Sophie Horton
Social media displays unrealistic body types of women. It’s easy for young women to compare themselves to those they see on social media, which causes them to be self-conscious of their own bodies. Changes need to be made in order to address this problem, such as utilizing arts and science in a collaborative way to help bring awareness to this problem, and eventually fix it.
Social media is a part of almost all of our lives. You may be familiar with Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Linkedin, and Pinterest. They are all forms of media that people use to post and share things. Because so many people are on social media, people share images of themselves looking their best. People won’t put out a certain negative image of themselves, they put out all their good and fun moments to create an ideal story of themselves. Young women viewing social media think that’s how others’ lives really are and compare their own lives to those they see. And the pictures with beautiful women get a lot of attention and can leave viewers dissatisfied with themselves and their bodies. Particularly women are targeted in social media, because they are on it more than men. In the recent article “Social Media Effects on Young Women’s Body Image Concerns: Theoretical Perspectives and an Agenda for Research” by Richard M. Perloff, he writes “18-29 year-olds who use the Internet are the most likely of any demographic group to use a social networking site; importantly, women are more likely than men to tune into these sites” (Duggan and Brenner qtd. in Perloff 364). Since women are the majority of people on social networking sites, they are the most affected by it. Going on social media you see images of women who look “ideal,” and girls seeing those images think that’s what a woman should look like. A lot of these women on social media are very thin, or are curvaceous with a small waist. These body types are unrealistic, but girls seeing these images don’t think so. Women feel the pressure to look like those models on Instagram because of all the positive attention they’re getting. We need to put a stop to women feeling badly about their image. But there’s a solution to all this, science and art.
Art is a way we can help raise awareness to women’s body image issues due to social media. Art is a creative outlet that you can do so much with, and is important even though people don’t always think so. Art opens our minds to so much more than just what’s in front of us. Accomplished performer Yo-Yo-Ma, who wrote “Necessary Edges: Arts, Empathy, and Education,” says, “The arts teach us that there is something that connects us all and is bigger than each of us. In both places it is a matter of equilibrium. Of centering the ego at the right point of balance between the individual and the community” (Ma 280). Not everyone is alone in feeling badly about themselves because of social media, and art is a way we’re able to raise awareness and stay connected. By using social media we can post advertisements that support various body types. As a user of social media it’s not uncommon to see art posted to make a point of something. For example, I see cartoon drawings that grab people’s attention and have an important message behind them. I see ads pop up on my social media feed targeting me and other young people. Thoughtful, artistic ads aimed at supporting young women could help bring attention to this problem.
We can also raise awareness of the effect of social media through science. Statistics is the mathematical part of science, it touches on collection, analysis, and explanation of data. When people see the statistics of something it makes them feel like they’re not alone. Posting to social media, the statistics of women affected by social media will show young women how many people feel the same way they do. Young women will not go on their own time to look up this data, so posting it to social media is an effective way to raise awareness of the number of women who feel the same way they do. Science is more than just the typical experiments and data collection. Accomplished writer Jonah Lehrer, who wrote “The Future of Science…Is Art?,” explores science even more, and gives it a different perspective. He mentions in his article, “The trajectory of science has proven to be a little more complicated. The more we know about reality-about its quantum mechanics and neutral origins-the more palpable its paradoxes become” (Lehrer). Science, just like art, can open young people’s minds. Science gives people a more technical response and can help us understand the scientific connections between ego, body image, and social media. That’s why together art and science can help raise awareness of the negative response of social media to women.
With arts’ catchy images, and sciences statistics, they can come together to make useful advertisements on social media. Art will catch people’s attention by showing an image of a “meme” or a cartoon. And science will give the statistics showing people how this is an actual problem and a valid concern. By doing these things I hope that people will see the dangers social media can have on women and self confidence.
We all seek the need for validation and acceptance. That’s why social media’s negative effects on women have gotten so severe. Art and science can be an effective way to show young women that this problem of body image issues is not just felt by them. Art and science can open people’s minds by the way art lets people interpret things from a personal perspective, and science lays out facts on the issue to show people that they are not alone. Together these two educational tools are a super power to fight, and show young women, that they are not alone.
Multi Modal Statement
in my paper I choose to include three multimodal components to enhance my paper overall. I choose to include a visual of a girl posing and taking a selfie. Since my paper is all about the effect of social media, I included that image right above where my paper starts so the image will really stand out to the reader. I want that picture to grab people’s attention and think to themselves about how they perceive that girl. There’s many ways people could perceive the first image, and I think it’s a way of interpretation. The next component I choose to include was a video that my highschool friend made last year. She wanted to make it for the awareness of social media and the effects it has on women. She interviewed girls from my grade including myself, and asked them their opinion on social media. I think that’s really important because it shows girls the age group social media effects the most, and it shows their opinions on it as well. The last element I added was a hyper link to an article about the way social media affects mental health. My essay wasn’t getting into also of the mental ways were affected, so I wanted to include a link to an article to show that mental piece to it. And give readers who want more knowledge on the topic of mental healths effect, to easily access it. Including these multi modal elements enhanced my paper in a way by making it more interactive, and eye catching.
Works Cited
Crampsey, Adam. “Self-Perception- A Film About Social Media and It’s Effect on Women’s Confidence” 14 May, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm47GPbRSXw
“Girl Taking Selfie” Kurir.rs. https://www.kurir.rs/data/images/2015/06/21/00/683857_mladi-selfi_ls.jpg
Lehrer, Jonah. “The Future of Science…Is Art?” Seed Magazine, 9 April, 2016, https://www.seedmagazine.com/content/article/the_future_of_science_is_art/P1/. Accessed 23 October, 2019.
Ma, Yo-Yo. “Necessary Edges: Arts, Empathy, and Education.”Emerging Contemporary Readings for Writers, edited by Barclay Barrios, 3rd ed, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016, pp257-261.
Perloff, R. M. (2014). Social media effects on young women’s body image concerns: Theoretical perspectives and an agenda for research. Sex Roles, 71(11-12), 363-377. doi:http://dx.doi.org.une.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s11199-014-0384-6
