Ashley,+Haley

What is the role of media in the societal perception of beauty? How has the ideal image promoted by fashion magazines changed over the last 5 years and how does this correlate with the change in people's perception of beauty?

//Americans' concern with apperance has changed from a concern to an obsession. Obtaining the media's 'perfect' body is through diet and exercise, at an excelling rate. In Korea, plastic surgery is becoming increasingly common and in recent years dieting and exercise has also reached new heights of popularity.// //There are two main reasons according to the SIRC, one being the media and the other being magazine pictures and televison ads that promote rigid/high standards of beauty that are supposedly acheiveable by less than 5% of women .//


 * Hypothesis**: As society is moving increasingly to a digital era the pervasiveness of the media is increasing, and we hypothesize that this increase parallels the increase of the media’s influence on the societal ‘norm’ of beauty. We think that as the influence of the media grows and as it increasingly promotes a certain image, that people will go to increasingly greater lengths to achieve this image. We base this hypothesis on the idea of the ‘influence of the media’ as ‘media’ is now a term that has expanded to include various platforms, including but not limited to smart phones, computers, laptops, tablets, magazines, advertisements, television programs, viral videos, etc.


 * Objective**: Our main objective is to find out how the image idealized by the media has changed in the past 5 years and how the societal ‘norm’ of beauty (measured by people’s opinion and the actions they take to achieve this ideal) has also changed over the past 5 years. Another objective is to see if there are any differences in the media-society relationship between Normal, Illinois and Seoul, South Korea.

In order to find some data of our own, we also conducted our own studies. In order to gain a rough gage of how the media has changed over time, Ashley looked through an American fashion magazine from June and November 2006, a Korean fashion magazine from August and January 2006, an American magazine from June and November 2011 and a Korean fashion magazine from June and December 2011. We counted
 * Method**: Haley looked at articles online and found statistics regarding the media and the change in people's actions as they try to attain the image the media portrays.

Furthermore, there is no way of knowing whether the data we are getting is 100% accurate. Since it is impossible for them to survey literally every single person in the US or Korea, we are assuming that the data is representative.
 * Potential Errors**: We expect some errors because by its nature the question may not have one exact answer. The concept of ‘media’ is so broad that it is virtually impossible to state what image the media most promotes with 100% accuracy, and so our answer will be at best a broad generalization. This same standard also applies to the concept of ‘societal norm of beauty.’ Furthermore, there is no exact way to show causation between the two, and any causation we can find will be mostly related to people’s opinion. Even if the portrayal in the media paralells a quantifiable change in society, there is no way of definitively proving that this is caused by the influence of the media.

Ashley Kim:
 * Literature Review**

http://brentwood.patch.com/articles/victoria-s-article-template Psychologist Meryle Gellman says that in the past 10 years her patients that she treats for eating disorders has not only increased but become steadily younger. She notes that this may be because the eating behaviors of someone's parents directly influences one's own eating patterns, even if it is not intentional. This influence combines with the media influence which is today greater than ever before. The article cites Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and even Suri as examples of celebrities in the media who are portrayed as having smaller physiques, and that the portrayal of Suri is especially dangerous as given the fact that she has her own website, younger children can access this and begin to compare their bodies to celebrities from as young as five years old. This may also be linked to the gradual societal pressure for everyone to succeed, and as a result children stop spending dinner time with their families and their eating patterns start to become increasingly irregular.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2010-03-30-skinnyasianwomen30_CV_N.htm

The rate of eating disorders is rising in Asia because of the perceived stereotype that Asian women are slim. However, the difference in the way that asians are dieting is that they usually tend to forgo exercise because of the cultural belief that muscles are not attractive. Instead they resort to severely restricting their eating or taking laxatives. Although eating disorders are becoming more common, there is more societal stigma attached to the notion since it is not one that is as well known as in the US, so people are not really educated in the psychological factors behind it. However, though eating disorders are a relatively new phenomenon, social scientists say that in Korea the norm for what is considered beautiful has been 'thinness' for a long time, and in many cases thin people are societally viewed as having more diligence etc. so more opportunities are opened to them.


 * Results**

Haley: Raw Data - Haley Sauve 3/26

According to the Social Issues Research Centre...


 * Reactions to body image depend on exposure to the idealised images of physical attractivness by the media.
 * Americans' concern with apperance has changed from a concern to an obsession. Obtaining the media's 'perfect' body is through diet and exercise, at an excelling rate.
 * There are two main reasons according to the SIRC, one being the media and the other being magazine pictures and televison ads that promote rigid/high standards of beauty that are supposedly acheiveable by less than 5% of women.
 * A Harvard University Study recorded that 2/3rds of underweight girls think they are too fat and 50% of 13 year olds are unhappy with their appearance.
 * America - 81% of 10 year olds have dieted at least once. Sweden - 25% of 7 year olds have dieted at least once. Japan- 41% of 6 through 10 year olds think they are too fat.
 * CHANGE OVER TIME= From 1979 throught 1988, the average model weighed 15% below their individual weight according to their average height and age category; but now in the 2000's, models weigh 23% less then average or at least ten to fifteen pounds less then where they should be.1917- the physically perfect woman was considered 5'4 and 140lbs.
 * The media is pushing these "perfect bodies" which exist in less than 5% of American women. As an example of how the "perfect and desired body" should look like, in the 1960's, America's famous icon Marilyn Monroe has measurements of 90-60-90. Today, models must be at least 5'8 and have measurements around 34-24-34.
 * According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and and Associated Disorders, 47% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported wanting to lose weight because of magazine pictures and 69% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported that magazine pictures influenced their idea of a perfect body shape.

Sources: http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/

Ashley:


 * Keynote**


 * Formal Report**