Levine and Harrison Effects of Media on Eating Disorders and Body Image 04 15 2014 Theorizing Media Effects on Body Image and Eating Disorders Social Cognitive Models o Cultivation The more of a particular type of media we are exposed to the more we come to accept that version of reality even over reality itself Idealized things in media aren t fantasies they are the norm Positive correlations between TV viewing and the belief that you are overweight regardless of if you are or not Correlation between heavy TV viewing and prejudicial attitudes towards overweight people More TV people watch thinner their ideal body type is o Thin ideal Internalization Not just in media that thin ideal is presented but some of us internalize the thin ideal NOT JUST FOR WOMEN influences men s conception of women Heavy viewing of media is correlated with thinness and body dissatisfaction eating disorders o Social Comparison More someone compares themselves to idealized images in media more likely they will be dissatisfied in their own body o Social Learning Modeling Cognitive Affective Models Media provide us with role models of people losing weight o Not so much about how you think as it is your emotions o Self Discrepancy Activation When the perceived self falls short of the ideal self it triggers negative emotions Results in people avoiding food soothes negative emotions Research o Meta Analyses Look at whole body of research studies shows overall patterns Small to moderate relationships between media exposure and body image disturbances Tends to be stronger for women than it is for men o Surveys Supported hypothesis that media in general and fashion and beauty magazines in particular encourage women to identify with thin ideal Some of it is seen with men internalization of muscular ideal not as strong as with women o Longitudinal Studies Study done over long period of time Supports the ideal that early exposure to thin ideals is correlated with later in life body image problems o Experimental Studies Tries to zero in on cause and effect Not just about correlation media images causing greater levels of body dissatisfaction and a drive for thinness Exposure to thin ideal images creates a self schema internal map that establishes a pattern of appearance to self worth Men internalize sense of self dissatisfaction Effects can result in all types of destructive behaviors Complicating Factors Media Characteristics Strongest Effects o Images of idealized females not beauty products Products don t have as much of effect as the images of the women themselves o Music videos with explicit images o Objectified sexist images o Relatively realistic images for adolescents young adults o Caricatured exaggerated images for children Audience Characteristics o Gender Stronger effects for females than for males when it comes to eating disorders but not much difference when it comes to body dissatisfaction Girls become vulnerable to idealized images as they approach adolescence Boys and girls show more awareness of relationship between body image and media as they age stronger for young women than for young men Stronger effects for white girls than for Black and Latina girls Women of color are increasingly being depicted as extremely o Age o Race Less evidence of racial differences in media all girls are being more and more effected o Disordered Eating and negative body image Particularly effected from media images that glorify thinness Reinforced more attentive thin o Current Body Change Efforts o Sociocultural Context Media is integrated into our lives its not just media that have these influences Peer and family influences interact with media influences o Presumed Media Influence on Others How we think media influences others connects to how media influences ourselves The more beauty magazines women read the more she believes others have the thin ideal the more she believes she should have the thin ideal Fighting Back Feminist Perspective at face value Media Literacy o More women and men with this perspective don t accept this image o Crucial in terms of resisting these media images o Idea that the more we understand media the more we take control over our own media lives exposure and influence levels o Helps children and young adults develop resistance to these body images Media Activism o Challenging these images and representations Gill Supersexualize Me 04 15 2014 Objectification Key term in feminist critiques of advertising and other media Women are portrayed as things rather than humans Acceptance of violence to those who have been objectified Dehumanized by advertisers Transformation in advertising is due to Sign Fatigue o Advertising world is filled with signs o In such a cluttered advertised environment viewers have become very weary and tired Viewer Skepticism Feminist Criticism Increasingly young women are presented not as passive sex objects but as active desiring sexual subjects who seem to participate enthusiastically in practices and forms of self presentation that earlier generations of feminists regarded as connected to subordination Commodity Feminism Use feminism to see products Attempt to incorporate cultural power and energy of feminism while taming its critique of advertising in media Unilever Midriff Advertising In today s midriff advertising women are less likely to be shown as passive sexual objects than as empowered heterosexual desiring sexual subjects Four central themes o Emphasis on the body Bodies have been defined as women s primary resource always risk of failure o Shift from objectification to subjectification Women are presented as active desiring sexual subjects who choose to present themselves in a seemingly objectified manor o Discourse of choice and autonomy Women are presented of pleasing themselves not men s approval o Emphasis on empowerment The Spectacle of Illiteracy and the Crisis of Democracy by Giroux 04 15 2014 Zombie Politics and Culture in the age of casino capitalism Giroux o the new illiteracy is about more than not knowing how to read the book or the word it is about not knowing how to read the world not being able to see the connection between larger social forces and our own individual lives The New Illiteracy o The inability to connect the private and the public What happens to you is part of larger social trends not just you alone o Triumph of emotional spectacles over logic and reason Much of the media we use is based on visual spectacles which effect us