Media effects on women

Assignment Instructions

This week, you will write your third essay. Use the three-part thesis and five-paragraph essay format you learned during week two.

Under Week 5 Lessons, we learned about different types of essays. For your final essay, you may choose from any of these types of essays (except informative, since we have already written one of those). Also, to make things easier on you, you may also write about one of the topics you researched in the MLA/Library Practice forums (weeks four and six).

Here is a thesis example for a “descriptive” essay, in which I will describe a decade: The 1960s was a greatly controversial decade due to its fashion, political unrest, and social norms.

You must incorporate research from the APUS library into your essay. Use two or three sources—no more, no less. Remember that your essay should be mostly your own writing (~80%) and approximately 20% source material. This is short essay, so use short quotes only. I suggest only a line or two of quoted material in each of your body paragraphs. Don’t forget your Works Cited page. Extensive MLA help is provided under week four (Lessons and Resources).

Please do not let anyone else write or revise your writing. My job is to help you improve YOUR writing. I can only do that if you let me see your mistakes. I am not interested in how well someone else writes. I want to help YOU!

(Hint: if you are struggling, there are tutoring opportunities listed on our Syllabus. This is an appropriate route for acquiring help with your writing. You may contact me for help anytime too!)

Download the template and save it as your last name and Essay 3. (Example: Smith_Essay3). The MLA formatting is done for you (e.g., Times New Roman size 12, double-spaced, header, etc.). Update your name, your professor’s name, and date. Don’t forget to put your last name in the header. (Let me know if you don’t know how to get into the header section or type a question into your Word help section.)

Your essay should be between 500 and 750 words. Please do not go under the word count at all. Do not go over the word count by more than 50 words. Following instructions is an important part of any writing assignment, and often you will be asked to adhere to word count guidelines, so this is good practice!

Be sure that all paragraphs are well developed. I suggest 5-8 sentences per paragraph and no less than 100 words per paragraph, including your introduction and conclusion.

(Points saver: as you proof your essay in Word, hit the control [ctrl] key and the “F” key at the same time. This will bring up the search feature. Type in what you wish to find, such as the word you, to be sure you have avoided second person. This works in finding contractions too. Type in an apostrophe and hit enter!)

When you “submit” your paper, it will be uploaded into Turnitin (a plagiarism-detection website) automatically. You do not have to create a Turnitin account yourself. Both you and your instructor will receive the results. (The Turnitin report will be under Assignments and will have a percentage on it, like 22%. Click on the percentage to view your report. Certain parts of your essay will be highlighted. This shows where you have used information from an outside source or material that appears in another student’s essay.)

Why editing photos of women on media platforms should be banned. (not a ?, need statement)

sociocultural influence impacting young women’s mood and perceptions of their bodies, particularly through the processes of physical-appearance comparison.”

Scirrotto Drames, Tara, “The Impact of Internet Social Networking on Young Women’s Mood and Body Image Satisfaction: An Experimental Design” (2016). PCOM Psychology Dissertations. 395. https://digitalcommons.pcom.edu/psychology_dissertations/395

(Introduction)

As humans, we learn from what we see and hear. Hence it is fair to say that our perception of the world helps define us. The media’s depiction of women has a strong sociocultural influence which impacts the perceptions women have of their bodies and drives them to extraordinary lengths to obtain the ideal body. Only five percent of American women naturally possess the “ideal” body type depicted in American media (“11 Facts About Body Image”). This precedence sets unrealistic standards and unattainable body figures for women. Improving one’s outward appearance to satisfy the objectification of society has led women to decrease their image of self, make faddish dietary changes, and resort to drastic measures to change their body shape.

(second paragraph)

Certainly, the mental strain of not meeting expectations is exhaustive. It is hard for young American women to escape the media’s portrayal of women. Magazine covers, television commercials, store catalogs, and social media pages all depict altered images of women. By age 17, girls will have seen approximately 250,000 television commercials signifying to them that they “should be a decorative object, sex object,” or a have a waist size which they can never achieve (AVE5159 2015). The influence of seeing such images and not meeting the media’s standards takes a toll on a female’s confidence. The need to improve one’s self to an unattainable standard creates a vicious cycle. Body dysmorphic disorder can develop, which can be described as “a distressing and impairing preoccupation with an imagined or slight defect in appearance” (Phillips & Crino 2001).

The combination of meeting visual cultural expectations and reaching consciousness

The prominence of computer modified versions of photos in the media are responsible for much of the American societies’ perceptions of beauty and the ideal body shape. The media established a specific look and model standard. Presently, that look is along the lines of a thin waist, thigh gap, full lips, no wrinkles, and pearl white teeth, and long hair. Even the all-natural or no make-up claims of some celebrities have been found false, using products of more natural color scales to produce the “clean” look.

The grave majority of beauty ad campaigns are aimed at a specific demographic, women. Ads ranging from spot correctors, wrinkle reducers, lip and lash enhancers, countless serums and creams, are all targeted towards women. While diet pills are for both genders, numerous pills and adds. A simple web image search of diet pill ads will yield results depicting women rather than men on averaging of ten to one (Google search).

drastic measures to change their body shape:

“There is a commonly held view that eating disorders are a lifestyle choice. Eating disorders are actually serious and often fatal illnesses that cause severe disturbances to a person’s eating behaviors. Obsessions with food, body weight, and shape may also signal an eating disorder. Common eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder.” (“Eating Disorders“)

(ideas:)

Cultural expectation

Objectification

The media’s depiction of women has a strong sociocultural influence which impacts the perceptions of women and their bodies.

(Persuasive essay outline)

Introductory Paragraph

· Grab the reader’s attention by using a “hook.”

· Give an overview of the argument.

· Close with a thesis statement that reveals the position to be argued.

Body Paragraphs

· Each body paragraph should focus on one piece of evidence.

· Within each paragraph, provide sufficient supporting detail.

Opposing View Paragraph

· Describe and then refute the key points of the opposing view.

Concluding Paragraph

· Restate and reinforce the thesis and supporting evidence.

(Works Cited: not correctly formatted or in alphabetical order yet)

“Eating Disorders” NIH. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/eating-disorders/index.shtml

“11 Facts About Body Image.” DoSomething.org | Volunteer for Social Change, www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-body-image.

AVE5159. “Gender, Race, and the Media.” Powered by Sites at Penn State – WordPress, 4 Nov. 2015, sites.psu.edu/grmertman/2015/10/22/photoshop-in-advertising/.

Dittmar, Helga, and Sarah Howard. “Thin-Ideal Internalization and Social Comparison Tendency as Moderators of Media Models Impact on Womens Body-Focused Anxiety.” Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, vol. 23, no. 6, 2004, pp. 768–791. Gilford Press, doi:10.1521/jscp.23.6.768.54799.

Phillips, Katharine A., and Rocco Crino. “Body Dysmorphic Disorder.” Current Opinion in Psychiatry, vol. 14, no. 2, Feb. 2001, pp. 113–118., journals.lww.com/co-psychiatry/Abstract/2001/03000/Body_dysmorphic_disorder.3.aspx.

Phillips, Katharine A., and Raymond G. Dufresne. “Body Dysmorphic Disorder.” SpringerLink, Springer International Publishing, 22 Aug. 2012, doi.org/10.2165/00128071-200001040-00005.

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