Media Impact on Others

             When reading my other classmates blog responses about how the mass media impacts their lives, I found many varying thoughts and ideas but one main concern from many stood out the most; The impact that the media has specifically on the body image of women.

Personally, I was never impacted by the way the mass media portrays women. The mass media seems to have a large effect on my classmates that are women.  I was aware even at a young age that not all women could be skinny, weigh one hundred pounds and have the best clothes. By reading the blog posts of others, I realized that this was not the case for everyone. For some, the mass media becomes not only an entertainment source but an obsession. “From a very young age I was very insecure about my body and it did not help that on the television you would see half naked girls dancing on all the boys.” - http://montanahighley.wordpress.com/. It never occurred to me that other women could tear themselves apart so badly due to what they see on television or in magazines. Not only do these individuals think that they are not pretty or skinny enough but they become convinced that everyone around them believes the same thing as well. “I’ve been pulled into this black hole where all I care about is how I can look better.” - http://societythroughmyeyes.wordpress.com/. Depending on how extreme this student felt about herself, it could have been possible for her to develop diseases such as anorexia and/or bulimia in which she would starve herself in hopes to become skinnier. This could become very dangerous and ultimately lead to the individual to become hospitalized. "One of my closest friends fell into a trap of being obsessed about her weight and looks. Media took over her entire outlook on life; she became a victim of the media’s unrealistic view on image.” - http://kw12hb.wordpress.com/. Many people do not realize that this is happening to their family member or daughter because the individual does not want to bring attention to themselves.

The mass media’s impact on women is a huge issue that I never seemed to notice because it never affected myself or others around me. After reading the blog posts from the other students, my view on the mass media has changed drastically. I now understand how much of an influence the mass media has had not only on my classmates but on women all around the world. I used to believe that the mass media was always a positive thing but now I am beginning to realize that there are negative points to it that everybody might not be able to see.