Schuyler Boggs
Karen Morris
ENGL-1102-XX
13 April 2011
Annotated Bibliography
"Beauty and Body Image in the Media." The Media Awareness Network. Web. 18 Jan. 2011.
The Media Awareness Network (MNet) is a non-profit organization that has been pioneering in media literacy since 1996. The members of the MNet have backgrounds in education, journalism, mass communications, and cultural policy. The idea of this article is that media promotes unrealistic ideas of beauty so that the beauty and diet industries are assured growth and profit. This article also shows how youth are negatively affected by unattainable beauty standards and how depression and unhealthy eating habits are easily developed in girls and women. The Media Awareness Network intends to publish knowledge for the average person to be able to learn and grow from the information posted. This causes the writing style to be very straightforward and simple to read. However, this work is not to be misconstrued as uneducated or untrustworthy. When compared to other works about the media’s impact on body image, this article is very basic, though, it discusses the direct influence of celebrity and culture in its explanation.
"Body Image & the Media: What's the connection?" Peel Public Health. 27 Sep. 2010. Web. 21 Feb. 2011.
Region of Peel is a website dedicated to serving the communities of Brampton, Caldon, and Mississauga, Ontario. Peel Health claims to be "…your regional health department, offering a wide range of public health services to ensure residents and workers can obtain credible information on preventing illness and improving the health of our community." This article is mainly about how ideal body images have changed since the 1800s. The image of a large body was considered healthy and fertile in the 1800s but now thin and waif-like is trending. Media influence is connected to this because when the media became influential, ideal body weights decreased and models became taller. The media began to portray unrealistic bodies to help the diet industry. Although this article is mainly a chart, the information given is informative. The easy-to-read chart clearly shows how the look for women has drastically changed since the 1800s. Dissimilar to other articles, this article does not outright say the cause of the change in body ideals. Rather than being direct, the chart shows the differences in body ideals through the years, insinuating the media’s negative influence.
Grabe, Shelly, L. Monique Ward, and Janet Hyde. "The Role of the Media in Body Image Concerns Among Women: A Meta-Analysis of Experimental and Correlational Studies." ScienceDirect. 134.3 (2008): 460-476. Web. 4 Mar. 2011.
Shelly Grabe and Janey Hyde work in the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. L. Monique Ward works in the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan. This article states that research suggests that exposure to media sources that depict thin-ideal body images causes body image disturbances in women. Studies show that thin-ideal body images cause body dissatisfaction, thin-body ideals, and eating behaviors. This article exudes its credibility with its professional structure and sharp word choice. Shelly Grabe and Janey Hyde’s article is certainly not tailored to the average reader, but it meant for the more advanced reader. Compared to other articles that focus on the media’s influence on body image, this selection is wordy but worth the deciphering for its valuable information.
"The Barbie Effect." Eating Disorders. Epigee, n.d. Web. 4 Feb. 2011.
This site was originally developed by Dr. Williams, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate, who has been interested in women's health issues for over fifteen years. She has been actively involved in the work of many non-profit health agencies, including pregnancy clinics, mental health organizations, and women's centers. This article is about the mental effects toys have on young girls, specifically toys like the Barbie doll. Doctors have conducted experiments and have found the negative effects on a young girl's self esteem due to Barbie dolls. After seeing images of Barbie, young girls had negative attitudes about their body images, and, overall, young girls wanted to be slimmer. The style of this article is formal with a large amount a quantitative data. This editorial is comprised mostly of data and statistics from the results of the experiment. Unlike most articles about the media’s influence on body image, this article was based specifically on a conducted experiment. The statistics that are included in the article show the official nature of the article, establishing its credibility.
"The Media Assault on Male Body Image." Seed Magazine. SEED. 15 Sep. 2006. Web. 4 Feb. 2011.
This renowned online magazine targets many different topics including: global issues, innovation, and culture. Seed Magazine claims their website is ". . . an experiment in media, and yet an old cause in journalism. We have a world to explore and a story to tell you." This article is about the stress media places on perfect male bodies. The ideal male body is typically depicted as hairless, muscular, blemish-free, and virtually without body fat. Research shows that males obsess over trivial issues like sweat production and facial hair thickness just because their features are not the ideal. This article shows how the media can affect male body images and self-esteem just like it affects females. Although this site seems to target average males, the articles are unbiased and reliable. The style of the writing is very simple to read and relatable to everyday life and circumstances. Unlike other articles about the media’s effect on body image, this entire article is about the stress the media imposes on males.
Stice, E., and H. E. Shaw. "Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology ." Refdoc 13.3 (1994): 288- 308. Web. 4 Mar. 2011.
E. Stice and H. E. Shaw are both affiliated with Arizona State University. They are both a part of the psychology department and have contributed many scholarly articles on Refdoc. Researchers have assumed that thin-ideal body images portrayed in the media contribute to eating disorders among females, but little research has examined the direct effect that the media has on women. The main idea of this experiment was to study the effects of media exposure on women’s body satisfaction and endorsement of the thin-ideal stereotype. Another point of this experiment was to test the effect the media had on bulimia. Like Shelly Grabe and Janey Hyde’s article, this selection was very formal and wordy. However, it was unlike most articles because it focused on the physiological affect that media has on women. Instead of focusing on eating disorders, this selection rather focused on the negative mental affects and emotions created by media sources.
