Bigger Stonger Faster

Directed by Chris Bell

Summary: This documentary show the media endued idea of being better at all cost. Although this documentary was about the use of steroids in America, ultimately it showed how the use of steroids is only a side effect of being American. Starting off with childhood, all Americans are exposed to television and media that shape their beliefs and values. Boys grow up idolizing men that represent strength, victory, and fear. Physical appearance matters to young boys as they grow up because it will affect how they think about themselves. Peer pressure, opinion, teasing are all factors of how kids will feel about themselves. The reason why most people believe that steroids are bad is because the media only shows the bad effects of steroids, which has or has not been scientifically proven. There has not been one solid research that proved that steroids had any long term effects on the users. Many people decide to use steroids for different reason such as performance enhancer and various heath problems (a treatment for HIV/AIDS). Steroids has been used for many centuries to treat medical problems but has never got bad publicity as it did now. Professional athletes get the most criticism for steroids because people believe that they are cheating (not putting in the work), but from all steroids user have stated, they all have to work harder to achieve their body and strength, steroids are just an enhancer. The main reason why most Americans (mostly boys and men) decided to use steroids in America is because it is embedded in their minds that they have to do what it take to be better than the rest. The is from the exposure from the media. For example, while growing up, most boy idolized superheros such as Captain America, who oral takes a stimulate the makes him stronger and more muscular. Also, the image of men should be muscular and strong comes from childhood heroes such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hulk Hogan, and Sylvester Stallone. These men all used steroids to enhance their muscles. The key point in the documentary is that use of steroids in encouraged by the American philosophy that we, as Americans, should do what we need to do to be better than the rest. These messages are communicated to us when we are children through the media.




Personal thoughts: From this documentary, it shows how easily one's mind can be shaped by the media, especially when exposed at early age. The media set these boys up since they were kids to become what they are today. From the ages 10, Chris knew what he wanted to be when he grew up and his whole life he worked for it. Although he did not achieve what he wanted, to be a hero like the Hulk, it was a great disappointment to him. Disappointment for not achieving goals is probably the biggest factor why people decide to take enhancers. He was very fit, very strong, and very muscular, but it was not enough for him because there were too many people that was like him. He wanted to be different and to stand out, as the heroes that he idolized when he was a kid. This shows a direct correlation of how the media affected his behavior, his goals, and his life. I believe that many Americans are the same way. The reason to all this madness-over exercising, eating disorder, dieting, and drug use-is to better than other people. I can see how that correlates with the American philosophy because we were always told that we HAVE TO BE BETTER, because we are better than the rest. But when reality sets in this ideal of how Americans always have to better, does it really bring happiness? This ideal of happiness is intertwine with making everyone else looking up to you, but the sad reality is that most Americans will not achieve that. As my husband told me, he have moved from Bulgaria to the states for seven years, that because Americans have so much more money and resources, people in Bulgaria want to move to the states to be better than everyone else. Does that include steroids? Does that include thin beautiful people? Does that include happiness? I can't blame people to be more muscular, or more thin, or more perfect than the next person because as a society, we were raised to believe that we have to the power to be better than the rest. Everyone uses the resources that are available to help us reach our goal. I do not see that it is any one's fault but society itself by sending out the message that it is your life's goal to is to be better than the rest.

The Body Beautiful: Symbolism and Agency in the Social World

Author: Erica Reischer and Kathryn S. Koo

Source: Annual Review Anthropology, 2004. Vol.33, 297–317

• Argument: Humans are the only creatures that are concern with modifying their bodies because it is a sign to social status or identifying with a social group. Interest in body modifications are cultural phenomenon.
• Background/Notes from reading: Cosmetic surgery has be increasing with in the last few decade, and is more seen as a cultural norm for countries like United States. Even toys that represent human bodies has changed. Barbie doll are now with wider hips, smaller waist, and smaller breasts. Cosmetics is also a very big industry around the world, promoting topical beauty products. Even the Kalahari tribe have their own interpretation of the use of cosmetic by applying animal fat to their skin. All around the world, the body is a symbol of an active participant in the social world. "Beauty" has been most commonly associated with women idealized body, whereas "Masculinity" is used to associate with men idealized body. Culturally, personal appearance sends a intentional or unintentional message about a person. In the Western culture, the meaning of being "plumped" has changed through out time. It used to be thought that being plumb represented wealth, good health, and social ranking, but now it means poverty, ill-health, and low social status. The reason why cultural body ideals were developed to represent a person participation in social values. For example, thin women are view to have internal discipline, but an increasing rate of eating disorder rose when this cultural values are in motion.
• Personal thoughts: I agree with this study 100%. The ideal image for women or men changes through out the year. The reason why we notice the trend of people looking like the "fashionable" ideal look, or try to look like the ideal look because society do judge on appearance. Appearance, at least in cultural sense, does draw conclusion about a person. For example, ideal bodies aside, take a look at the socially accepted fashion. Compare a person is dressed socially acceptable (in-fashion clothes, clean, neat) to a person that is dressed not socially acceptable (mo-hawk, ripped old clothing, piercings). If both people were the same in intelligence, it would not matter to society because they will always look down on people who do not follow the social trends. Social and cultural trends are set to encourage people to be disciplined.
  
  To support this article, let's take a look at a few photos of how the ideal image of women have changed through out the years culturally and socially.
  
  Below is a 1920's swim suit model.
  
  
  Here is a 1950's swimsuit models.As you can notice, she is thinner than the model in the 1920's.
  
  Here is today's swimsuit model, as you can see she is noticeably thinner than both models from previous decades.
  

Socially and culturally, women were alway praised for their beauty. One of the way the women will relate themselves to beauty is to compare themselves with women who are always in the media that are praised for their beauty. As models get thinner, women will want to get thinner to be socially accepted.

Muscular Ideal Media Images and Men's Body Image: Social Comparison Processing and Individual Vulnerability

Author: Duane A. Hargreaves and Marika Tiggemann

Source: Psychology of Men and Masculinity 2009, Vol. 10, No. 2, 109-119

• Background: Body dissatisfaction has been known to impact western women more than men in the past, but it has been increasingly common among western men. this includes eating disorders, obsessive exercise, depression and low self-esteem. Unlike women's obsession with the ideal image of being thin, men are more concern with their muscle size and tone. Within the past few decade, to be increasingly muscular and lean is the ideal image for men, but most media portrayal of these "ideal look" are unrealistic . For both men and women, factors that affect how they evaluate their appearance includes family and peer's opinion and media exposure.
• Argument: This study sought out to find out if the exposure to televised idealized muscular images would lead to lower body satisfaction, that this effect would be greatest for men low on appearance evaluation and high on appearance investment.
• Method: This study evaluates the immediate impact of media exposure of men's muscular ideals of TV commercials on men's body satisfaction. Also, this study examines how men evaluate their appearance and how it affects there body image. Lastly, this study manipulate social comparison and measures the resulting amount and direction of comparison of how the exposure of media ideals and men's appearance. This study included 104 male undergraduate students participants that answered three sets of questionnaires on a rating scale involving their opinion of commercial (commercials with muscular men and commercials with product only), and personal appearance evaluation.
• Results: The results supported the argument. After viewing product commercial that had muscular male models, most men felt less physically attractive. In regards of personal orientation of appearance, men with high appearance orientation were more negatively affected then men that were less appearance oriented. Between the social comparison of men and women, men were not as affected by idealized media images as women.
• Personal thoughts: I believe that idealized male images are increasingly affecting men around the world. The results from this study supports my opinion that men are affected from media exposure. The media is making men insecure about their body just like it made women insecure about their body. The media promotes these idealized body images by using the same kind of body in different ads and in different industry. To promote sales of products, companies would usually use "good-looking" people to promote their products, in this case men that are muscular or women that are thin. The media makes people think that these people think that muscular men and thin women are idealized because they constantly use these bodies in their ads, making it a cultural norm. I believe that if the media started to use overweight models, and glamorize their bodies, in a few years, overweight will be the new thin. To encourage fashion, the media always focus on the "new look" to sell products. For example, runway models were always more thin than the average person, but as we can see through out the years, the demand for runway models has changed. In the 70's, the male models were definitely lean, but not as muscular as male models today. The focus on more muscle increased through out the years, and male models because much more muscular than the next.

1970 Male Model

2008 Male Model

Contested Images of Femiminity: An Analysis of Cultural Gatekeepers' Struggles with the "Real Girl" Critique

Author: Melissa A. Milkie
Source: Gender & Society 16, No. 6 (December 2002), 839-859

• Background:Media depicts female athlete as traditional femininity and sexuality. There is a narrow definition of femininity and it varies from culture to culture. These narrow definition of femininity that the media display affect girls and women by challenging them their body image and self-esteem. This may result in eating disorder and depression. There are two individual levels, first, where people interpret and critique ideas and images within a society, and second, when people criticize and attempt to change the images. The most common criticism in the first level is that the images of femininity are artificial, unrealistic, narrow, and racist. On the second level, producers try to change the images from the criticisms, but it becomes a problem of how society defines femininity because viewers define it as one way and the insitutions defines it as another.
  
• Argument: How cultural gatekeppers resond to the demand from girls to create more authentic images can reveal subtle and complex institutional processes and illuminate the power of individuals verse producers in the struggle over soical definiatin about femininity.
  
• Method: This study was conducted through face to face interview from eleven magazine producers. The questions involved their position, specific duties, philosophy and guidelines, decision making, and formal and informal interactions.
  
• Results: Gatekeepers accounts shows that there is a struggle with defining femininity because different departments within the institution has different definition of femininity. It was hard for the editors to use girls with "normal" bodies because the fashion and the clothes were not made for them. Critical girls are not good interperators of these media images because they choose not too see the normals one but they only want to see the perfect ones. This causes them to compare themselves to models that look good rather than the models that look normal.
  
• Personal thoughts:I can see how the editors' responsiblities are becoming harder because they have the adjust to the public critcizism of how they define femininity. The viewers of magazines only want to see the "perfect" models and they compare themselves to it. This makes it hard for the editor to satisfy both the view's need of seeing perfect models and the display "normal" women. Editors put images in magazine because they believe that it is what the views would want to see but they get critcizm because it is unrealiztic. I think it is unfair for the editors that they have to find the fine line between the two spectrums.
  

Media-Portryed idealized images, body shame, and Apperance Anxiety

Author: Fiona Manro and Gail Huon
Source:

• Background: Media exposure is associated with negative feeling about the body included to alter one's weight and shape. According to Brownell, media portrayed images, especially for dieting and weight-altering products, promote the idea that body shape and size are flexible, and that achieving the this ideal is relatively easy. Women that focus that more attention to appearance are the ones that are most affected by other people;s opinion about their body. This also causes body shame, anxiety, and self-scrutiny.
  
• Argument: When compared with images that do not feature idealized bodies, exposure to idealized bodies would result in increased body shape and appearance anxiety. Also, the effect would be more pronounced for body-related products.
  
• Method: This study included 39 female participants. Questionnaires that included: 12-item Social Physique. Appearance Anxiety Scale, 8-item Body Shame sub scale of the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale, and the Self-objectification Questionnaires. These scales were used to measure appearance anxiety, body shame, self-objectification, and self-monitoring. This study took place in small groups and two different session. Participants were presented with magazine advertisements and were assessed on their emotional experience. During the second session, participants were shown selected advertisements that were product controlled (body-related and non-body related products) and they were assessed on their emotional experience.
  
• Results: Exposure to idealized images led the participants to have an increase in body shame and appearance anxiety. Also, appearance anxiety had a greater increase for high self-objectifies and lower increase for low self-objectifies. Findings for a relationship between body shame and appearance anxiety and non-body related products was not clear because participants may have not noticed the thin images when instructed to view non-body-related product advertisements.
  
• Personal thoughts: This study supports that fact that women are influenced by beauty enhancing product advertisements because they feel insecure about their bodies after viewing an advertisement. Women should be more aware that advertisements are adjusted and changed from how models actually look. Advertisements are altered through computer programs to enhance the visual affects. The purpose of product advertisements is to sell the product, at the same time the most effective way to sell a product is to make women think that they need it. Advertisement make women feel that they need the product by making them feel insecure about themselves so they will buy the product to enhance their beauty. It is understandable that the findings for a relationship between non-body-related products and idealized images are not clear because women do not relate to products they cannot compare themselves too.
  

Female body dissatisfaction after exposure to overweight and thin media images: The role of body mass index and neuroticism

Author: Simon E. Dalley, Abraham P. Buunk, and Turul Umit

Source:

• Background: In western cultures, it was predicted that body image dissatisfaction is a cause of eating disorder, and a result of exposure to social comparison through positive comparison of thinner media images. "Fatness" is considered unattractive and associated with body image dissatisfaction. There is a consistent correlation between body mass index and body image dissatisfaction in many past studies. Also, personality may be a a predictor of eating disorders and body image dissatisfaction. Some women are affected, negatively or positively, by self-image comparisons to media images, but some women are not affected at all. According to Mattrews and Deary, neuroticism is a fundamental personality trait in the study of psychology. It is an enduring tendency to experience negative emotional states. Individuals who score high on neuroticism are more likely than the average to experience such feelings as anxiety,anger, guilt, and clinical depression. They respond more poorly to environmental stress, and are more likely to interpret ordinary situations as threatening, and minor frustrations as hopelessly difficult. They are often self-conscious and shy, and they may have trouble controlling urges and delaying gratification. Neuroticism is related to emotional intelligence, which involves emotional regulation, motivation, and interpersonal skills. It is also considered to be a predisposition for traditional neuroses, such as phobias and other anxiety disorders
• Argument:
  -Hypothesis 1: Women with high body mass index will have a more significant reaction to body image dissatisfaction after viewing overweight images than after viewing thin media images.
  -Hypothesis 2: Neuroticism is a significant factor between body image dissatisfaction and body mass index towards overweight images, rather than thin images.
• Method: This study involved 177 female participants that filled out questionnaires related to body mass index, thin media images, overweight media images, and personality. An 100-point rating scale was used to determine the correlation between weight and size dissatisfaction. The Eysenck personality scale was used to determine each participants personality. Body mass index was measured through self-reported height and weight. A 7-point rating scale (Likert) was used to rate 70 images (40 thin and 30 overweight images).
• Results: Thin images were seen as more attractive than overweight images.
  -Thin media images: Women with low body mass index shows a high increase to body image dissatisfaction and higher neuroticism. In contrasts, women with high body body mass index shows a slight increase in body image dissatisfaction and neuroticism. Overall, women with low body mass index are more affected by thin images than women with high body mass index after viewing thin media images.
  -Overweight media images: Women with low body mass index shows a decrease in body image dissatisfaction and neuroticism. In contrast, women with high body mass index shows significant increase in body image dissatisfaction and neuroticism. Overall, women with high body mass index are more affected by overweight media images than women with low body mass index.
• Personal thoughts: Regardless of the difference between body mass index, all women feel were more affected (increase in body dissatisfaction) after viewing thin media images. Women believed that the thin images were the more relevant images to compare their bodies to. Women with higher body mass index and neuroticism were more affected by overweight images. I believe the reason for this is because they try to compare themselves to thin images, so when they view an overweight image-they believe that the overweight image is unattractive-which also associate with their self-image. In contrast, the women with lower body mass index felt better about themselves after viewing the overweight images because they compare themselves to the overweight images and believed they were more attractive because they were thinner than the images.

The Effect of Thin Ideal Media Images on Women's Self-Objectification, Mood, and Body Image

Author: Brit harper and Marika Tiggemann

Source:

• Background: Western women are more pressured to the thin ideal of beauty. Magazines have been accused of praising the thin ideal as social norms. There has been a correlation between eating disorders, body dissatisfaction, the drive for thinness, and magazine advertisements. The effects were body dissatisfaction, negative mood, and negative self-perception of physical attractiveness. Fredrickson and Roberts' objectification theory asserts that women are uniquely subjected to cultural and interpersonal experiences in which the female body is inspected, evaluated, and treated as an object valued primarily for its use to others.
• Argument: The central purpose of this study was to examine whether viewing thin ideal media images would increase state self-objectification, negative affect and body dissatisfaction in young Austrian women.
  ~Participants who view images featuring a thin-idealized woman will exhibit higher state of self-objectification, appearance anxiety, negative mood and body dissatisfaction than participants who view product control images.
  ~ Viewing images featuring thin-idealized woman with men will produce higher levels of state self-objectification, appearance anxiety, negative mood, and body dissatisfaction than images a thin-idealized woman only.
• Method: This study included 90 female students. Participants were engaged in a series of questionnaires regarding rating image types from recent fashion magazines, consumer habits, consumer response to advertisement, recall products from advertisement, state of self-objectification before and after viewing advertisements, appearance anxiety, negative mood and body dissatisfaction, and trait self-objectification.
• Results:
  ~State of Self-Objectification: The state of self-objectification was higher in the thin-idealized conditions than in the product control, but there was no significant difference between female with male advertisements. The results supported hypothesis one, not hypothesis two.
  ~Appearance Anxiety: Anxiety from weight related issues were higher in thin-idealized conditions than product condition, but there was no difference between advertisements with thin women only and women and men.
  ~Negative Mood: Negative mood was more significant with participants that viewed thin idealized images than participants that viewed products control advertisements. There was no difference between women only ads and women and men ads.
  ~Body Dissatisfaction: Participants that viewed thin-idealized ads experienced more body dissatisfaction than participants that viewed product controlled ads. There was no difference between ads with women only or women and men ads.
  
• Personal thoughts: I have noticed that the thin-idealized look for women is not solely magazines' and media's fault because it is the type of body most people like on a woman. Preference in women body has changed through out the years. For example, Marilyn Monroe was considered to have a spectacular body back in 1950's. By today standards, she would be considered a plus size. I believe that it is more in the preference of the sex you are trying to attract. I was born and raised in OC with all the exposure to thin-idealized images, but I do not have self-esteem issues if my body is not like the models. Also, my preference in men is not the "ideal" look like the men in magazines. I prefer men that have a bigger build, I find moderate beer bellies are very cute, and hairy men really turns me on. Not your typical "male model" look, but this is what I like and it was not influenced by the media. The media can only portrays what people want to see and most people want to see thin women because they find it attractive. Media only goes with the trends including body preferences.