The Effect of Experimental Presentation of Images of Women in Magazine Advertising and Works of Art on Body (Dis)satisfaction in Adolescent Girls

Abstract

The present study was the first to investigate the influence of artistic images of women on adolescent girls' body attitude. The results have shown that a 10minute exposure to artistic images of women by such great masters as Titian, Botticelli or Degas significantly changed body attitude in teenage girls, which was expressed through increased body satisfaction, decreased body dissatisfaction, and weakening of negative body emotion. Those outcomes have also confirmed the results of the existing studies exploring the negative influence of magazine advertising on teenage girls' body experiencing. The comparison of two study groups has shown that girls looking at women in works of art expressed a significantly higher level of body satisfaction than girls exposed to women in advertisements.

The Relationship Between State Self-Objectification and Body Image in Mid-Adolescence: A Mediative Role of Self-Esteem

“…This emphasizes the role of the quality of messages present in the sociocultural space in the shaping of body image. If these messages convey the natural proportions and appearance of the body in a positive light, they can enhance a positive body experience (Mirucka, 2018b). However, if-as is usually the case in contemporary culture-they show unnaturally thin and sexualized figures as ideals of beauty (Vandenbosch & Eggermont, 2015), they can disturb the relationship of the individual with their own body and lead to its objectification and eventually to a distorted body image.…”