Body Image Planning 10

Exercise One: Take out a piece of paper. FIRST, write TWO things you LIKE about your body.

Exercise Two: SECOND, write ONE thing you DISLIKE about your body.

Think-pair-share How do you define “body image?” How has this view been altered my media? ie. What you watch on television, what you see/read in magazines, what you see on advertisements. Do you think “body image” is altered through your feelings or what you think others think of yourself?

Goals and Objectives Understand what body image means. þ Analyze and deconstruct how popular media influences our views of our own body. þ Love your body because it is yours. Don’t compare it to what someone deems worthy. þ

What is Body Image? THIS IS HUMAN NATURE, IT IS NOT UNIQUE Body image is an active perception of one’s own body. This perception is not static because body image is a result of mood, physical experience, and environment. As part of human nature, every individual has a body image; a feeling of how we look. Body image includes one’s ideas regarding: how comfortable we feel in our bodies, amount of control we have in our body, how agile we are, and our attractiveness. THIS IS HUMAN NATURE, IT IS NOT UNIQUE

Body Image in High School Negative body image is magnified during one’s teenage years because of the changes the body undergoes during puberty. This period of life is referred to as adolescence: from puberty to adulthood.

Body Image & Media Body image can be heavily influenced by cultural messages and societal standards of appearance and attractiveness. Otherwise known as the impact of media. The mass media, which includes magazines and television, are often regarded as the single strongest influencing factor on adolescent body image. Recently, research has provided strong links between adolescent females who read magazines and watch television with greater body dissatisfaction.

Body Image & Media Cont’d What is the female ideal? Thinness: Small waistlines with curvaceous bodies. Skinny and toned legs with bigger breasts. What is the male ideal? Lean body but highly muscular, characterized by a well- developed chest and arms, with wide shoulders tapering down to a narrow waist. This has been idealized largely through an increased exposure of shirtless males in magazines.

A Theoretical Explanation Social Comparison Theory This theory, as suggested through various academics, explains how media exposure influences body image. This is also referred to as “appearance related social comparison.” Simply this means that popular media has prompted adolescent males and females to evaluate their appearance in relation to the highly attractive [and unrealistic] models and stars who are popularized by the media.

Did you know?! 50-88% of adolescent girls feel negatively about their body shape or size. Only 33% of girls say they are at the “right weight for their body”, while 58% want to lose weight. Just 9% want to gain weight. Over one-third of males think their current size is too small, while only 10% of women consider their size too small. Strikingly, while only 30% of older adolescents surveyed consider their current size acceptable to them, 85% of females and 95% of males considered their current size socially acceptable for others. http://www.epi.umn.edu/let/pubs/img/adol_ch13.pdf

Food for thought https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17j5QzF3kqE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_I17cK1ltY

Homework Considering what information you were given in class and the short video presentations, please reflect on what you learned. You may use any means to express yourself Ie. Short essay, poem, video, illustration, etc. Please see me if you have any other ideas that are not directly listed above to obtain approval. Objective: I would like you to express your thoughts on the subject matter of body image. Discuss what this information meant to you, if it has affected how you perceive media, or anything else that struck you.

Final Exercise Warm Fuzzy Choose a piece of paper from the basket. Each piece will have a classmates name on it. Write this individual a brief message including a positive comment or compliment about what you find special about them. The can be anonymous or you may say who it is from. Once you have finished, bring the paper to my desk and sit quietly at your seat.