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A pilot study investigating whether focusing on body functionality can protect women from the potential negative effects of viewing thin-ideal media images

“…In turn, satisfaction or dissatisfaction with one's own appearance will depend on how closely one's body emulates these ideals (Tiggemann, 2011). Unfortunately, the current beauty ideal is more unrealistic than it ever has been, with the "ideal woman" being extremely thin (Diedrichs & Lee, 2011;Fouts & Burggraf, 2000;Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008). Mass media are considered the most pervasive sociocultural channel that transmits this thin ideal (Tiggemann, 2011).…”

Obesity in social media: a mixed methods analysis

“…Negative weight-based characterizations in the media have been consistently documented, whereby obese individuals are portrayed as unintelligent and undisciplined architects of their own condition [1]. Furthermore, overweight people are underrepresented in entertainment programs, but those who do appear are portrayed as unattractive, shown engaging in stereotypical eating behavior, and the target of ridicule and derision [8,10,19]. The news media also contribute to weight bias by portraying overweight individuals in stigmatizing ways [35,36] and by focusing primarily on individual-level causes (e.g., diet) and solutions rather than on social or genetic factors [18,25].…”

Media Representation: Health and Body Images

“…More precisely, the American study on popular reality TV shows reported that male characters were twice as likely to have average to low body fat as their counterparts in the US population (Dallesasse & Kluck, 2013). In addition, the Canadian study (Fouts & Burggraf, 2000) reported that sitcoms represent female characters with below-average weight three times more often than indicated by the prevalence rate in the Canadian population. Another study on fictional TV series that are popular in the United States added that the coverage for underweight female characters was even six times higher than the occurrence rate of underweight women in the American population (Greenberg et al, 2003).…”

“…Popular media frequently overrepresent men and women with low body fat. For instance, research has demonstrated that up to 47% of the male characters in American reality TV programs (Dallesasse & Kluck, 2013) and 76% of the female characters in Canadian sitcoms (Fouts & Burggraf, 2000) have low body fat. More precisely, the American study on popular reality TV shows reported that male characters were twice as likely to have average to low body fat as their counterparts in the US population (Dallesasse & Kluck, 2013).…”