Pierce 1

Brooklyn Pierce
Essay 4 Rough Draft
Professor Davis
10 November 2015
Pierce, Brooklyn. The Media: Friend or Enemy. 10 Nov. 2015.
This essay is from this Comp II class. The purpose for this essay was to show the positive
and negative affects the topic of choice. I am happy with this essay because it is well organized
and has very good points throughout the essay. Again I wish I wouldve worked harder/longer on
the essay. The source work is solid. I wish I wouldve went to a tutor because the essay would be
that much more interesting.

The Media: Friend or Enemy

For decades women have been dealing with the negative impacts of the media. We have
been told thinner is better our whole lives and it has taken a toll on the way some women
perceive themselves. Social media has made such in impact on our digital world, almost
everyone has a Facebook or an Instagram and those sites take up so much of our time. With out
these media outlets, magazines and clothing companies would have a harder time connecting
with women and shoving unrealistic pictures down our throats. Personally, I have had a
Facebook for years and I find that it has changed the way I used to view myself. I can remember
when I was in junior high my friends and I were so engulfed in the idea to be thin and pretty.
That is what we were worried about when we were thirteen. Now girls as young as six and seven
say they want to lose weight, and that makes me sad. However, media isnt always being used in
a negative way. It helps teenagers learn about different cultures and helps spread awareness. As

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well as helping us connect with the world. With out the media the world wouldnt be as
connected as it is today, but would that be a bad thing? Women and young girls are constantly
being put down by unrealistic beauty standards, leading to distorted body image and low selfesteem.
For me to say that all media is bad all the time would be a big statement. The media has
some positive aspects and those include, helping develop awareness, helping teens and young
adults with social skills, and connecting us with what is going on around the world. Media
outlets and the Internet serve as a place to find information with out feeling embarrassed. Elda
Tartari said in her article Benefits and Risks of Children and Adolescence Using Social Media,
Teenagers can find and access online information about their health concerns easily and
anonymously. Excellent health resources are increasingly available to youth on a variety of
topics of interest, such as sexually transmitted infections, stress reduction, and signs of
depression (Tartari). Not only does the Internet and media serve as a helpful place to find out
information, it also helps develop social skills. With the new generation having less contact with
other young adults, the Internet and other media outlets allow for young adults and teenagers to
have a place to connect with each other and make friends with other people who share their same
interests. Lastly, the media helps connect us with what is going on in the world. With out the
Internet and media we wouldnt know what happened in Japan over the weekend or how many
people are fleeing from Syria in hopes of asylum. Without these media outlets the rest of the
world would be oblivious to world issues and unable to help. The media serves as a platform for
business deals and trading across the world. Now that I have explained to you the benefits of
social media and the Internet, I will tell you the negative influences it has on us.

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The media portrays women as these objects that can be manipulated to be perfect when
that, in fact, is not the case. For most women going out in public or going on the Internet is
almost always, at some point throughout the day, going to lead them to feel bad about
themselves. These magazines and other media outlets often have ultra thin models, that are so
thin they look sick, to sell clothing or other items. When women see these models making all this
money and getting positive attention, they want to be like that as well. In her article, Female
Body Image and the Mass Media: Perspectives on How Women Internalize the Ideal Beauty
Standard, Serdar says, Images in the media today project and unrealistic and even dangerous
standard of feminine beauty that can have a powerful influence on the way women view
themselves. From the perspective of the mass media, thinness in idealized and expected for
women to be considered attractive. Images in advertisements, television, and music usually
portray the ideal woman as tall, white, and thin, with a tubular body, and blonde hair
(Serdar). Young women and girls are so focused on what they look like on the Internet, and they
forget to live their life. Serdar made another point in her article about how most body standards
are unattainable for most women. Images in the media generally project a standard to which
women are expected to aspire, yet that standard is almost completely impossible for most women
to achieve (Serdar). We are surrounded by negativity in our everyday lives. Not only does the
media promote unrealistic body standards it also leads to distorted body images.
With unrealistic body standards comes distorted body images. While women have been
affected by this for decades this has become a real problem in recent years. Having distorted
body image issues is a problem that effects almost every young adult, at some point in their lives.
In Emma Halliwell, Alice Easun and Diana Harcourts research article, Body Dissatisfaction,
they conducted a study of young girls ages ten to thirteen. The girls were assigned to one of four

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experimental conditions. An intervention video was shown to half of the girls immediately before
they viewed ultra-thin models or control images. The video was developed by Doves SelfEsteem Fund and has the benefits of being professionally produced and freely available through
the Internet (Halliwell). In short, the girls who were shown the video immediately were less
effected by the ultra-thin models than the girls, who were just shown the control images. With
this information we can conclude that by showing the girls the video they were less likely to let
the controlled images effect the way they perceived themselves. With the findings or their
research, I conclude that for young girls to feel good about themselves they have to be told they
are beautiful or told they are good enough, and when they arent told these things they feel
horrible about themselves. In Chhandita Chakravartys article, 5 Positive & Negative Influences
Of Media On Teenagers, she lists reasons the media is good and what she thinks is harmful. This
was taken from one of her points, Thanks to Photoshop, the standard of beauty has become
impossible to achieve. And these images are everywhere. This has led to distorted body image
among a number of teenagers. Anorexia and bulimia are a fall out of this body image crisis
(Chakravarty). Another negative aspect of the media is it causes self-esteem issues.
Not only does the media hold unrealistic body standards and promote distorted body
images, it also affects young womens self-esteem. Self-esteem issues are a problem with almost
every female, all around the world. Self-esteem issues can cause chronic depression and other
psychological disorders. In the article, Does social media impact on body image?, the woman
whom the article is about, Kelsey Hibberd, made some good points. She was bullied growing up
and developed a lot of self-image issues. Kelsey describes her the bullying she experienced
between the ages eleven and sixteen as absolutely awful(Roxby). She goes on to talk about
how she over came those issues and what she wants to do to help children going through the

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same things she did. Now at 20, Kelsey is running a mentoring program called Loud Education,
which goes into schools to talk to pupils and train teachers on how to deal with body confidence
issues. It also provides advice on an lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues pupils might
have. Her aim is to educate young people, to make tem more cynical about the images they see
and admire, and to work with retailers and business to encourage them to be more responsible in
their advertising (Roxby). She is now happy with her body and is helping people. This is just
one example of the devastating affects of online harassment, leading back to social media. When
women see advertisements and magazines hundreds of times a day it is subconsciously hurting
your self-esteem.
In conclusion, the media isnt completely negative, it has good elements to it. It helps
spread awareness, helps develop social skills, and it connects us with the rest of the world. The
positive effects of the media have helped young people find helpful health information, and it has
helped develop social skills. With the new generation having less contact with other young
adults, the Internet and other media outlets allow for young adults and teenagers to have place to
connect with each other and make friends with other people who share their same interests.
These are some examples of positive influences of the media but there are also lots of negative
influences. These include unrealistic beauty standards, distorted body image, and low selfesteem. Unrealistic body standards have shamed girls who arent the perfect size or not model
material. Young women and girls are so focused on what they look like on the Internet, and they
forget to live their life. With unrealistic beauty standards comes distorted body image. Having
distorted body image issues is a problem that effects almost every young adult, at some point in
their lives. It leaves you very vulnerable to bullying and self-esteem issues. Self-esteem issues
also effects a lot of young women. These problems can lead to chronic depression and other

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psychological issues. With knowledge of these problems comes change and we must change the
way we, young girls, women, or even just people in general see ourselves and become confident
in who we are. We need to teach young girls they are more than what they look like on the
outside and to not care what anyone thinks about them.

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Berninger, Lauren. "Stop Blaming the Media for Our Body Image Issues." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 22 Jan. 2014. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
Chakravarty, Chhandita. "5 Positive & Negative Influences Of Media On Teenagers."
MomJunction. N.p., 26 Nov. 2014. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
Halliwell, Emma, Alice Easun, and Diana Harcourt. "Body Dissatisfaction: Can A Short Media
Literacy Message Reduce Negative Media Exposure Effects Amongst Adolescent Girls?."
British Journal Of Health Psychology 16.2 (2011): 396-403. SPORTDiscus with Full
Text. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.
Oak,Manali."PositiveEffectsoftheMedia."Buzzle.Buzzle.com,n.d.Web.23Oct.2015.
Roxby, Philippa. "Does Social Media Impact on Body Image? - BBC News." BBC News. N.p.,
13 Oct. 2014. Web. 03 Nov. 2015.
Serdar, Kasey. "Female Body Image and the Mass Media: Perspectives on How Women
Internalize the Ideal Beauty Standard." The Myriad: Westminster's Interactive Academic
Journal. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.
Tartari, Elda. "BENEFITS AND RISKS OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS USING
SOCIAL MEDIA." European Scientific Journal 11.13 (2015)ProQuest. Web. 22 Oct.

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