Social Media and Body Image Concerns - Further Considerations and Broader Perspectives
Social Media and Body Image Concerns - Further Considerations and Broader Perspectives
DOI 10.1007/s11199-014-0429-x
Abstract In this paper we provide a commentary on Perloff’s information about body image ideals. He demonstrates that
theoretical perspectives and agenda for research that examines ’social media and contemporary digital technologies are the
the effects of social media on young women’s body image playing field of today’s youth, places where lessons are
concerns. Social media are the main form of mass media being learned, attitudes are formed, and body image concerns can
used by the youth of today, and researchers in the U.S. and be cultivated and metastasized into convictions” (this issue). It
Australia have commenced studying how these may be affecting is not clear whether Perloff views the social media as exerting
body image concerns. However, the processes underlying how a more negative impact on youth’s body image than other
social media may influence young people’s body image appear media forms, such as magazines and TV advertising. Only a
to be no different from underlying other forms of mass media. few studies have compared social media with other forms of
Research is needed to more fully evaluate youth’s experiences of mass media. One study with preadolescent girls conducted in
online appearance culture and how this may foster both negative Australia showed that the relationships observed for Internet
and positive peer interactions. We also need more studies which usage and body image concerns tended to be larger than those
compare the influences on social media with other media forms found for magazine and television exposure (Tiggemann and
as there is no clear evidence that social networking sites and Slater 2014). Two other studies, one conducted in the U.S.
other forms of social media are more detrimental to one’s body with adult women (Bair et al. 2012) and one conducted in
image than other forms of media. We also consider factors that Australia with adolescent girls (Tiggemann and Slater 2013)
may protect young people from internalizing appearance ideals showed that Internet usage was associated with body image
that are promoted by the mass media. In addition, we consider concerns but the effect sizes were small and similar to other
broader conceptualizations of body image so that a wider range media forms.
of human experiences can be studied. Perloff demonstrates that the social media, in Western
countries such as the U.S., U.K., and Australia, have infiltrat-
Keywords Body image concerns . Social media . Mass ed individuals’ lives in ways that was not possible with
media . Embodiment previous mass media. Researchers that have evaluated the
use of the social media in these countries have highlighted
how the social media are omnipresent and available anywhere
As highlighted by Perloff (2014), social media in our digital and anytime; they allow the easy transmission of images and
world are overtaking other forms of mass media, as the main ideas around the globe; they allow instantaneous and interac-
medium, where the young and the not so young source tive communication with others; and they provide easy access
to one’s peers (e.g., Eveland 2003; Perloff 2014; Sundar et al.
R. J. Williams
2013). However, this does not negate the influence that other
School of Letters, Arts and Media, University of Sydney, Sydney,
Australia forms of media have had and continue to have. For example,
e-mail: [email protected] the birth of photography in the 19th century and its expansion
into the 20th century was a water-shed (Stuart 2013). It gave
L. A. Ricciardelli (*)
us easy access to the female and male body form in advertising
School of Psychology, Deakin University, Burwood Highway,
Burwood, 3125 Melbourne, Australia and it has been used to promote the objectification of women
e-mail: [email protected] (Schroeder and Borgerson 1998). Moreover, all forms of the
390 Sex Roles (2014) 71:389–392
mass media can be viewed as modern art that simply mirror this focus on sport that shaped boys’ ideals pertaining to
our cultural ideals (Wimmer and Dominick 2013). At the other fitness and muscularity. For girls the focus was more on
extreme, the mass media reinforce stereotypes and exert pres- looking good and fashions, and this reflected their interest in
sures that often undermine individuality and freedom, and rely the actresses and singers that they admired from their favorite
on marketing forces to promote new fads and fashions TV programs and was but further reinforced by their peer
(Wimmer and Dominick 2013). conversations, which were also about actresses and singers
Although Perloff clearly demonstrates the distinctive attri- from these TV programs (Tatangelo and Ricciardelli 2013).
butes of social media, the processes underlying how the social An in-depth study of girls’ and boys’ interactions with their
media promote body image concerns appear to be no different peers on social networking sites would help us better under-
from other media forms. These include exposure to unrealistic stand differences in the lived experiences of boys and girls in
body images; modelling; pressure to conform; gender-typed terms of how they interact with their peers and interpret media
socialization; objectification of the body; internalization of messages, and how these gendered motivations and interac-
appearance ideals; increased negative affect that results from tions develop.
viewing unrealistic images of the body; social comparisons; Perloff subscribes to the scholarly consensus (e.g., Levine
interactions with peers and other normative influences; the and Harrison 2009; Polivy and Herman 2002) that media
adoption of appearance management behaviors and body effects are transactional and reciprocal and that psychological
change strategies to improve oneself; and compensatory mo- characteristics can predispose individuals to search out con-
tivations such as disordered eating as a way to validate one’s tent that potentially instigates self-defeating cycles of inter-
self-concepts. sections between media and personality-based susceptibility
It not yet known whether the social media may heighten the characteristics. He argues that the “media rarely exert simple
effects of some of the above processes. For example, via the main effects or occur in isolation, but interact with context”
internet young women may be exposed to a higher dose of (this issue) and vulnerability variables, such as low self-
body images, which are available anytime and everywhere, esteem and perfectionism. Levine and Harrison (2009) also
and this may lead to more body dissatisfaction. However, maintain that media effects involve “reciprocal transactions
given that the internet includes both realistic and unrealistic between the nature and context of the medium and the psy-
images, in the longer term some of these images may lead to chology of the perceiver” (p. 506). This echoes the earlier
less body image concerns and provide a more supportive and views of Polivy and Herman (2002), who explained that “the
naturalistic environment for young girls. Also given that these media are often blamed for the (increasing) incidence of EDs
images are everywhere, young women may become more de- [Eating Disorders], on the grounds that media images of
sensitized and pay less attention to the content of the mes- idealized (slim) physique motivate or even force people to
sages. The online environment in countries such as the U.S., achieve slimness themselves” but given that “exposure to the
the U.K., and Australia, is also filled with more pictures of media is so widespread that if exposure was the cause of EDs,
contemporary and everyday peers than are found in TV pro- then it would be difficult to explain why anyone would not be
grams and magazines (Amichai-Hamburger 2007), and was eating-disordered” (p. 192).
labelled by Perloff (2014, this issue) as “the media of one’s We are not passive victims of media forces and we do not
peers”. Thus, in the on-line environment, followers will have need to follow fashions and fads driven by marketing forces.
lots of opportunities to compare themselves with their peers. In fact, even children as young as 8 years old are able to
However, some of these comparison targets may not be as critically evaluate media messages, as was found in our qual-
confronting as those found in magazines and TV advertising. itative study of Australian preadolescent children (Tatangelo
We conclude that research is now needed to more fully study and Ricciardelli 2013). Girls were aware that celebrities’ looks
the culture and nuances of these online environments and are enhanced by designers and make-up, which has the po-
examine how these differ from other mass media. tential to make viewers feel bad about their own looks.
The mechanisms underlying the above processes are still Similarly, boys noted that sportsmen’s endorsement of
very poorly understood. For example, we have a limited sugar- filled sports drinks were at odds with the pursuit of
understanding of how young women and men interpret media fitness and health. Individuals also bring different kinds of
messages and how these are reinforced by their peer interac- experiences when interacting with the media, and these may
tions (Tatangelo and Ricciardelli 2013). In our qualitative be more influential than the actual media content and the
study of Australian preadolescent boys and girls, we examined different media forms. More research is needed to study the
how body ideals are shaped by both media and peer influ- different experiences that may protect young people from
ences. We found that boys were mostly interested in watching internalizing appearance ideals promoted by the mass media.
TV programs about sports, they admired and wanted to be like Perloff and other researchers (e.g., Dittmar 2005) place more
sportsmen, and their interactions with peers centered around emphasis on individual vulnerability factors while the protec-
playing sport and talking about sports and sportsmen. It was tive factors that may promote resilience have been neglected.
Sex Roles (2014) 71:389–392 391
Some of potential protective factors that have been identified Consequently, she says, they had become “crushingly preoc-
but have yet to be fully evaluated include being self-directed cupied with bodily control” (p. 247).
and assertive, being a member of a family where there is a low Perloff’s transactional model of social media also focus-
focus on weight and attractiveness, social acceptance of di- es on how heavy users of pro-ana and pro-mia sites already
verse range of body shapes and size, and close relationships have significant body image concerns and eating problems,
with friends or romantic partners who are relatively uncon- and how these can be amplified via two pathways: norma-
cerned with weight (Shisslak and Crago 2001). tive influences (Gunther and Storey 2003) and narrative-
Perloff (2014, this issue) also highlights “the proliferation induced transportation (Green and Dill 2013). Normative
of pro-anorexia or pro-ana and pro-bulimia (pro-mia) influences involve beliefs that one’s peers are being influ-
Websites (approximately 400) that unabashedly promote an- enced by media messages and this can lead to pressures to
orexic and bulimic lifestyles”. The websites often include follow their peers. Narrative-induced transportation involves
religious and inspirational themes that “offer confessionals, the seeking out of others via social media who are eager to
and share religiously-tinged messages about skinniness as share similar experiences and struggles in relation to the
salvation” (this issue). These are reminiscent of the strong attainment of stereotypical ideals and who now adhere to
tradition linking anorexia like states with extreme forms of this ideal as an alternative norm (Bardone-Cone and Cass
religion and spirituality which has been studied by researchers 2007; Levine and Chapman 2011).
in the U.S. (Coakley 1997) and in the U.K. (Lelwica 1999). Lastly, it is important that we extend Perloff’s transactional
Coakley (1997, p.1) has pointed out that the “secularized model of social media and body image concerns to include
Western obsession with the body” can be seen as a replication more expansive conceptualizations and models of body image
of the age-old ambiguity towards control of the body and its and embodiment, such as those advocated by Grosz (1994)
naturally appetitive constitution which is found across and Weiss (1999). Much of the current research in the field
different religions. Coakley examines Christian religions and relies heavily on narrow constructs that focus primarily on
Judaism, but also considers older religious traditions such as body dissatisfaction, while the more positive dimensions of
Zaroastrianism and Sufism. She concludes that the body has body image such as body appreciation and body acceptance
generally been perceived as the locus for potential defilement have been ignored. Grosz (1994, p. 21) explains that:
due to the constant presence of temptation related to the
satisfaction of appetite while successful control and Some better understanding of “embodied subjectivity” of
mortification of appetite carries the potential for “psychical corporeality” needs to be developed…but with-
sanctification. In his paper on the development of Greek in our intellectual heritage there is no language in which to
Christianity, Ware (1997, p. 93) also highlights this conflicted describe such concepts, no terminology that does not
attitude involving, “my body, my helper/my enemy… this succumb to versions of this polarization. The (new) models
body which is none-the-less the pivot of my salvation”. must demonstrate some sort of internal or constitutive
Griffith (2004) has studied the way in which the ambiva- articulation—or even disarticulation—between the biolog-
lence of attitudes towards the supposedly secularized body ical and the psychological, between the inside and the
affects the development of identity in some contemporary outside of the body—while avoiding a reductionism of
Protestant youth in the United States. These youth struggled mind to brain. It must also have a psychical representation
to express their own individuality because they are caught of the subject’s lived body as well as of the relations
between their religious principles related to the dangers of the between body gestures, posture and movement in the
fallen body which demands perfectionism and discipline to constitution of the processes of psychical presentations.
save it; and the surrounding secular culture in which other
youth seem to be allowed an anything goes attitude in the Weiss (1999) called for a New Age Project involving the
exploration and expression of their own identity via appear- concept of embodiment as incorporating the use of human-
ance management behaviors. According to Griffith attitudes imagination as agency. She argues that:
toward the body as the outer indicator of the interior worth and
the long affirmed belief religious attitude that one can really Exploring the corporeal possibilities that have been
only detect the true inner-self by its fruits—such as love, joy, foreclosed by a given culture’s own imaginary brings
goodness—have now become too often blurred into an unbal- into being a new imaginary—one that does justice to the
anced if not a total reliance on the focus of body image and richness of our bodily differences… (and) which situ-
appearance. Many of the young people in Griffith’s study ates the body-image within a vast horizon of possible
were experiencing being caught between the norms of a significances. To change the imaginary, we must in turn
secular youth culture (which they perceived as allowing create a dynamic image of non-docile bodies that resist
greater freedom for self-expression) and the expectation of the readily available techniques of corporeal inscription
disciplining the body that is so integral to Protestantism. and normalization that currently define ‘reality’ (p. 67).
392 Sex Roles (2014) 71:389–392
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