Body Image, Rhetoric Topic

For the rest of the semester, I will be centering my essays on body image and the effects of mass media. Throughout my life, body image has remained a center issue in our society. How much does mass media really affect this issue? In today's technological age, it actually has much more of an effect than anyone would have thought. Social media accounts advertise the how to get the best "Spring Break bikini bod", and certain characteristics are glorified. It has such an impact on the mental sanity of both men and women alike. Body image issues are one of the most important underlying reasons for mental disorders, such as depression, and suicide. Body issues are put aside more often than not. Frail skinny is being praised while physical and mental health is pushed on the back burner.

My call for action is to provide a more body positive mass media for everyone while continuing to educate the public. I do not necessarily believe there should be more "regulations" on what is posted, but I believe that modeling industries should be take into consideration the entire population, social media accounts should not be glorifying edited pictures, and people should just start understanding the impact that they are having in the lives of impressionable children, teens, and even adults. 

Social media leaves one of the biggest impressions on us today because of the insane amount of time that we spend scrolling through pages and pages of pointless feeds. We wish to be something we simply are not. Instagrammers take hundreds of pictures to find the right angles. Youtubers cover up every imperfection. And the public is just absorbing the information. We are never given enough background story, and we are never told of the horrifying aftermath that occurs due to the effects of social media. Women begin to hate their bodies. Men begin to abuse performance drugs. I wrote my first body image research paper freshman year in high school. Now, four years later, nothing has changed. Pro-ana websites still exist. Children still commit suicide due to not being "good enough". Nothing has been done to fix a truly serious problem that exists in our society. It is time to put in the effort to make a difference. Since social media is such a big part in our lives, that is were we start. We start by telling the truth, by simply not hiding the reality that truly exists.