For my self-reflective essay, I chose to cover and analyze three academic articles instead of a book. A lot of the concept and readings we discussed during this class have sparked an interest in me wanting to learn more about how certain aspects of the media effect certain groups of people. The first two articles, I will discuss are more specific and in depth studies dealing with the effects of the media on African American Women.
The last article, is a study on the effects of sports media on division I female athletes.I know the last article, goes off in a completely direction, but this class has brought forward different thoughts; and sports was one of them. The first article is by Yuanyuan Zhang et al. and it is called called Rap Music Videos and African American Women’s Body Image: The Moderating Role of Ethnic Identity.
The ultimate purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between exposure to thin images in a back-oriented medium, rap music videos, and young black women’s body image conceptions. Researchers wanted to observe how this relationship varies in Black female viewers’ strength or ethnic identity.Zhang used an idea formed by Croker and Major’s (1989) called Attributional Ambiguity, to serve as possible explanation to why African American women are less vulnerable to the thin ideal in mainstream media. Attributional Ambiguity is when members of stigmatized groups receive feedback from others and they often ponder whether it truly reflects who they are or reflects stereotypes regarding social identity (Crocker and Major, 1989). There was an argument made that the media used to obtain results in past studies was not specific enough to gain accurate results or interpretations on this issue.This is reason rap music videos were used.
According to Zhang, if the of Attributional Ambiguity was correct, black women would be more likely to suffer from body image disturbance when they watch thin black ideals in media geared toward audiences (Zhang, Dixon & Conrad, 2009). This prediction was made off of two theories. The first is the social comparison theory, which when people compare themselves to images that are realistic and attain able (Festinger, 1954).Ethnic Identity is the second, which refers to an individual’s knowledge of her/her membership in a socio-racial group and the level of attachment he/she has to that group (Phinney, 1992). Two hypotheses were made from those theories. Exposure to thin-ideal rap videos will be positively associated with body image dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, and bulimia action tendencies (Zhang, Dixon & Conrad, 2009).
Secondly, “There will be an interaction effect between exposure to thin-ideal rap videos and ethnic identity on body image dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, and bulimia action tendencies.Specifically, young Black women with weak ethnic identity will be more vulnerable to media use than those with strong ethnic identity (Zhang, Dixon & Conrad, 2009). One hundred and eleven black women between the ages of 18-24 completed a questionnaire assessing their ethnic identity and body image perceptions. 30 rap music videos were selected from cable stations: Music Television (MTV), Black Entertainment Television (BET), and Video Hits 1 (VH1) aired the most in 2005. Results showed that the first hypothesis was not supported.Exposure to thin-ideal rap videos was not related to young Black women’s body image disturbance (Zhang, Dixon & Conrad, 2009).
There were more positive results for the second. “Ethnic identity served as a moderator of media effects. For black women with a weaker ethnic identity, media use was positively related to body image disturbance; for Black women with a stronger ethnic identity, media use was negatively associated with body image disturbance (Zhang, Dixon & Conrad, 2009). I do not agree with the results found in this article. I just don't think that it is realistic enough.In the past, like the 50s 60s and 70s, the idea that black culture would serve as a buffer against negative concepts of body image might have been more of an accurate statement.
With things events like the civil rights movement and the black panthers, there was more of emphasis to embrace culture and not conform. I’m not saying that doesn’t exist anymore, I just feel it is less prevalent. Zhang’s study needed to collect more information on a qualitative level. That leads me to Maya A Poran’s The Politics of Protection: Body Image, Social Pressures, and the Misrepresentation of Young Black Women.Poran’s article gives an opposite opinion regarding black media and African American female body image, saying that black women are not protected by their culture from negative effects of body ideal representation.
Results indicated that indicate that body image issues are a real concern to young Black women. According to Poran (2006), psychological research methodologies may be adding to the misrepresentation of young Black women and their struggles. She suggests using qualitative methods should be used in order to accurately represent the voice of women of color.Fifteen black women college students participated in focus group discussions on their perceptions of body image. Three 60-90 minute focus group sessions with three to eight participants were held. Each group was to explore certain issues they felt were most pressing.
Each individual participant wrote anonymously what they love about their bodies on the left side of the card and what they hate about their bodies on the side of the card. After the cards were completed, they were handed back to the facilitator who shuffled the cards and redistributed them. Participant then read the cards aloud and discussion was started from there.Black women are indeed feeling pressures to be thin, pressures from the preferences of men of diverse ethnicities, competition with other Black women in the realms of beauty, and a strong sense of being misrepresented by media images of thin Black women. I was able to relate more to and appreciate Poran’s study, because of the focus group sessions. It definitely better reflects what feelings black women have regarding body image.
Today there is a huge mesh of cultures, you can turn on the TV and see singer Miley Cyrus inspired by dances that originate from the black community—twerking.Naturally, there will start to be some similarities in for black and white women when dealing with body image. A good example of this in the study is when one of the participants mentioned that it was normal to hate some aspect of their body. Kimberly L Bissell’s Sports Model/Sports Mind: The Relationship Between Entertainment and Sports Media Exposure, Sports Participation, and Body Image Distortion in Division I Female Athletes, explores another way in which women might be negatively by the media.
This study investigated Division I female athletes’ exposure to entertainment and sports media—and watch for possible associations with body image distortion and eating disorders (Bissell, 2004). Self- objectification and Social comparison theory, two theories sparked the research of the media content—body image relationship. Self-objectification is the process in which the perceived outsider’s gaze is internalized. As stated earlier in another article social comparison theory deals with images that seem attainable and realistic to the viewer.Based off of those theories, four predictions were made.
It was predicted that, “exposure to thin ideal television programming would be positively associated to higher scores on four disordered-eating subscales, independent of participation in sports and independent of interest in body improvement television (Bissell, 2004). It was also predicted that, thin ideal magazine content would be positively associated to higher scores on four disordered-eating subscales, independent of participation in sports and interest in body improvement magazines (Bissell, 2004).Third, Exposure to televised sports will be positively associated with lower scores on four disordered-eating subscales, independent of participation in sports and interest in sports media (Bissell, 2004). Lastly, Exposure to sports magazines will be positively associated with lower scores on four disordered-eating subscales, independent of participation in sports and interest in sports media (Bissell, 2004) 78 females competing in Division I athletics at a major state university in the South were contacted at team meetings during the Fall 2001 semester.Information was collected from athletes competing in women’s soccer, basketball, track and field, softball, swimming and diving, and gymnastics.
The young women were then asked about the frequency in which they watch sporting events and certain television shows like My Wife and Kids, Will and Grace, and Friends. These shows were selected because the represent several body types. Results showed that those who viewed no sports at all had the lowest scores on three of the four disordered- eating subscales, followed by “high” viewers and then “low” viewers (Bissell, 2004).It was clear that sports media did not have the negative effect that was predicted. For this article, I was in agreement with the four predictions that were made in the beginning.
I was not expecting the results to show that sports media had virtually not effect on these division I athletes. I know there is a lot of pressure that comes with playing sports and being the best at them. Maybe there are other factors that might have an effect on this particular group like worrying about keeping a scholarship or trying to emulate their favorite athlete. I’m not really sure.
As I have said before I will say again that I think that ultimately, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I think that we all know this; we just refuse to acknowledge it. Or we tend to acknowledge that as fact for others, but internalize the negativity on ourselves. I’m definitely guilty of internalizing certain things that I see and attacking myself. My relationship with body image was a rough one.
I was very hard on myself when I was younger. I have a dark complexion, so I would constantly compare myself to girls that were lighter than me. I felt they were prettier.This is because all I would hear about is how someone was beautiful because of their fair skin.
It also didn’t help that I have some family members telling me I was fat and I needed to watch what I ate. That began at the age of 8 and I did not stop hearing comments until I was a freshman in high school. The event that brought it to an end was when my grandmother requested that I take a pregnancy test just because I had gained a little extra weight. It was the end of my first year of high school and all of the sports seasons (I played volleyball, basketball and ran track) were over for the summer and I was not as active anymore.The funny thing is my mother would always fight for me and tell how wrong those family members were, but I chose not to listen to her. I would compare myself to everyone I thought was beautiful.
I was always watching makeover shows for tips and trying to give myself makeovers because I really felt like I needed it. I’m happy to say that my relationship with body image is much better. As I have gotten older I’ve realized that I’m beautiful. I’ve also realized that I criticize myself much harshly than someone else would criticize me.So, it try to remember that when I fall into those traps and have negative thought about my body image. No one is perfect.
I think that the results of the three articles covered above show that not everything is, as it seems. Even when we think we can’t be wrong about a certain idea. I really enjoyed this class. A lot of new concepts were brought to my attention and I have new perception about the things that I was familiar with.
Interesting enough, this class also served as a bit of a therapy session. I was nice to talk to other about these topics and gain some insight into what others experience as far as body image goes.
