, "Attitudes About Cosmetic Surgery: Gender and Body Experience," describes the ways in which individuals are bombarded with advertisements and other images on a daily basis; the author states the advertisements either set the standard of how individuals want to look or how one criticizes themselves. Plastic surgery has become a popular way of fitting the ideal image. Plastic surgery is the process of reconstructing or repairing parts of the body, especially by the transfer of tissue, either in the treatment of injury or for cosmetic reasons. Because of the perfected figures in the media, About-Face states it has set higher standards that seem difficult to achieve for young women developing a sense of self. Before the 1980's the percentages for plastic surgery performances demonstrate to be significantly lower compared to the most recently reported statistics. Jennifer Bazner found that from 1992 to 2000, eyelid surgery increased by 190%, liposuction increased by 386%, and breast augmentation increased by 476%. Furthermore, many researchers were not surprised to find that 91% of cosmetic surgery procedures are performed on women.

Feedback!

It is organized, but it can maybe use transition words to make it flow a little bit more. This is prevalent especially in the first paragraph. The Beauty pageant paragraph seems a little bit off topic. I agree it is harming the self-image of women, but there aren’t too many girls out of the entire population that participate in them. There are a lot of extra sentences in these paragraphs that can be cut out. Some of them are just opinions. Other perspectives can be acknowledged here. The perspective of the author is that there are too many societal aspects that lead to the formation of degradation in women. There are many instances of claiming unnamed groups. There are many statements here that aren’t connected to any sort of source. There are a lot of statements attributed to one or two sources. There is a lot of impressive information here. “Women’s self image is one of the main components that effect the development of young girls in today’s society” Good Sentence!! I think it can be edited down a little bit. There is a lot of fluff. The most important thing that will improve this article is summarizing more of the sentences. I really liked the attitude of change that this article had. Kmsmitty296 (talk) 13:19, 17 March 2016 (UTC)