[2] The media perpetuate this ideal in various ways, particularly glorifying and focusing on thin actors and actresses, models, and other public figures while avoiding the use or image of overweight individuals.
[3] It has been stated that the increase in eating disorders over the past several decades has coincided with an overall decrease (pound-wise) in women's ideal body weight portrayed by the mass media.
Megenta magazine released an article on "How to dress for your body type" giving tips and tricks to look the best in an outfit while striving to encourage women to feel comfortable in their skin.
Garner, Garfinkel, Schwartz, and Thompson paid particular attention to the difference in body shape of Playboy centerfolds over a 20-year period.
[16] This issue is being control by some countries such as Israel and France in which they regulate the body mass indexes of models and let the public know whether the ad images is manipulated.
[20] Victoria's Secret puts on an annually televised Fashion Show, in which its models walk down the runway in lingerie and the latest releases for PINK, a brand aimed at high school and college-age consumers.
Primetime television shows that appeal to a primarily female audience, such as Friends or Ally McBeal are helmed by young, attractive, and thin women.
[26] A study was done of 10 primetime television programs on each of the six major TV networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, UPN, NBC, and WB) with the largest Nielsen audience ratings during the 1999–2000 season.
A study in Fiji showed that the introduction of western television had a detrimental effect on young women's perceptions and eating behaviors.
[28] In 2007, analysts sampled 135 scenes featuring overweight individuals from popular television programs and movies and coded for anti-fat humor.
Media programs containing fat stigmatization content often are popular and have high ratings, suggesting that the general public finds it acceptable to overlook such remarks in the context of the story.
Females in video games had significantly larger heads, but smaller chest sizes, waists, and hips than the average American woman.
[31] In 2008, a study showed that after playing video games, both female and male college-aged participants had significantly lower body esteem.
[36] In 2001, the British newspaper The Independent wrote about the silhouette of American TV stars like Calista Flockhart and Sarah Jessica Parker and compared it to that of the women in pop group Destiny's Child saying, "The lollipop silhouette long-favored by the female stars of American sitcoms, which involves disproportionately large heads wobbling atop stick-thin bodies does not say rich and it doesn't say clever.
[37] In September 2011 nationally syndicated columnist Michael Kinsley, the founding editor of Slate magazine, wrote harshly critical remarks about New Jersey governor Chris Christie and his weight.
[41] Social media consists of websites like Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook enabling users to produce and share content.
"[44] It was also found that these boards promoted a positive correlation between social comparison, female ideal body typing, and extreme weight loss behaviors.
Thai and colleagues conducted a report titled "Reducing Social Media Use Improves Appearance and Weight Esteem in Youth With Emotional Distress" in 2023.
[45] Thai and colleagues recognize the potential of social medias as being a valuable tool, but they caution excessive usage can lead to diminished self-esteem and increased body dissatisfaction levels.
Additionally, mental health and medical professionals have demonstrated that those who are continuously exposed to advertisements are more willing to engage in appearance altering practices.
These practices include disordered eating habits, such as bulimia or anorexia nervosa, significant time exercising, cosmetic procedures, and self-harm.
Ferdousi and colleagues conducted a report titled "Through Thick and Thin: Exposure to Instagram Advertisements and Willingness to Engage in Appearance-Altering Practices" to understand the influence of media and body image.
Ultimately, results showed a significant positive relation to being exposed to thin and curvy models and a willingness to engage in actions to be thinner or curvier.
"A study of 6,928 girls ages 9 to 14 years old found that the desire to emulate the appearance of females on television, in movies, and in magazines was predictive of beginning purging behavior at least on a monthly basis.
"Large populations of 'average' girls do not demonstrate clinically diagnosable eating disorders—pathologies that the culture marks as extreme and unhealthy—but rather an entirely normative obsession with body shape and size," Cutler said.
[53] Ultimately, these differences may have lasting effects on the ways in which white and non-white women are affected by media depictions and cultural ideals of body image and beauty.
Lovejoy argues that this difference in support can influence the way black and white women are affected by damaging ideals of body image and beauty.
For instance, section 2 expires at the end of the period of one year, and the act extends to England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
Thin models are often further enhanced by corporations, presenting a "perfect" woman to individuals of all ages creating damaging effects to one’s mental and physical health.
Understanding these complexities is crucial for healthcare professionals and policymakers to develop strategies for mitigating the harmful impacts of media and body image.