Is it right to blame the media for women's body issues? aren't the women to blame 4 their copycat behaviour?

Question

Right now there are many shows and articles blaming the media and the modelling industry for womens weight issues, as a female myself, I can see an image and not feel the need to mimick it, i want to know if anyone else feels a little fed up with the fact that nobody seems to be questioning the minds of these women who are acting out this copycat behaviour and trying to be what they see, we can't keep blaming others, these women have to accept a large portion of blame themselves. Are these issues more deeply embedded in the womans mind, like maybe from childhood, family etc, maybe aspects such as parenting has more to do with the issue? do you agree or disagree,what do you think?

Answer 1

I would agree with you but having been a model myself and having been turned down for jobs because they wanted me to lose weight and I was already UNDERWEIGHT - I am going to blame the "media". I agree that you are ultimately responsible for your own behaviour and choices - but if the "ideal" (who the media chooses to represent in magazines and on the tube) is all you chose to advertise with - and you advertise this "ideal" as what a females body is expected to look like - then you are portraying a warped image of health and appropriate body image.
Again, you are responsible for your own body. Our focus should be on the media to portray true healthy bodies and pride in strong beautiful women on all shapes and sizes.

Answer 2

Hang on...I bet your Slim arnt you??

All i can say is that being a healthy size 12 i feel FAT!!! I cant help it, i do!

Every single magazine, paper, CD, TV programme, Book, Advert..etc...etc... shows some size 6 girl who is so happy it must hurt!

All the clothes shops size there clothes like they are trying to fit them on little girls, I used to be a size 6/8 and do you know what I never ever considered my weight it just was not a issue but thats because in everyone elses eyes I was normal!

Now im plump, or cuddly or even worse(your not fat, there is nothing of you)

Clearly there is, otherwise I wouldnt have wobbly **** and bingo wings now would i??

What people dont realise is being thin is a impossible dream for some people and its hell! Why do they keep showing these super thin models everywhere and why do every single shop model in the shop windows have a figure of a tiny little girl!!

It makes me so angry that vunerable women are every day targeted by the media and made to feel worse than they already do!!

Also you tell me how many mens mags you will pick up where the Women hasnt has plastic surgery or lipo! You certainly wont get a size 12 on the front cover of FHM!!!

Thats not sexy, is it?

Answer 3

My take is that most of us are wired (by evolution) to look up to the pack leader (just like dogs are).

Of course thanks to modern society a small proportion of us are able to not follow the leaders / trendsetters / pack leaders and still do just fine, at least on some dimensions.

But most of us are still (hard) wired that way.

Models on billboards, people like Oprah, will influence our thinking. Some of us will be able to resist. Most of us will not.

People like Oprah have become very rich knowing this, and using it. People selling fashion items also.

I think it is only right that the media should be exposing this for a moment. But if won't make any difference - the media are selling more air time doing it, and this has been done many times in the past and didn't change anything because we are just hard-wired for that herd mentality.

If you could speak dog-speak, and made a big scandal and said, gee is is right to follow that leader who last week made that huge mistake? You'd have some followers for a few minutes, maybe hours, but next chance they'd get the pack members would follow the leader - again ;-)

Answer 4

All human beings are shaped by society and learn from each other about what is right, wrong and desirable etc. It is impossible to separate people's point of view from the society that they live in. It is not copycat behaviour, it is fundamental to human structure. Humans risk rejection by not conforming to the norms of their society, so we learn to conform, to the extent we are able to.

Advertising and images in the media present a concept of 'success' and 'beauty' that it quite different than what our ancestors had. In our culture, advertisers need to tell us that there is something wrong with us that their product or lifestyle can fix. Even if you are strong minded, it is hard to resist these messages, especially as nearly everybody else has picked them up and people do rate each other based on thinness and consumerism.

So yes, I do think that images in the media affect how we view ourselves. They are designed to do just that. Advertisers spend millions on figuring out what will manipulate people.


I believe in free-media, but if people would stop buying things because of destructive images they would stop. They won't though. The best thing you can do is try to protect yourself.

I think that the solution to resisting all this is to reject the advertising. If a company is advertising something to you in a way that you think inappropriate or in a way that implies that there is something wrong with you, simply don't buy it. Another way to resist is to get rid of the television and never buy glossy women's magazines.

Answer 5

I blame a lot of people. I blame parents for teaching their daughters that they have to be nice and make lots of friends. I blame shows that little kids watch where being popular is important. I blame magazines that push 2 day diets. How can I blame women for being brainwashed from the age of one? A study was done where they took 8 year olds and gave them a pair of socks for a present. Boys showed their disapproval, girls thanked the people. That is how parents are raising their daughters and I find it disgusting! Boys are allowed to be impolite and girls are supposed to accept everything they are given. What sort of world are we creating?

Answer 6

You're right! The women themselved are as much to blame as the press. Why would you want to look like the women in magazines or like the so-called 'celebrities'? Half of them are moronic drug addicts anyway. And Java, I don't own a pair of 'low-rise' jeans. Just the normal sort that hide my underwear.

Answer 7

I hear you, i hate this culture of blame we live in. Nobody likes to take responsibility of their actions. The problem does stem within the person and i can't see how the media can be blamed for some of the more serious issues of self esteem and confience these women are battling with.
WE JUST NEED TO LOVE OURSELVES (LOL ALTHOUGH THIS CAN BE EASIER SAID THEN DONE)!

Answer 8

true, but it's the magazines who are saying, 'if you don't look like this you won't get a boyfriend, get on in life etc' and that's what causes the problem. Magazines push the very thin stick like models as the only ones who really matter, and many of the high fashion clothes are designed so they only look good on very thin girls. There are many girls who would NEVER reach that sort of figure as it isn't in their build. but they will try as they are told it's what they should look like.

Answer 9

It depends on what happened in history i have no doubt that in the past at least one person was mocked for the way they looked. They just need someone to blame.

Answer 10

Damned right - It's down to each individual to make sensible and healthy choices for themselves. If I see some famous person on TV or in a magazine etc. and they look like a bit of a ****, I don't think, "Hey, I'll do it anyway because it's fashionable", I think, "what a ****."

If you can't make this basic distinction and are that concerned about what everyone else thinks of you, perhaps you SHOULD starve yourself to death for the sake of the human gene pool.