Representation of Issues:

Body Image
L/O:
To identify how to answer the
question using1/2 of the case
studies.

Quick Fire
Leveson stated that women were
relegated to five roles in the media
1. Sex objects
2. Wives and mothers
3. Passive
4. Relatively invisible
5. Too fat/thin or too old/young

Leveson Inquiry (2012)

According to The Leveson Inquiry (2012) womens roles in the press
are limited to five roles
Sex Objects A report by Object and three other women's
campaign groups surveyed 11 British newspapers over a fortnight
in September. It found "excessive objectification of women in some
parts of the press, reducing them entirely to sexual commodities in
a way that would not be broadcast on television, nor allowed in the
workplace because of equality legislation".
Wives and mothers "Stories, when they appear, portray women
in stereotypes, emphasising the importance of women looking
attractive and of being a good wife and mother, sometimes
backing up support for traditional roles or for promotion of deemed
attractiveness with dubious science.
Passive roles Campaigners have long complained that there is a
pronounced tendency across the whole of the media for women to
disproportionately appear in passive roles - perhaps as victims of
crime - instead of actually doing something.

Leveson Inquiry (2012)

Relative invisibility Research by Women in Journalism this
year, looking at a month of national newspaper newspapers,
found that men wrote three quarters of all front-page articles
and 84% of those mentioned or quoted in lead pieces were
male. The most pictured males were Nicolas Sarkozy, Simon
Cowell, and Prince William. The only females regularly
pictured were the Duchess of Cambridge, her sister Pippa
and Madeleine McCann.
Too fat/thin/old/young Earlier this year, an MPs' report
recommended that school children should take part in
compulsory body image lessons. More than half of the public
have a negative body image, "driven by the proliferation of
media imagery portraying a so-called 'perfected ideal' that is
entirely unattainable for the vast majority of people", said Jo
Swinson MP, chairwoman of the All Party Parliamentary
Group.

Body image and beauty

We have become a society obsessed
with the way we look and what
constitutes beauty.
The definition of what is considered
beautiful has narrowed and focuses
solely on being white, thin and
perfectly formed.
The image of body image is
represented across a range of media
texts including

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
S5pM1fW6hNs

Unrealistic
images of
perfection
for both
men and
women in
magazines

Gossip
magazines
where
imperfectio
ns in the
bodies of
celebrities
are
highlighted
and

Documentaries raising
awareness of the issue

Newspap
er images
of
catwalk
models
that are a
size zero

Online
Media
articles
commenti
ng on the
concern of
the beauty
cult that
means
only thin is
beautiful

Advertise
ments for
products
that aim
to make
us more
beautiful
less
wrinkled
and more
flawless

Naomi Wolf The Beauty

Myth
Wolf argues that women are
oppressed by the pressure to fit
into a myth or false ideal of beauty.
Feminism may have won new
rights, but they are still held back
by an obsession with physical
appearance and a very narrow
definition of beauty, which is
defined as white, thin and madeup.
This beauty myth is socially
constructed and helps to maintain
patriarchy, where men still have
power in society. Women buy into
this myth, helping to create
hegemony, where the values are
accepted even by those that are
harmed by them.

Naomi Wolf The Beauty

the gaunt, youthful
model [has]
Myth
supplanted the

supplanted
the
Beauty is about behavior,
not
happy labelled
housewife as
appearance. The qualities
the
of
beautiful in women
in arbiter
any given
successful
time period are no more
than
symbols of female behaviour
womanhood.
considered desirable at that time.
Besides weakening women
psychologically, the beauty myth
feeds a multibillion-dollar
cosmetics industry, and keeps
women from rising too high in the
workplace by offering a way
around antidiscrimination laws.

Statistics: YMCA UK Survey

(2012)
Adults
1 in 4 adults feel depressed about their bodies.
36.8% of men and 50.4% of women report that they

compare their bodies to people on TV

42.4% of men and 30% of women would like their bodies
to look like models who appear in magazines
YOUNG ADULTS
54.1% of girls admitted to body image problems
23.7% of boys think that they have body image

problems.
25.4% of girls compare their bodies to people on TV
35.2% of girls would like to look like the models who
appear in magazines

Body Image
Body image as an issue is
represented across a range of media
texts
How the image is represented
depends on the audience
In magazines women are sold an
idealised version of themselves and
aspire to attain the unobtainable
*False consciousness/ False needs

Body Image
Some programmes tackle the
problem of body image from a range
of points of view
It may be through plastic surgery or
general dissatisfaction with body size
Most of these programmes are aimed
at a female audience

Body Image

Task
Watch and analysis How have they
represented the issue Selection,
Construction, focusing
Who is the audience?
Who is in control of the text? Whose ideas
and values are expressed through the
representations? eg. BBC? Research
remit and values
What mode of address is being used?
What ideologies / messages might be
contained within the representation?

Body Image

BBC3
BBC Three offers audiences fresh perspective on
body image with new season of documentaries
Following the continued success of factual
programming on the channel, Zai Bennett,
Controller of BBC Three, today unveiled The
Body Beautiful, a new season of programmes
exploring the topic of body image.
Body image is a big issue for our audience on BBC
Three so in The Body Beautiful - a challenging and
penetrating season of programmes - asking whether
changing your body can really make you happy. Zai
Bennett, Controller, BBC Three
Date:06.08.2012 Last updated: 18.03.2014 at
18.03
Category:BBC Three;Factual

 Body image is a big issue for

our audience on BBC Three so in
The Body Beautiful - a
challenging and penetrating
season of programmes - were
asking whether changing your
body can really make you
happy.
Zai Bennett, Controller, BBC
Three

Heat magazine
Constant focus on
body image
Male gaze
Women are judged by
men
Focuses on
imperfections
consumerism?
Questioning women to
be unhappy

Music video - RTW

Run the World Body issues

The emphasis on Beyonc's body in Run the World (long

shots) reinforce a homogenous idealized body imagenarrow waist, feminine curves, long flowing hair, perfect
flawless skin etc.
Beyonc has been criticized for 'white-washing' her image
e.g. her bleached straightened hair, her shrinking figure
reinforcing hegemonic beauty.
Run the World features and celebrates women with a range
of ethnicity challenges the white beauty myth.
Beyonc understands that her body image is as much as a
selling point as her music.
Her energetic performances are enhanced with a range of
spectacular outfits and iconic. Choreography- all of which
display her body.
The feminist rhetoric of Run the World also makes reference
to the physical strength of which in terms of maternity.

Beyonce's Body Image: Her all female

army is a fairly homogenous they are all
similar bodied. Maybe this represents a
type of body fascism. as it is intolerance of
those who don't conform. Centainly the
emphasis on Beyonce's body reinforces a
homogenous idealized body image.
Body fascism: Intolerance to those whose
bodies to not conform to a view of what is
desirable.
Homogenous: consisting of parts or people
who are similar to each other.
Lyrical meaning towards Beyonce's
personal life/career. The feminist rhetoric of
Run the World also makes reference to the
physical strenght of women.
Beyonce only took a short break from her
career during the time of her giving birth.
"Strong enough to bear these children then
get back to business"

effect

Fat chance
TLC
http
://www.tlc.com/tv-shows/fat-chance/
Fat Chance, is a new reality series
where eight individuals attempt to lose
large amounts of weight, gain
confidence and find love.
Each week, the show will explore one
person's three-month journey to lose
a targeted amount of weight and lose
the self doubt to find the conviction

 They will be coached along the way

by a personal trainer to help them
through the physical and emotional
roadblocks on their journey to a
healthier life.
http://www.macleans.ca/culture/televi
sion/what-exactly-are-we-learning-fro
m-tlc
/

Changing rep of issue

Alternative Doves lotion

firming ad

Tokenism (Black Girl/ Stereotypical

Scary Spice)

A More Natural Beauty

Doves mission is to make more women
feel beautiful every day by widenin
g the stereotypical view of beauty a
nd inspiring women to take great car
e of themselves.
.

 has six diverse women posing

together in a very confident way
(gesture/ facial).
These women are posing in their
undergarments making it seem like
they have a high self-esteem about
their natural womanly curves.
All these women seem to have been
selected from those in an everyday
society instead of celebrities. Is the
message these advertisers trying to
send going to leave a positive
influence on members of society or

targets their viewers emotional appeals

no distracting background colors or objects in the ad so that
the viewers focus is solely on the appearance of the
women.
White = symbolize that with Dove you can look forward to a
brighter future
LS in order to show the whole body image of the individuals
and their natural curves. This leaves the audience to think
that their curves could be just as beautiful if they were to
try Doves lotion products.
looking directly at the camera so they can imply a sense of
power to their audience.
The ad includes women who come from all different
ethnicities in life so that the viewer can see that beauty is
universal and comes in all different forms.
Finally, the use of little clothing implies sexiness and can
leave the viewer wishing they could also feel that way in
little clothing. Many of the elements in this ad will have a
strong emotional appeal to their audience.

NEWER
Beach body ready (DOVE)
Intertextuality of Body ready banned
ad
http
://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201
5/jun/27/beach-body-ready-americaweight-loss-ad-instagram
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/ar
ticle-3062882/Yes-beach-body-ready-N
ew-poster-featuring-curvy-bikini-cla

Problems?

Although the ad focuses on the element of universal

beauty,
they fail to put their focus on inner beauty and seem to
focus
just on the outer beauty. Selling anti-cellulite lotion!
according to the May 12, 2008 issue of The New Yorker, ads
digitally manipulated . Its mentioned in a
Lauren Collins profile of the toucher-upper himself, Pascal
Dangin, who works regularly for Vogue, Dior, Balenciaga,
Do you know how much retouching was on

that? He asked. But it was great to do, a

challenge, to keep everyones skin and faces
showing the mileage but not looking
unattractive.
Dove's parent company Unilever not only
produces the Lynx Body Spray not exactly a

Good answer
Specific examples to illustrate how
images, language, visual codes and
modes of address construct the
representation of an issue.

Writing up - Discuss how two issues are

represented in the media?
Body Image - Discuss what the representation is
stereotypically in the media start by mentioning
The Leveson Inquiry (2012) and back up with
models, advertisements and magazine covers
be specific!
Case studies - Discuss why the media constructs
these images this way (Use Naomi Wolfs to
support and discuss Miss/Representation HEAT
MAGAZINE/ BEYONCE/ FAT CHANCE).
Discuss the impact this has on the audience
(include statistics from YMCA 2012).
Discuss how there are emerging positive
messages in the media (Dove - NEW,
Miss/Representation, Cherry / READ DIFFERENT