Sarah Duling & Shelton Piland Media and body image Sarah Duling & Shelton Piland

Research Question The Perceived Effects of Social Media on Women’s Body Image

Major Themes Parental and Family Influence Comparison and Competition Male use of Social Media

Theme 1: PARENTS/FAMILY Parenting or household upbringing having something to do with their negative feelings towards their bodies. Mentioned believing that parents and families are what started them becoming body conscious at a young age Relate negative body image to parents being critical or informing them of weight consciousness at a young age Comparing oneself to family members such as same sex siblings Some interviewees believed that parental impact and parental responsibility and education were more important to confront than media itself.

Significant Quotes “Also my mom always had me on a diet even as a little girl in grammar school. My school lunches were salad in little plastic containers and we didn’t even have air conditioning! Kids tease about everything and I would get teased because of my lunches and people would trade stuff and nobody would want mine. Just from the youngest age I hated my body…”

“When I was little my mom was obsessed with diets and losing weight “When I was little my mom was obsessed with diets and losing weight. Although she never specifically said that I needed to lose weight, but then when my stepfather came into the picture he made fun of me for having glasses and called me pizza face for having so much acne---You just can’t do that to a 13 year old girl.”

Theme 2: FEMALE COMPETITION/COMPARING Compared themselves to girls at school that received the most attention by other peers and by boys. Overwhelming amount of women being displayed to girls at such a young age and later, started feelings of being inferior because of personal appearance. Getting likes made them feel good about themselves but that it also made them feel less inferior to other women they followed on social media that they knew. Women claim to be naturally competitive and want to be perceived as prettier and more popular than other women. Getting less likes than other people they are comparing themselves too creates an automatic response of inferiority. When competing for likes, many interviewees mention the likes being a form of validation that they are pretty and popular.

Significant Quotes They make me feel fat and unmotivated sometimes (laughter).. um…..because even though I look at it and I watch it and I see the things that she posts, I don’t necessarily actually go and do the exercises or follow up. So now that I am thinking about it I guess it isn’t that positive for me. Why do I look at these if they are making me feel bad about how I look. I think I will unfollow them.

 ”I definitely think about the picture that I post before putting it on the internet; Like if I look fat or it’s from a bad angle…my friends and I will say don’t put that on. I have removed pictures I posted that got no attention on Facebook. I think this is because it makes me feel as though no one thought it was a good picture and I probably look like crap.”

“Because I think we naturally crave attention and we want people to think we are hot shit and fun and pretty so when you put a selfie up you’re literally putting yourself on display and you want to see if people disagree with you that you’re cool. Every like is validation.”

Theme 3: MALE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA Commented on the significant role males play in general and male use of social media on their body image Ex boyfriends encouraged them to change based off of what they had told them they found attractive in another woman, usually a celebrity. Pornography and how male comments on pornography or comments and likes on revealing images on social media left by males, caused them to begin comparing themselves to other women and it always led to feelings of self consciousness or inferiority. Physically watching throughout school what types of girls men tended to follow around or pursue also affected their body images.

Significant Quotes “I dated this guy in high school for 2.5 years…and I remember there was one time when snap chat came out and he sent me a picture, but it was a picture of Kate Upton and he was like ‘Wow I wish you had her tits’…He mentioned he thought my thighs were too big and for a long time I was obsessed with having a high gap. I thought I wasn’t good enough for him and I got obsessed with getting a boob job. That’s what I was saving money for”.

“I think guys who use it you can go through their followings and you’ll see pornographic accounts and so if a women sees that she’ll think, ‘Well he likes that and I don’t have that so I need to look like that for him to like me.’…”