Media Representation: Health and Body Images

Abstract

The current chapter presents a review of the portrayal of appearance ideals in popular entertainment media. It examines the literature on the components of the ideal and on the nature of portrayals of appearance standards in popular media. First, study findings on the characteristics of appearance ideals presented in the media demonstrate that popular media frequently glamorize curvaceously thin female and mesomorphic male characters with flawless faces and a suntanned white or lighter black skin tone. Second, younger characters are more likely to adhere to media standards of appearance than older characters. Moreover, the ideal appearance is considered to be malleable. Characters with an ideal appearance also outperform characters that deviate from the ideal at a sexual, social, and professional level. Lastly, appearance standards in the media are inherently related to stereotypes of gender and ethnicity. Several recommendations for future research are made.

The Relationship Between Online Pornography and the Sexual Objectification of Women: The Attenuating Role of Porn Literacy Education

“…Popular media in general and pornographic media in particular have been criticized for advocating sexist views toward women (e.g., Fredrickson & Roberts, ; Wright & Donnerstein, ). Advertisements, television shows, magazine articles, and social media content regularly present women as decorative objects whose appearance is their most valuable asset (Vandenbosch, ). By frequently presenting women in revealing attire, popular media content not only invites other (male) media characters to gaze at women's body, but invites media users to do the same (Fredrickson & Roberts, ; Vandenbosch, ).…”

“…Advertisements, television shows, magazine articles, and social media content regularly present women as decorative objects whose appearance is their most valuable asset (Vandenbosch, ). By frequently presenting women in revealing attire, popular media content not only invites other (male) media characters to gaze at women's body, but invites media users to do the same (Fredrickson & Roberts, ; Vandenbosch, ). Sexually explicit media also tend to promote women's role as sex objects for male pleasure (Wright & Donnerstein, ), perhaps even more so than general entertainment media.…”

Performing sex: The representation of male and female musicians in three genres of music performance

“…Seidman (1992) reports that male characters appeared nearly twice as often as females, and he confirms Utterbach’s observations of differential characterization of males and females and the presentation of women in subservient behaviors, and their subjection to sexual depredation. Sandve (2017) refers to “iconographic gestures of crotch grabbing” as an integral part of hardcore videos, and other studies (Aubrey et al, 2011; Baxter et al, 1985; Brown & Campbell, 1986; Dibben, 1999; Seidman, 1992; Sherman & Dominick, 1986; Signorielli et al, 1994; Vandenbosch, 2017; Vincent et al, 1987; Wallis, 2011) have been unanimous in reporting music videos as representing women as sexual objects, dressed in sexually provocative clothing, showing sexually attractive bodies that equate to western body ideals, engaging in sexually provocative actions, shown in inferior, subservient roles, conveying notions of female inferiority, and often subject to sexual violence. Whiteley’s (2000) account of Madonna’s music video “Like a virgin” epitomizes the style of sexual innuendo that underlies many music videos in this genre.…”

The Role of Pubertal Timing and Heterosocial Involvement in Early Adolescents’ Media Internalization: A Moderated Moderation Analysis

“…Mass media, including primetime television shows, magazines, and music videos, are replete with messages about how men and women should ideally look like (see Vandenbosch, 2017, for a review). Generally, sexualizing media promote a muscular and mesomorphic ideal for men and a curvaceously yet athletic-thin body for women (Dallesasse & Kluck, 2013;Flynn Park, Morin, & Stana, 2015;see Vandenbosch, 2017, for a review).…”

“…Mass media, including prime-time television shows, magazines, and music videos, are replete with messages about how men and women should ideally look like (see Vandenbosch, 2017, for a review). Generally, sexualizing Figure 1.…”