The first reading is "Effects of Fashion Magazines on Body Dissatisfaction and Eating Psychopathology in Adolescent and Adult Females" by Julie Shaw. This paper explained an experiment that attempted to find connections between exposure to images of fashion models of various ages and body dissatisfaction. Two groups of females were examined: one with 24 people with a mean age of 14.5 years and the other with 24 people with a mean age of 27.3 years. The results showed that both groups showed higher body dissatisfaction when viewing photographs of adult fashion compared to photographs of adolescent fashion. Another finding was that adolescent girls in general feel higher body dissatisfaction after viewing both adolescent and adult fashion photography than adult women. The third finding was that weight, greater bulimic tendencies, and age were all positively correlated with viewing images of fashion models. In other words, heavier and older adolescent females were more likely to have bulimic tendencies than younger and lighter adolescent females. This is probably because they feel a stronger pressure and desire to look like the models in the photographs and have the idealistic body.
The second source is "The influence of fashion magazines on the body image satisfaction of college women: An exploratory analysis." Researchers aimed to uncover a connection between photos of women in magazines and their effects on body satisfaction of women. An experiment was conducted involving 39 undergraduate women randomly split in two groups with the same mean height and weight. All 39 females took a body image satisfaction survey but one group viewed fashion magazines prior to the survey and the other group viewed plain news magazines. The participants only viewed the magazines for about 13 minutes before taking the survey. The results showed that the group who viewed fashion magazines prior to the survey tended to report less body satisfaction, more frustration about their weight, greater fear of gaining weight, and wanted to weigh less than the group who viewed news magazines prior to the survey. This was an expected result. Researchers feel that body image dissatisfaction is an important area of study because body image issues can lead to lower self-esteem and sometimes to health problems such as depression.
The third reading is "Reality Check: An Experimental Investigation of the Addition of Warning Labels to Fashion Magazine Images on Women's Mood and Body Dissatisfaction." This journal article explained a study in which women were shown magazines with fashion images that either had no labels, a warning label saying the photograph was altered, or a warning label saying which specific part of the model's body was altered. Mood and body satisfaction were measured after the viewing of the magazines and the results showed that the women who saw images with warning labels tended to be in a better mood and have a higher body satisfaction than those who viewed images without warning labels. This is because the warning labels put the women at ease and prevented the women from feeling decreased body dissatisfaction that people usually would feel after viewing fashion photography and photography of skinny women. Warning labels were predicted to suggest that viewers should not aspire to look like the body in the photograph and that the photos are unreal. This hypothesis was supported by the evidence. Another finding to the experiment was that regardless of whether or not the fashion advertisement had a warning label, there was no change in the effectiveness of the advertisement and the viewer recalled the advertisements just as well.
Fourth and lastly is the journal article "The simulated (fictitious) body: The production of women's images in fashion photography" by Lucia Ruggerone. Two fashion companies in Italy were examined for the way they produce images in advertisements. The first company had empathy toward its viewers and attempted to use common-bodied women in their advertisements in order to prevent negative influences. The second company had no sympathy for the viewers because they did not believe their images had any effect on body image satisfaction. It turns out the viewers had negative attitudes toward the images of the second company and more respectable attitudes toward the images of the first company. It seems that fashion advertising plays a huge role in creating standards for beauty and body image. Society as a whole is greatly affected by images of thin women and the clothes that they wear because it shapes economic status and class, such as expensive brands being classier than cheaper brands. Another finding explained in this journal is that the past 30 years have shown a shift from the importance of clothing in advertisements to the higher importance of the body of the model wearing the clothing.
I was surprised by some of the findings from my sources. One thing that struck me as interesting was that adolescent females are more negatively affected by fashion photography of adult women than females their own age. If I had to guess I would say age similarity would have a larger impact but that is not the case. Another surprising point I discovered is that there was such a large difference of body dissatisfaction between the people who read fashion magazines compared to the readers of news magazines before completing the survey on body image. The reason it surprises me is they only read the material for 13 minutes. This seems like a very short amount of time but apparently images and advertisements can cause effects very quickly. This seems dangerous because we are constantly surrounded by media and do not even realize the effect it has on our thoughts and actions every day. One implication is that warning labels are being considered to be used in magazines as they effectively lower the negative effects of media. It could change the thin-ideal to now appear as something unattainable to a person with normal eating habits and decrease the pressure to be as skinny as models. A second implication is that the use of thin models in fashion photography is extremely unhealthy for women as an audience. Females aspire to be as skinny as these models because they feel that is the standard for beauty. Eating disorders can stem from this desire and so can depression and other health issues. Those who attempt at shrinking their bodies put themselves at risk just because of photographs and the pressure they create.
Lately, there have been multiple news stories regarding the skinny ideal. Several bans have been put in place to prevent the editing of model images because they infect viewer's minds so much. Many people have complained about unrealistic photographs of females and their effects on their friends, children, and selves. Hopefully the fashion industry realizes the negative and harmful effects they induce with their thin model photography and attempt to reduce them by employing more healthy-bodied female models.
The second source is "The influence of fashion magazines on the body image satisfaction of college women: An exploratory analysis." Researchers aimed to uncover a connection between photos of women in magazines and their effects on body satisfaction of women. An experiment was conducted involving 39 undergraduate women randomly split in two groups with the same mean height and weight. All 39 females took a body image satisfaction survey but one group viewed fashion magazines prior to the survey and the other group viewed plain news magazines. The participants only viewed the magazines for about 13 minutes before taking the survey. The results showed that the group who viewed fashion magazines prior to the survey tended to report less body satisfaction, more frustration about their weight, greater fear of gaining weight, and wanted to weigh less than the group who viewed news magazines prior to the survey. This was an expected result. Researchers feel that body image dissatisfaction is an important area of study because body image issues can lead to lower self-esteem and sometimes to health problems such as depression.
The third reading is "Reality Check: An Experimental Investigation of the Addition of Warning Labels to Fashion Magazine Images on Women's Mood and Body Dissatisfaction." This journal article explained a study in which women were shown magazines with fashion images that either had no labels, a warning label saying the photograph was altered, or a warning label saying which specific part of the model's body was altered. Mood and body satisfaction were measured after the viewing of the magazines and the results showed that the women who saw images with warning labels tended to be in a better mood and have a higher body satisfaction than those who viewed images without warning labels. This is because the warning labels put the women at ease and prevented the women from feeling decreased body dissatisfaction that people usually would feel after viewing fashion photography and photography of skinny women. Warning labels were predicted to suggest that viewers should not aspire to look like the body in the photograph and that the photos are unreal. This hypothesis was supported by the evidence. Another finding to the experiment was that regardless of whether or not the fashion advertisement had a warning label, there was no change in the effectiveness of the advertisement and the viewer recalled the advertisements just as well.
Fourth and lastly is the journal article "The simulated (fictitious) body: The production of women's images in fashion photography" by Lucia Ruggerone. Two fashion companies in Italy were examined for the way they produce images in advertisements. The first company had empathy toward its viewers and attempted to use common-bodied women in their advertisements in order to prevent negative influences. The second company had no sympathy for the viewers because they did not believe their images had any effect on body image satisfaction. It turns out the viewers had negative attitudes toward the images of the second company and more respectable attitudes toward the images of the first company. It seems that fashion advertising plays a huge role in creating standards for beauty and body image. Society as a whole is greatly affected by images of thin women and the clothes that they wear because it shapes economic status and class, such as expensive brands being classier than cheaper brands. Another finding explained in this journal is that the past 30 years have shown a shift from the importance of clothing in advertisements to the higher importance of the body of the model wearing the clothing.
I was surprised by some of the findings from my sources. One thing that struck me as interesting was that adolescent females are more negatively affected by fashion photography of adult women than females their own age. If I had to guess I would say age similarity would have a larger impact but that is not the case. Another surprising point I discovered is that there was such a large difference of body dissatisfaction between the people who read fashion magazines compared to the readers of news magazines before completing the survey on body image. The reason it surprises me is they only read the material for 13 minutes. This seems like a very short amount of time but apparently images and advertisements can cause effects very quickly. This seems dangerous because we are constantly surrounded by media and do not even realize the effect it has on our thoughts and actions every day. One implication is that warning labels are being considered to be used in magazines as they effectively lower the negative effects of media. It could change the thin-ideal to now appear as something unattainable to a person with normal eating habits and decrease the pressure to be as skinny as models. A second implication is that the use of thin models in fashion photography is extremely unhealthy for women as an audience. Females aspire to be as skinny as these models because they feel that is the standard for beauty. Eating disorders can stem from this desire and so can depression and other health issues. Those who attempt at shrinking their bodies put themselves at risk just because of photographs and the pressure they create.
Lately, there have been multiple news stories regarding the skinny ideal. Several bans have been put in place to prevent the editing of model images because they infect viewer's minds so much. Many people have complained about unrealistic photographs of females and their effects on their friends, children, and selves. Hopefully the fashion industry realizes the negative and harmful effects they induce with their thin model photography and attempt to reduce them by employing more healthy-bodied female models.
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