Critical Resource Response #1: Serena

517 word

How often are different body types portrayed in the media? Not very often. The media influences what many women think about themselves, and their bodies. In this essay I am analyzing the TedTalk by Lillian Bustle called Stripping Away Negative Body Image. I will talk about how the media portrays women’s bodies negatively, how different body types are becoming more accepted by the media, and how comments made about your body should not be taken in a negative way, and you should not make comments about other women’s bodies.

First of all, the media today shows unrealistic images of women, that make the women watching very self-conscious, and make them have negative thoughts about their body. “Many studies have been done showing that the overly sexualized, photoshopped, unrealistic images of women in the media has a pretty severely, terrible impact on women’s self-image.” The media portrays the “perfect woman” as skinny and white, but why does this have to be the image that is made perfect? Portraying this puts women with other body types down and makes them very self-conscious, and it can eventually lead to eating disorders. According to bustle, eating disorders are very common in bigger women, women of color, trans women, and elderly women.

Furthermore, different body types are becoming more accepted by the media. “A recent study shows that the more we are exposed to body diversity, the more we tolerate, accept, and yes even prefer different body types.” This means that more people are becoming aware that “skinny” is not the equivalent to beautiful, and all body types can be loved. Although Bustle does not mention where we see different body types, we can see them in the shows/movies we watch, walking down the street, or even in restaurants, which builds up other women’s confidence.

Lastly, some people think when you receive a comment about your body type, it is negative. However, it is only negative if you take it in a negative way. “We as women are programmed to tell each other that we’re not fat because to many people, both men and women, fat is the worst thing that you can be.” This means fat is used in a negative way, but really it is just a descriptive word. For example, in this talk, Bustle mentions that she uses the word fat to describe herself. When a woman is called fat or bigger, they should not take it negatively. In addition to receiving comments about body types, Bustle also mentions how women should stop commenting about body types they see in the media. This brings other women down and lowers their self-confidence.

How women’s bodies are portrayed can negatively affect their self-confidence, however women should not let it affect them negatively, and should take it as a compliment, because different body types are becoming more common/accepted in the media. This matters because when women feel accepted by the media, it can positively influence their self-confidence and not lead to eating disorders. This relates to life because it involves the equality of women’s body types, and increasing women’s self-confidence.