The research question "Is the Media Really Hurting Body Image?" continues to be a very controversial topic in today's society. The media has a vast impact on young women and men all of the world, influencing them in a variety of ways and sometimes that influence can be negative. This topic is very intriguing to me because the society in which I live in is constantly consumed with technology and the media. Not a day goes by where we are not exposed to some form of the media, whether that be on a television ad or using social media on our phones. Even though the media may play an important role in keeping us updated on society and making us aware of what's going on in the world around us, its negative connotation can impact people in a strong way. Where many people are quick to say that the media is the best thing for us, it's primarily due to that fact that they do not know the effects it has on the bodies of girls and boys in society. I believe that the manifest consequences of the influence that the media puts on body image of young people, should be made distinct and clear to everyone. 

Many factors can influence how someone perceives themselves, and these contributions to one's perception usually causes them to create certain expectations for themselves. However, their expectations for themselves are very impractical due to their inability to exactly correlate what they want to look like and what they actually look like. It is horrible to think that some young adolescences commit suicide because they cannot live up to the expectations of themselves or others. As for my personal beliefs, I know that every person is intricately designed and made beautiful in their own way and seeing that being taken away is heart breaking. 

 Every young girl has experienced self image problems because of the expectations they think they have to live up to. Seeing a picture on Instagram, twitter, or the internet of a half-naked model, might cause one to believe that in order to look good and get desirable attention, they need to look that way as well. Young girls and boys will often see their friends posting pictures of themselves on social media, craving to get the attention they desire through the form of likes and comments composed of affirmative words. It's almost as if people believe that they need confirmation of the world telling them they look good, in order to feel good about themselves. I personally have experienced many instances like those, which is why this is such an important topic to me and why it hits my heart so hard. Since I have had this firsthand experience with the topic and situation, it makes me qualified to write about it. Just because I don't have a bachelors, or master's degree in this topic doesn't mean that my experience with the situation is any less important and that shouldn't influence the weight of this issue. 

The first source used is "The Fashion Industry May Be Linked to Poor Body Image and Eating Disorders" by Nanci Hellmich, which is an article arguing that the Fashion Industry as a whole, especially models, has warped women and young girls' body images. The fashion models have become extremely thin and skinny, which leads other women to believe that they need to look that way as well in order to be accepted. The major values and interests that stand out in this article are associated with the way that fashion models present themselves, causing more and more women to develop eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and other weight behaviors. Hellmich also states that this problem of living up to these ultra thin supermodels beings in youth and only elevates from there.  Hellmich develops a plan of awareness by saying that Women come in all sizes, and we should not define ourselves by a number on a scale. Nanci Hellmich works at USA today as a writer for the money section, covering retirement lifestyle and personal finance which does not give her huge credibility for this specific topic but she was able to research very heavily on the statistics and construct an effective analysis. Some bias that she may have towards this specific topic is that fashion models are not the only reason young girls and women develop these eating disorders. But simply, it could be a combination of many factors contributing to the development of eating disorders and not just the way supermodels appear. 

The second source used is "Behind the Shadows: Males with Eating Disorders" by Suzanne Koudsi, which is an academic article that focuses on males who have eating disorders. Koudsi challenges that eating disorders are only problems for women, when in fact numerous men have self esteem and body image issues in addition to women. She argues that young boys and men develop eating disorders because of a certain social pressure to look a certain way, just like anyone else would. The major values and interests that Koudsi focuses on are that one million men and seven million women suffer from eating disorders. The author also puts emphasis on the point of "resistance to treatment." This opposition and resistance to obtain treatment is due to people generally associating that the only men with eating disorders, are homosexuals. Another major value mentioned in this article is that men have two categories of eating disorders; men with psychological problems and other athletics who are obsessed with looking fit and perfect. Due to her great writing background, she is able to have a decent amount of credibility for creating such an article regardless of such experiences. Suzanne Koudsi is a reporter and editor for Fortune Magazine, graduated with a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University and received her Master's at Columbia University for Journalism. A type of bias she may have is her inability to present all of the statistics for men and eating disorders.

The third source used is "The Images of Beauty Are Unrealistic and Hurt Women" by Kirsten Anderberg, which argues that "the unattainable standards of female beauty that are perpetuated by the modeling and beauty industries hurt women" (Anderberg, 1). The author states that women are constantly throwing away billions of dollars towards weight loss programs because they hate the way they look. Anderberg wants to bring awareness to the fact that people are spending so much money on beauty products that are ultimately hurting women's self-esteem because they rely fully on these products to make themselves feel better. They believe that if they spend a bunch of money on a product that "might" make them look better, then they will also feel better too. The major values and interests that the author reveals are all the factors that contribute to the brainwashing of women to hate their bodies the way they are which in turn, makes them buy useless and unnecessary beauty products that they think they need. Anderberg argues that people should not be buying into these products because it is hurting the economy. People are only focused on the way they look, so they will go to any extent to buy what makes them look better even if it means hurting themselves financially and economically. Kirsten Anderberg was involved in the Women's body esteem movement in 1983 where she was very much involved, and she also formed a protest against the Miss California Pageant which gives her a great deal of credibility for analyzing and interpreting data regarding this topic. The author has created some bias because she believes buying beauty products and weight loss programs are only because women think a certain way about themselves, but some women do it for self ambition and to make their bodies feel better, by maybe working out and eating better. 

This research question is arguable because some people may believe that there are other factors involved with problems regarding body image and that the media doesn't have that much of an impact. They may also argue that the media is not the only reason why people develop eating disorders and other abnormal weight behaviors. This research question is a very controversial topic because for many years people have discussed both the positive effects of technology and the media, so there will be many arguments for and against it. Some agreements and disagreements I have found among these sources is that most people do agree that some type of media or technology has an effect on body image, whether it be advertisements of models, or beauty products sold everywhere. The different perspectives of these articles show me that there are so many other ways that our society effects body image, not just through social media. I may need to revise my research question not just focusing on the body images of women but men as well, because from the research and sources I have discovered, men have just as much reason to develop body image problems and eating disorders as women. 
