Media Influence on Adolescents - Case Study Example

Media have become an important influential factor in the shaping of human perception and conception of ideas, theories, values, beauty and perfection. The society reflected content as well as the exaggerated image that is portrayed in media is seen to have a strong impact on how people accept reality or criticize it. Thus, it makes the idea promoted by mass media as a standard form or accepted visualization of that particular role. Unlike other forms of selling, mass media reaches out to a wide range of people, having larger influences in regard to instilling ideas and changing traditional views on an aspect. Although, both men and women read, viewed and heard various media content, women are maximally influenced by the content both in the physical sense as well as in the mental sense. That is, while men are merely excited, women strive to be just as flawless and perfect as projected in mass media by following lifestyle practices, which sometimes could border on negativity. When one looks historically, when other electronic forms have not yet made an appearance, print magazines was the major media influence occupying the mind space of both the males and females. However, as mentioned above, although males read the magazines, they were not maximally influenced by them to incorporate as part of their lifestyle, this was not the case with the females. In those times, women are mainly viewed (and the adolescent girls were prepared) as housewives or homemakers, whose primary duty is to take care of their husbands, children and the household. So, the media content in those days featured information as well as tips mainly regarding this lifestyle of women. Although, some magazines also featured content and tips on other extra-curricular activities that can be carried out by the women, it was only in minority. The basic point is, all forms of media content mainly reflect or write or broadcast what is happening in the real society about real people or specifically about real women at that particular time. Thus, mass media now or earlier reflected or featured women centric issues that was/is prevalent. However, certain issues are not time-bound and are visible now also. Quite importantly, apart from reflecting what is in the society, this media content will also influence the society. That is, like a chain reaction, the media content gets created from the society, and when the society starts to continuously read a ‘specific’ type of content, they will or if correctly said, majority of them will get influenced, thereby creating norms or stereotypes. This will change the lifestyle of many. As more adolescent boys and especially girls read, view or hear the media content, they will/have started viewing them as the eye-opener for many of their lifestyle choices as well as panacea for all their problems. When they do this, they will avoid or even ignore any tips from their parents In recent times, sexuality has been used in the mass media as the main form of gaining the attention of its viewers particularly the target segment of adolescents or youths, often showing models in a physical appearance, which negatively influences the adolescents. These contents in the mass media often use the subject of sexuality to promote the product or other features by correlating the two. Sizable content in the mass media show women as a symbol of beauty and sexuality, impacting men and women in different ways. So, this literature review focusing on the trends and the influencing role of the mass media, will first discuss about the early mass media mediums particularly magazines and its impact or influence on the lives of the female, comparing it with the magazines of today. As part of the comparison, the review will also focus on how these mass media content took the ‘informational adviser’ tag, and gave a lot of tips to the adolescents, who sometimes preferred these media content over their parents. Then the review will do the images comparison, by comparing the images featured in the media content of earlier times and today, discussing whether it was healthier to follow. Media’s influence is more on female adolescents than their male counterparts To men, the idea of learning something from the media for real life application as well as sexual imagery only arouses or excites momentarily, as they do not relate themselves to the image they are viewing. As stated by Worrell (2001, p.193) “Men are less likely to feel guilty about not meeting such standards”. That is, although men incorporate sizable aspects from the media into the lives, they do not maximally relate to the media content to physical image, other tips including sex tips, chances of finding a partner or finding an image related professional career, much in contrary to women. Instinctively, women do realize that their appearances mark up their chances of finding a mate, finding a career and also some sort of positive acceptance in the society. Both socialization-based and evolution-based accounts of human sexuality provide support for such a gender difference in sexual attitudes. (Sengupta and Dahl 2008). The use of the sexual imagery targets and manipulates females more than males. A webpage in the website of Michigan State University states that, “although the ideal for men has changed to encourage a more muscular, lean frame, the focus of the extreme messages and pressures has been on females.” This view was further supported by Fox (1997), who states that boys go through a short phase of relative dissatisfaction with their appearance only in early adolescence. On the other hand, for girls, puberty makes things worse, “as the normal physical changes – increase in weight and body fat, particularly on the hips and thighs, take them further from the cultural ideal of unnatural slimness.” (Fox 1997). As the mass media appeals to them on the basis of sexuality, gaining their attention by exposing bare skin or perfect silhouettes, it puts a lot more pressure on the adolescent girls. Thus, women are affected a lot more than men in regard to sexual iconography, which makes them the weaker targets, enabling them to be easily manipulated. Early trends in Media and its influence on female adolescent lives Although, this focus among female on being influenced by the mass media regarding their physical structure or body image, social activities, house environment, their relationships, etc has taken on during the last few decades, this has been visible in the early years or even centuries as well. Because, according to sources, a magazine catering to female issues made its first appearance in Britain way back in 17th century. In 1693, the first women's magazine in British history titled Ladies’ Mercury made its first appearance. That first magazine itself took the role of ‘informational adviser’ mainly giving tips to various sorts of female issues. “The Ladies' Mercury promised to answer any questions relating to "Love etc" with "the Zeal and Softness becoming to the Sex".” (Hughes 2008). All the readers were asked to send their queries to a coffee house near St Paul's and wait for "the Ladies Society" there to crack the code and come up with apt answers. (Hughes 2008). Although it created interested, it could not sustain, as the magazine wound up after just four issues. As stated by Beetham (1996), with the readers and queries coming from the same locality, the women editors of those times were not able to discuss all the queries and give apt solutions, as in-depth discussion could reveal the identity of the sender. The other characteristic aspect of these first magazines is that it mainly focused on the ruling and elitist class of women in the society. However, as pointed out by Hughes (2008), “the moment of transformation, at which point women's magazines stopped being an elite product written and read by ladies with time on their hands, arrived in 1852 with the launch of the Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine.” This magazine targeted the middle-class housewives and mothers coming up with content and tips that focused on the household issues. With different columns focusing on everything from cookery to pets, Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine largely impacted the lives of the English women as well as wife-to-be English girls of those times. Broomfield provides a key perspective of how, “Over the course of its first decade, this popular monthly both recorded and participated in the transformation of the English diet during one of the most tumultuous and important periods in English food history” (Broomfield 2008, p.102). Broomfield (2008) further states that by giving a lot of cookery related tips, it enabled novice or inexperienced housewives and even girls to cook, without constant aid from their mothers, who might be living in distant locations. This clearly shows how female of those times, without mothers or parents nearby and without electronic communication options, depended on the print magazines for sizable advises. So, when looks from the perspective of whether magazines or parents gave more tips, in those times of primitive communications, magazines played a far more crucial role than today. Although, Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine featured content reflecting and influencing the house centric lifestyle of the female of those times, it also influenced the female in other ways. As Noakes states, magazines of those times before Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine only emphasised woman's role as a domestic manager by offering cooking recipes, needlework patterns and others items of practical instruction, without any avenues to express their opinions. For example, Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine had a section called, Conversazione', which facilitated much debate including fierce and prolonged exchanges over tight lacing (Noakes). Although, as discussed above, the magazines of those times were established mainly with the objective of providing inputs to the female population for their daily household chores, by mid 19th century, magazines including Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine opened up a new avenue and started influencing women in a more prominent manner. As stated by Hughes (2008) “The master stroke of the magazine, however, was its coverage of fashion. By the 1860s, each issue featured a coloured plate showing anatomically impossible young women crammed into the latest Parisian fashion.” This only set the trend among the female to go for new fashion, irrespective of what their parents say. That is, as the magazines became popular and the fashion featured also became popular among the social groups, women and importantly adolescent girls started going for it to make them prominently noticeable in the social circles. However, as stated by Worrell (2001) they were mainly influenced by the fashion dress, and minimally by the fashion models and their body images, which is different nowadays, because models’ body shape mainly influences adolescent girls. On analysing the mass media content over the past few decades, it is evident that the trend to distort the female image and body, thereby negatively influencing the adolescent girls started with the expansion of mass media. When one looks at historical precedents, there have been clear evolutionary changes. That is, before the advent of mass media, female including adolescent girls did not distort their body extremely, particularly bordering on thinness. As stated by Stein and Bark (2006), “during the Victorian era, the ideal body type for women was plump, fleshy, and full-figured.” Arterburn and Garrett (2004) further adds to this point by stating that the teens of the Victorian era dreamed of being virtuous, kind and enlightened, which was epitome of womanhood and more importantly viewed good health as the key want, rather than having a great body. Then, from 20th century, voluptuous started giving away to slenderness, but not thinness. That is, by 1920s, the Victorian hourglass gave way to the thin flapper, and after World War I, active lifestyles added another dimension, with energy and vitality becoming central, and body fat was perceived to contribute to inefficiency and was seen as a sign of self-indulgence. (Stein and Bark 2006). However, when the second half of the 20th century began, with the mass media including different types of magazines and importantly Television and Feature films started making optimal impact on the psyche of the people particularly adolescents, mixed signals were sent to the target group. That is, although mass media portrayed female mainly as part of household chores and products, voluptuousness also came back to fashion, mainly during Marilyn Monroe era. “By the 1950s, a thin woman with a large bust line was considered most attractive. The voluptuous (size 16) Marilyn Monroe set a new standard for women who now needed to rebuild the curves they had previously tried to bind and restrain.” (Stein and Bark 2006). In consideration of the large number of media content that promoted sexual imagery, women are shown almost exclusively as housewives. Wykes and Gunter (2005) bring out the other perspective that was visible in 1950’s, that is, most of the media content particularly magazines and advertisements showed women as housewives who struggled to achieve perfection and the product that would help them to achieve, making the female viewers want to be just as perfect as portrayed by the media. Furthermore, “women are shown to feel ashamed and guilty if they fail, and to feel that their desirability and lovability are contingent upon physical perfection.” (Kilbourne). Then, as the mass media became more liberal and modernistic, the perception of thinness as the acceptable body image started creeping into the minds of the females particularly the adolescent girls, ignoring the parents advises. This is more visibly in majority of the Western nations including Britain, as the mass media had a major boom in those countries. Even now, in many non-western cultures plumpness was considered attractive and desirable and was always associated with attributes such as; prosperity, fertility, success and economic security and in such communities eating disorders were much less likely when compared to western communities. (Yip 2006). Current trends and emergence of overly beauty conscious women because of Mass media In the current times, various forms mass media are bombarding the eyes and the ears of the population, thereby influencing their minds maximally. That is, in the last few decades, female section of the population have started losing track of other aspects that define their value and are eluded by the supposed importance of physical attractiveness. Barker (2001) points out this changed mindset of female population by stating that they often forget the image of a substance woman, or a woman who is more intellectually sharp and tend to be shallow and become over conscious about their looks. This kind of behaviour may even be seen in children, or very young girls. Stokes (2003) points out this perspective, by stating that even in a very young group, weight concern is seen to be very high and many students are concerned with their body image. That is, quite contrast from the earlier media content, today’s magazines and other media outlets are maximally focusing on women’s body images and shapes, and minimally on mind related aspects of women’s lifestyles. So, many students, who have apt weight according to their height and weight, even feel that they are over-weight, which is the result of an exaggeratedly perfect media image of a woman. “Some experiments do show that females who view thin media images experience lower body satisfaction levels than do females who view neutral images.” (Groesz, Levine and Murnen, 2001). Adolescent girls often compare themselves to models are subject to low self esteem. Research has proved that exposure to mass media containing idealized images of physical attractiveness will at least temporarily, lower female viewer’s satisfaction with their own physical attractiveness. (Richins 2001). Although, in the earlier times particularly in and after 1950’s, various media content including magazines showed fashion models and the girls of those times aped their fashion, they did not give importance to the models’ body image. Also as stated by Arterburn and Garrett (2004), there were no major social pressure or importantly peer pressure among the girls of those times to conform to the fashion featured in the magazines. However, Kilbourne provides the key perspective of how in current times, peer pressure is continuously being built up by the mass media. “Most teenagers are sensitive to peer pressure and find it difficult to resist or even question the dominant cultural messages perpetuated and reinforced by the media.” (Kilbourne). In addition, the adolescent girls are targeted by various mediums particularly advertisers as they are unaware of realistic standards and strive to attain media standards. Lombardo (2008, p.44) points out that “advertising relies upon the creation of anxiety, doubt, self-consciousness and fear of not meeting the standards.” These emotions may be easily triggered in both men and more importantly in woman by showing images of models that are seemingly perfect, with flawless features and control over their life. Women feel self conscious on seeing women of high beauty standards as they begin to wonder if they have looks that would be accepted by the media standards. However, in those times, even the advertisements featured in the magazines did not make an indirect kind of pressure tactic. That is, as the women of those times were mainly doing their household duties, all the products advertised focused on those aspects only, without the need to focus on body images. However, now even for a minor product, even if it is used by men, women with specific physical structures are featured, maximally influencing the adolescent girls. Groesz, Levine and Murnen (2001) further adds up this aspect bringing in the perspective of the men, by stating that men feel that they are not as successful or capable of keeping their spouses as happy as portrayed in mass media particularly in advertisements. Mass media project individuals as perfectionists who are expected to feel guilty at the event of having failed to be perfect. The most important factor that affects the psychology of men and women equally is that most advertisements show people to be perfectionists. Gray (2003) state how mass media particularly advertisements have shown to have a perfect family, perfect positions and all the luxuries. They are shown to be upset or worried about instances where they are not perfect. This inflicts upon them, the idea that they are supposed to get upset over being unable to attain perfection. Lombardo (2008) further adds up by stating how this leads to very low self confidence and a sense and they begin to conceive themselves as a person who is not efficient. These aspects can be rather disturbing, especially to young individuals who are in the development phase, building their theories based on what they see in the media. Adolescents who grow up with low self esteem are bound to face hardships. So, in those situations of pressure only, the female population particularly the adolescent girls start to distort their body through extreme practices. Schwegler (2006, p.289) points how, “Desperate to conform to an ideal and impossible standard, many women go to great lengths to manipulate and change their faces and bodies.”. This is perhaps the extreme effect that media can have on women and their conception of beauty. It is to be noted that women’s conception of beauty is now distorted since the beauty projected on screen is also distorted after much adjusting and manipulation of original features. However, this has not prevented the females particularly the adolescent girls from going for extreme ‘makeovers’. As stated by Brown, Steele and Childers (2002) girls not yet finished growing and who are dissatisfied with their physical appearances are having cosmetic surgery to reshape their noses, eyelids, breasts, etc, so that would enable them to change their body contour and face structure to be comparable to that of media images. Because of the media influence, everybody is viewed as either too thin or too fat and none is healthy. As stated by Saukko (2003), this has not left the young children out, as they are either forced to succumb to over indulgence or they decide not to eat at all since they are bombarded by weight loss propaganda with very little information telling them how to be healthy. Counihan (2002, p.228) adds up this perspective by stating how “this portrayal fuels women’s tremendous shame and guilt about eating problems as signs of self-centered vanity.” It is this kind of a perspective that pushes many women especially younger ones to be almost obsessed with dieting, weight problems and often eating problems; anorexia nervosa and bulimia. This clearly shows how the adolescent girls are more influenced of what they see, hear and read in the media content, rather than following their parents advice. Although due to academics, career, etc, young women are also located away from the parents, like the female population of the earlier times, unlike them, they have a lot of electronic communication options to be in constantly touch with their parents. Even then, as stated by Entwistle (2000), female population view the information, tips and other images featured in the magazines more seriously and importantly relevant to their tastes, while viewing their parents’ advices old-fashioned. While Kunzel and Hardesty (2006) provides the opposite perspective by stating, “for all the talk about the generational divide, teens and parents do talk and many times teens follow their parents' advice.” So, the bottom line is, although, females discuss and listen to parents’ tips, when it comes to certain subjects particularly regarding sex and sexual orientations, they mainly depend on the media. “International research has shown that the mass media are powerful sources of information about STDs for young people today.” (Sherr 1997, p.95). In the case of different sexual orientations like Lesbianism, the girls instead of parents will view the Lesbian magazines actively assume the role of sex educators and source of all information, even hiding the magazines from the parents Media influenced Images, body distortion and disorders Although, controlled eating due to religious reasons and associated fasting has been part of people’s lifestyle from early centuries, extreme changes in eating patterns and the related repercussions emerged mainly with the advent and the spread of mass media. Wykes and Gunter (2004) has this to say regarding the correlation between mass media and its influence on adolescents life style, “The modernity of the apparent expansion of ‘fasting’ and its focus on the body rather than on the soul appears to parallel the explosion of the mass media over the past 40 years”. When the adolescent girls try to adopt and internalize this perceived thinness and other distorted body images, they will start pushing themselves physically and mentally. That is, they will indulge in unhealthy eating patterns; carry out extreme energy sapping activities, etc. All these will lead to various body disorders like anorexia nervosa and further more mental stress. As discussed above and as stated by Currie (1999), this behavioural pattern and the related disorders among the adolescents particularly adolescent girls started appearing more prominently with the expansion of various media options from 1950s, and particularly how these media options started showcasing women in their content. This aspect was further validated by Fay and Price (1994), as they state that it is widely believed that contemporary female fashion models are thinner than those of the 1950s and it has been suggested that the use of thin models is causally linked to the increased incidence of anorexia nervosa. The other key perspective in the images that are featured earlier and now, apart from the thinness of the models, is the use of digital enhancements. The models in the ads are usually tall, thin and beautiful, with flawless skin, perfected to the smallest details such as extra white teeth. However, the fact is that, as Murray (2008) states perfection is not real and is subject to the digital and photo effects that may be used, and also the hours that the model spends with the make-up artist. This was not done in the earlier times, without adequate technology, images of women thin or fat were reproduced as it its. So, the bottom line is, these digitally enhanced images can make a more optimal influence on the female population than the earlier images. The fact that women strive to be similar to the image strips them of their nature to be emotionally attached to most things they do. References Arterburn, S and Garrett, G 2004, Lose it for life for teens: the spiritual, emotional, and physical solution, Thomas Nelson Inc, London. Barker, C 2000, Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice, Sage, London. Beetham, M 1996, A magazine of her own?: domesticity and desire in the woman's magazine, 1800-1914, Routledge, London. Broomfield, A 2008, “Rushing Dinner to the Table: The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine and Industrialization’s Effects on Middle-Class Food and Cooking,1852-1860”, Victorian Periodicals Review, vol. 41, no. 2, pp.101-123. Brown, JD., Steele, JR and Childers, KW 2002, Sexual teens, sexual media:investigating media's influence on adolescent sexuality, Routledge, London. 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