We live in a society that values looks, but only if they fit into a restrictive set of ideals regarding size and shape, age, skin colour, as well as many other features of our bodies.
Movies, magazines, television, billboards, damage teens’ body image by enforcing a “thin ideal” since long ago. It create normalise of what is beautiful.
Body image is how we see and think about our body when we look in the mirror. Social media is linked to body images concerns, dieting, body surveillance, a drive for thinness and self-objectification in adolescents. The platforms such as Facebook and Instagram allow teenagers to earn approval for their appearance and compare themselves to others.
The line between a “like” and feeling ranked is blurred. The amount of likes teenagers get can increase and decrease self-esteem. It is reported that Instagram is the worst social media site for mental health, with its heavy focus on imagery. It create unattainable and unrealistic standards of what beauty is.
Body image issues rise in the space between how our bodies really are, and the projection of what our bodies should be.
On social media, we can see the same perfectly honed body shapes appear over and over again. But if we look around ourselves, we can see a variation of all body shapes and sizes. Uploading images to social media conforming with beauty standards is a form of self-objectification.
Beauty has been an important factor on woman. Woman tend to be judged by the basis of how they look. The more positive the evaluation, the more likely they will be valued to others. Other people’s evaluations can determine how girls and woman are treated in day-to-day interactions, which can shape their social and economic life outcomes. Woman are the main targets of sociocultural pressure to attain an idealised today.
