Body Image: How the Media Affects How Young Athletes ...



Running Head: ATHLETIC BODY IMAGEBody Image: How the Media Affects How Young Athletes Perceive ThemselvesCase-StudyShannon GarnerIntroductionOne of the most well known and talked about issues in American society is the effect that media has on how women perceive bod image and furthermore how athletes of all genders perceive athletic body image. This can have repercussions on how diligently athletes maintain a healthy sense of body image and how vigorously they work to compete in their given athletic activity. This also ties into how the media affects our perceptions, and what role it plays in the minds of athletes when maintaining said body image. Body image is the visual perception of how we look at ourselves (Ciochina 2013.) This image can mentally, physically, and emotionally alter how we think, feel, and act. Recently, studies show that there have been more negative than positive impacts because of body image in athletics (D’Alessandro & Chitty 2011.) Women athletes are seen to be “manly” and “unappealing.” Though body image disparities are often talked about concerning women, which will be the main focus in this paper, but it is important to not that body image also severely affects men and other genders as well. Due to an expansive rise in eating disorders, cases of anorexia and bulimia, and cases of malnutrition in today’s younger athletes, the media has been placed under a microscope and accused of having a negative influence on athletes of all kinds. The media has an extensive amount of material showing the notion of “idealism” (Pitura 2010). Idealism is how the world would be and look if everything was as perfect as it seems. However, idealism is not reality. This is especially accurate when we look at younger athletes. Through print, television, and even basic advertisements, mixed messages of beauty are thrown at people every which way. Some people get it in their minds that idealism is something they need to achieve, and therefore changes their daily habits or eating habits to achieve these goals. The media both directly and indirectly, support this mindset, which leads people to have an unrealistic view of how they should look. As a young athlete, media can have, and often does have negative affects specifically when referencing stigma about body image. This study mainly focuses on American athletes between the age of 16 and 20, a majority of them happen to be women. This is important to note also that women are not the only one’s whom the media affects, just who is being studied here today. In addition to this, the media have reportedly affected men athletes in all regions. According to the article written by Steven Sohn for the Atlantic Journal of Communication, men are vastly different from women, but are mentally affected by similar things. These things often comply with the athletic body image (Sohn 2009.) By using this as well as other supporting arguments, the evidence will show that media has a negative impact on the minds of a majority of the world when it comes to body image.Lastly, this study will look beyond the scope of direct media and include personal evidence. I personally have suffered from an eating disorder when I was high school athlete and the media encouraged this behavior, so this topic is personal. Many of my friends have suffered from this as well which will help take my research one step further. Also, one of the sources I will use has a forum for personal stories and confessions. This evidence will show how the media directly affects young athletic women. (Veldhuis. Koniin & Van der Veen 2011). I. Most importantly, I will go into the health repercussions that maintaining an unhealthy body image can have physically, socially, mentally and emotionally on young athletes.Body ImageLet’s first begin with what body image is. Body image, as mentioned above, has been described as the visual image of how people see themselves. More specifically, it is the image that people see when they think about or look at their bodies. Due to cognitive dissonance, people often see something that doesn’t truly resemble their actual bodies. This is inherently accurate when discussing young athletes. Young athletes often see their bodies as either too fat or too muscular. Ciochina describes body image as “a psychic construction, a mental image that generally has nothing to do with the body schema or the body itself” (p. 19). Studies out of Santa Clara University show that he percentage of athletes who struggle daily with eating disorders or faulty body image is somewhere around 60% of the population. One would think a number that is that high would elicit at least a bit of national attention leading to actions addressing the problem. (Savage. 2014) Yet, it seems as if the issue has become non-existent and certainly a not talked about subject in athletics. Even mentioning the words “eating disorder” and “athletes” in the same sentence tends to puts people on edge. Athletes do in fact have a unique relationship with their bodies because they involve their muscles more than non-athletes do. By constantly striving to improve in their personal respective sports, athletes are constantly confronted with their physical limitations. Some of the push could be abuse, and this can occur when athletes go to extremes to overcome those limitations, forgetting that their physical bodies constitute a large part of who they are as individuals.. Eating disorders are an example of such an extreme.Although body image doesn’t always represent the actual body, how someone perceives their body can have negative consequences mentally, physically and emotionally. One might believe that they are bigger or smaller than the size they truly are. Depending on what this person believes is the “ideal” body size; this can mentally take a toll on the person, especially someone who spends a significant portion of their time enrolled in activities and sports. Once this person begins changing their eating habits, the physical ramifications can be extensive. While this transition is taking place, the emotional stress from never feeling good enough can cause serious problems for the emotional state of health of a person. So, what exactly causes one to see their body image as something other than what they physically look like? Researchers have admitted the notion of idealism. Idealism is how the world would look and be perceived if everything was perfect. Many people, especially young athletes are constantly working towards idealism, whether they are doing it consciously or not. (Pitura 2010.) Because of this, young athletes will try to assimilate their bodies to fit the idea of idealism. This can have unhealthy and lasting ramifications for the person.Negative ImpactsEven though media can have some positive effects, recent studies show that there have been more negative impacts regarding to body image than positive impacts. This could be for many reasons including types of sports advertisements-such as Sports Illustrated Magazine- people’s access to advertisements, and gender mentality. Multiple types of advertisements in media on a daily basis, affect people: specifically young athletes. Through print, branding, television commercials, Internet advertisements, and billboards, younger athletes are surrounded by a new advertisement on average every 15 seconds (D’Alessandro & Chitty 2011.) One other aspect of the media that needs to be taken into consideration when referring to impacts on body image for young athletes is the idea of media literacy. Media literacy is the skill of being able to sort through the media and discriminate between fact and fiction. Media literacy is a learned skill and is a very rare quality in this day and age. Our awareness regarding fallacies is crucial to our cognitive dissonance and how we perceive others and ourselves. In 1956, the average size of a model was a size 8, while today, the average size of a model is 00. (Miller 2010.) With this decrease in average size, an increase in mental stigma to be thin has been prevalent. When regarding athletes, specifically women athletes, the pressure to be thing, but not too thin ns muscular without looking muscular is hard to upkeep. For athletic men, the pressure to have the muscular balance in your body in its entirety is increasing immense pressure.Personal Experiences and Celebrity EndorsementsMedia has negative effects on people’s body image, and they sometimes often have issues asking for help, or talking about their experiences. However, according to Veldhuis, Konnin, & Van der Veen (2011) online forums exist for people who have suffered from eating disorders, bulimia, and anorexia and are active athletes in various sports. These forums allow for athletes of all walks of life to comment encouraging advice and help offer support through their disorders. While studying one forum, Veldhius, Konnin, & Van der Veen noticed that it was clear that when the victim of these disorders had to blame someone it was generally himself or herself. However, over 68% of the stories posted said that the pressures of advertisements, like the ones seen in sports illustrated or Gatorade commercials, has had a significant impact on their mindset. Through these personal experiences, it is clear to see that media has an effect on the negative body image perceptions of young athletes. MethodologyEven though the above studies have all been very beneficial to better understanding body image perceptions, there are still many studies to be done. One of the future studies should try to better understand the correlation between media and mind for athletes. One further study that should take place is survey research based on what people perceive as an average body type for an athlete and a non-athlete. By performing these studies, I believe we can learn more about how significantly media affects how younger athletes think about their body and themselves. Though there are many other studies that can be performed, I believe these are the few that should be conquered first and will help educate us more of media’s effects. In conclusion, we have addressed that one of the most popular issues in American society is the effect that media has on how college aged women think. This can have effects on how diligently college women maintain a healthy body image. This can also tie into how the media affects our perceptions, and what role the media plays in the minds of college women when maintaining said body image. Through extensive research, and the need for future research, it is clear that media does play a significant role on the perceptions of body image for American college-aged women.ConclusionOne of the most popular issues in American society is the effect that media has on how women perceive bod image and furthermore how both men and women perceive athletic body image. This can have repercussions on how diligently these athletes maintain a healthy sense of body image and how vigorously they work to compete in athletics. This also ties into how the media affects our perceptions, and what role it plays in the minds of athletes when maintaining said body image. Even though both genders are affected by this stigma, this study primarily focuses on women’s body image.As a young female athlete, media has negative affects when referencing stigma about body image. This study mainly focuses on American women athletes between the age of 16 and 20. By using this as well as other supporting arguments, the evidence has shown that media has a negative impact on the minds of a majority of the world when it comes to body image.References:Anderson, J., & Bresnahan, M. (2013). Communicating stigma about body size. Health Communication, 28(6), 603-615. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2012.706792Ciochina, R. (2013). The body perceived in athletics. The body shown. Annals Of Spiru Haret University, Journalism Studies, 14(1), 19-25. Retrieved from: ’Alessandro, S., & Chitty, B. (2011). Real or relevant beauty? Body shape and endorser effects on brand attitude and body image. Psychology & Marketing, 28(8), 843-878. doi: 10.1002/mar.20415Knobloch-Westerwick, S., & Crane, J. (2012). A losing battle: Effects of prolonged exposure to thin-ideal images on dieting and body satisfaction in athletics. Communication Research. 39(1). 79-102. doi: 10.1177/0093650211400596Kostanski, M. (2013). Beyond the media: A look at other socialization processes that contribute to body image problems and dysfunctional eating. Journal of Communications Research, 5(2), 259-272. Retrieved from: , M. (2005). Sexism in advertising and marketing to women in sports.International Journal Of Advertising, 24(1), 113-115. Retrieved from: , A. (2010). Idealism: Factors affecting the body image of college students. Journal of The Communication. Speech & Theater Association of North Dakota, 2362-68. Retrieved from: , S. H. (2009). Body image: Impacts of media channels on men and women’s social comparison process, and testing of involvement measurement. Atlantic Journal of Communication, 17(1), 19-35. doi: 10.1080/15456870802505670V. Sasi, R., & K., Maran. (2012). Advertisement pressure and its impacts on body dissatisfaction and body image perception of women in India. Global Media Journal: Indian Edition, 3(1), 1-9. Retrieved from: Vonderen, K. E., & Kinnally, W. (2012). Media effects on body image: Examining media exposure in the broader context of internal and other social factors. American Communication Journal, 14(2), 41-57. Retrieved from: , L., & Eggermont, S. (2012). Understanding sexual objectification: A comprehensive approach toward media exposure and girls’ internalization of beauty ideals, self objectification, and body surveillance. Journal of Communication, 62(5). 869-887. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01667.xVeldhuis, J., Koniin, E. A., & Van der Veen, R. (2011). Online peer comments (re)direct adolescent girls psychological responses to media’s thin-body ideal. 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