Maria Enriquez

English 115

Professor Rodrick

September 26, 2017

Rough Draft

If you go on instagram, Facebook, or Tumbler it is easy to scroll down your fee and find

a picture of a girl that is most likely not the type of girl you would see on a daily basis. In the

picture she maybe with friends or taking a hike, but this girl is more than a girl shes the ideal

body image of young teenage girl. You automatically begin to judge and look at her body the

ideal body for a girl. Its easy to be on social media and find millions of these girls who are

thin and have an hour glass body. Although we know these images are not 100% accurate

because of Photoshop its still easy to fall under the idea that the girl is still skinny and beautiful.

Girls feel the need to change themselves in order to conform on what society expects them to

look like. Social media affects a persons identity through body image because it creates false

beauty standards, eating disorders, and causes girls to be unsatisfied with themselves by using

Photoshop and comparing themselves with other girls online.

Girls are exposed to false beauty standards when they are on social media. The

expectation for young girls is to be skinny, tall, and white. [Insert quote and come up with

analysis] Young girls believe that this is what it takes to be beautiful. They try to achieve a

standard that isnt there for them to reach. Therefore they change their identity to become

someone who they wish to be online. [Insert another quote with analysis] They try so hard to be
someone they are not they end up losing their identity because they work themselves up to be

these girls they see online. Obviously these models Photoshop their pictures to portray a certain

way, but girls still want to have this false standard.

Now since girls want to reach false beauty standards they go extreme measures to reach

it. This where eating disorder plays a role in their identity. According to [insert quote followed

with analysis]. There are websites online that promote dieting as a good way to lose weight.

Although sometimes going on a diet is good for a person who has an unbalanced eating system,

this girls are not doing it to benefit their health. The websites online can provide some pretty

tough and easy ways to lose weight that could harm girls because they are so desperate to lose

weight and ends up creating eating disorders. [Insert one of the studies/research done found in

article two along with analysis] Models also promote dieting through their photos. They take

pictures of themselves eating salads, fruits and working out. It is a powerful message because

they are basically stating that if they eat salads and fruits all the time they will be thin and good

looking as them. Once a girl goes through an eating disorder that person identity is no longer the

same they are forcing themselves to not eat or eat very little changing how they interact with

others.

In society it is easy for a person to be unsatisfied with their body and social media makes

it easier. As we see these loved and craved bodies online we begin to see that our bodies dont

match up to them. [Insert quote with analysis].Young girls are no longer happy about what they

see in front of the mirror. [Another quote with analysis]. Social media presents body image to be

tall with long shiny hair and skinny, but still have enough breasts and a butt. No body type is the

same. Its part of a persons identity, who they are and social media has been making young girls

feel unsatisfied with their own identities.

 Comparison plays a big role in body image. As you go through your social media and

you look at a friends picture you begin to compare yourself with that friend [insert quote with

analysis] you not only find effects on your friend but yourself. It relates back to being unsatisfied

with your body. You want the features your friend or a random girl online has because it satisfies

the wants of the ideal body for a woman. Social media then becomes a competition on who gets

more likes and their body images play a bigger role. The skinner you look in a picture the more

attractive you seem the more likes you get. [Put in another quote] Girls compare their bodies as if

they are no longer attached to their head but are now objects that have to satisfy men. Their

identity is no longer surrounded by them but upon what others want to see online, the identity

that will get them the most likes.

Social media issue on body image affects the persons identity in the real world. That

person is no longer confident in themselves and online. They make themselves suffer through

dieting that leads up to an eating disorder only to reach a false beauty standard that doesnt exist.

Their identity is not based on them being happy about themselves, but on being constantly

worried that they are not skinny enough to be loved both online and in the real world. The girls

want what they see online and so they go out in the real world trying to find a way to be the girls

online who may even catfish. They become shy and conservative because they no longer believe

they are enough for society. Identity is no longer theirs to claim, its all put into one picture they

see online or social media and that is the ideal body image for a young teenage girl.
 Work Cited

Ferguson, Christopher J., Galindo, Mariza, Garza, Adolfo and Munoz, Monica E. Concurrent

And Social Media Influences on Body Dissatisfaction, Eating Disorder Symptoms and

Life Satisfaction in Adolescent Girls. Journal of Youth & Adolescence, Vol.43, no.1,

January 2014, pp.1-14, Social Sciences (H.W. Wilson).

http://libproxy.csun.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

b=ssf&AN=93435770&site=ehost-live

Perloff, Richard M. Social Media Effect on Young Womens Body Image Concern: Theoretical

Perspectives and an Agenda for Research. Sex Roles, Vol.71,no.11-12, December 2014,

pp.363-377, Social Sciences (H.W. Wilson).

http://libproxy.csun.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

b=ssf&AN=99711794&site=ehost-live.

Ricciardelli, Lina A and Williams, Robert J. Social Media and Body Image Concerns: Further

Considerations and Broader Perspectives. Sex Roles, Vol.71, December 2014, pp.389-

392, Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson).

http://libproxy.csun.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&

db=ssf&AN=99711799&site=ehost-live