THE UNREAL MEDIA IDEAL

          The media has long been disseminating societal messages to females concerning their physical appearance through beauty and body ideals and have done so by both hypersexualizing and objectifying the female body and by prioritizing certain features of the female body that most are pressured to attain. Historically and currently, Media messages compel women to fit the mold of Western beauty that idealizes thinness, and it is nearly impossible for women to resist or ignore the unrealistic body proportions that are valued in media and society.

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          Constant exposure to media-ideal body standards has proven to lead many women to issues concerning body image, self-esteem, eating disorders, and other developmental or health-related issues, and while there are various unhealthy ways thinness manifests and is achieved for a female, the quickest way for a girl to “fix” her physical appearance for peers to see on social media is to edit herself through body editor applications. Body editor applications have become highly pervasive, are available to anyone with a smartphone, and are meant to help edit out any imperfections that one sees fit, but at a great cost.

          The cost comes to all who must share in the intake of a distorted reality caused by unrealistic self-images that many create for themselves and for others. Body modification photo-editing applications are perpetuating both a media-ideal body image for females and the objectification and sexualization of female bodies in media and society, in which there are various negative effects on aspects of a female’s mental, emotional, and physical health in the process that must be addressed in order to make social media a safer and more benevolent place for everyone.