Nelson 1 Emily Nelson Brian Lutz English 151 4 October 2011 Influences on Appearance After reading passages about

gender differences in my english class, I came to realize there are a lot of facts that didnt settle well with me about why men and women dress and act the way they do. A lot of what I researched questioned whether or not men and women dress to impress the opposite sex, or if they dress to better themselves among their same sex. Articles I read told me how people are only influenced by outside factors and there really arent any original people out there. My original belief was there really are unique individuals out there, not all people are shaped by social icons and conform to what is seen on television. I didnt understand why there are so many researchers out there disproving my thoughts, slowly I started rethinking myself and realized maybe there really arent people who are 100 percent unique. As much as I believe in originality and being true to yourself I also realize how everyone has someone they look up to and want to grow up to be like. My real question is why and how are people influenced to shape their appearance? Why are people so easily swayed into thinking what they see in the media is what they should be doing and wearing? I became very curious about influences on appearance as I was doing my research on the many different factors that play huge roles in shaping how men and women think they should look. In order to start conducting my research I looked up topics varying from social

Nelson 2 influences on appearance to statistics showing harmful affects of social pressures and expectations. The first article I came across struck my interest because it talked about societal influences starting at early ages. In the article Appearance Culture in Nine- to 12-YearOld Girls: Media and Peer Influences on Body Dissatisfaction by Levina Clark and Marika Tiggemann they stated cultural influences that affect women, The sociocultural model maintains that a number of sociocultural influences transmit current societal standards for beauty, which emphasize the desirability of an unrealistic level of thinness, but which are nevertheless accepted and internalized by many women. As most women and girls are not able to meet this internalized standard (Spitzer, Henderson & Zivian, 1999), the discrepancy between the ideal and the actual self results in body dissatisfaction (Thompson & Stice, 2001). (Clark & Tiggermann 629) This statement points out social standards of beauty and thinness are main reasons why women have body image issues. Women try to hold themselves to the standards shown in the media and by their peers, and when they cant uphold those standards they then feel the anxiety that comes with these pressures. Later in the article the authors talk about the statistics of young girls reading magazines. They stated the affects the media has on the adolescent girls, 69 percent of girls reported that magazine pictures influenced their ideal of the perfect body shape and 47 percent reported wanting to lose weight because of magazine pictures. The frequency of reading fashion magazines was also associated with having dieted to lose weight and exercising to lose weight or improve body shape. (Clark & Tiggermann

Nelson 3 629-630) This proves how the media strongly influences the thoughts of girls. The statement started to make me think more about my original thoughts of women being unique. The next article I looked at had to deal with eating disorders, body image and the ideal perception of what people should be like according to the media. The Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Scale-3 (SATAQ-3): Development and Validation by J. Kevin Thompson, Patricia van den Berg, Megan Roehrig, Angela S. Guarda, and Leslie J. Heinberg stated, Internalization may be a causal risk factor for the onset of eating and shape-related disturbances (Thompson & Stice, 2001) and a significant predictor of treatment success among adolescent girls and women with anorexia nervosa (Heinberg, Guarda, & Haung, 2011). (Thompson, Berg, Roehrig, Guarda & Heinberg 294) The internalization that is mentioned in this excerpt from the article refers to societal norms. In this case, the authors are stating their awareness of how social norms are an issue and do cause women to resort to bad health issues such as anorexia. Even though this point proves me wrong from my statements early on, I still wonder if there would ever be a way to be completely original. The reason I was mainly disturbed by the many articles telling me that people are not original and everyone gets their material from what they see from the media was because I dont believe the media affects everyone in the same way. After reading these articles, I was made more aware of how some people, mostly women, are affected more harshly from what they hear

Nelson 4 or see on television or the tabloids. The article Media Portrayed Idealized Images, Body Shame, and Appearance Anxiety by Fiona Monro and Gail Huon stated, It is unlikely that all young women are affected by idealized images to the same degree. Women who are more likely to be vulnerable are those whose attention is focused on appearance...some women are more likely than others to see the self from the point of view of an outsider, and to regard their body as an object of other peoples gaze. (Monro & Huon 86) This goes along with my developed thought of different kinds of originality. Not all women get anxiety after seeing the beautiful actors and actresses we see on T.V. shows or in movies. Not all women hold themselves to the standards of celebrities. I know plenty of people that do care a lot about appearance, but at the same time I know just as many people that dont. In the circumstance where people dont put much effort into image and what they look like in the public eye, would that be considered lazy? Free spirited? Original? Or would it just make them that much more judged by all of the onlookers? Judgement follows us everywhere. There is no avoiding it, and it is hard to stop oneself from making judgements toward others. Later in my research I came across an article about parental, peer and media influence on appearance. The article is called Sociocultural Incluence and Appearance-Based Rejection Sensitivity Among College Students by Lora E. Park and Ann Marie DiRaddo and it originally caught my attention because the title dealt with college students and since I am currently a college student, it was easy to relate to the inside material. A lot of what the article stated about peer pressure I have witnessed with some of my high school friends,

Nelson 5 Pre-adolescent girls who believed that their friends desired a thin body ideal were likely to adopt a thinner ideal for themselves (Dohnt & Tiggermann, 2006), and college women who joined sororities tended to adopt bingeing and purging behaviors that were similar to their peers so as to be liked and accepted (Crandall, 1988). (Park & DiRaddo 110) I still couldnt find and explanation for why girls focus so much on peer influences. I understand that it happens, but I have yet to find a source that states the exact reason. From this article, I learned that peer influence is a chain affect and that is why it is so wide spread throughout girls. The section about bingeing and purging is a great example of peer influence. I knew a group of girls like that in middle school and reading this made me think about them and the truth in this statement. Groups of friends become friends because they have the same interests, they all rub off on each other and although I dont know why this is, I now know how strong of an influence peers are. For my last source, I read into what factors play into boys appearance. Majority of the articles that related to my topic had to deal with women, I wanted to see what similarities there were between male and female appearance influences. In Peer Influence on Adolescent Boys Appearance Management Behaviors by Jeong-Ju Yoo made a statement on influential factors in boys body image, Adolescent boys heightened body consciousness can be attributed in part to numerous physical changes, which is compounded by an increased need for peer approval. Their body image is greatly influenced by social interactions and developmental changes. (Yoo 1017). Men and women are similar because they both have peer influences as a big factor in their appearance management. Both genders look for the acceptance of the ones they surround

Nelson 6 themselves with. It is easy for males and females to cause themselves stress because of the pressures of being socially accepted among peers. Overall, I could not pinpoint an exact answer to my exploration on the topic of social influences and what makes people think they need to be like what they see on T.V. I did however opened myself up to how I actually feel about the subject. I no longer believe that someone can be completely original. I have accepted the fact that people are unique but it is impossible to to be 100 percent original. Researchers might not know why our peers, family and the media play such an influential role on what we wear, eat, drink and do, but they are aware that we all do it. No one is free from this burden of wanting to be more like someone or something else. After looking at all of the information I found in these multiple articles, I now see that we actually need an influence. I also see that we all have a strong influence in our lives, but not all of them are good and that is why there is much to talk about when the subject of social influences on appearance and body image is raised. Society puts a lot of pressure on men and women of today. It is hard to escape the social standard people are held to every single day against their will. It is hard to find one reason why people let external factors develop the way they dress and what they look like, but it is easily seen that with the right mind set, people can be every bit of original they want to be, with the help of others.

Nelson 7 Works Cited Clark, Levina, and Marika Tiggermann. "Appearance Culture in Nine- to 12-Year-Old Girls: Media and Peer Influences on Body Dissatisfaction." (2006). Academic Search Complete. Web. 5 Oct. 2011. Monro, Fiona, and Gail Huon. "Media-portrayed Idealized Images, Body Shame, and Appearance Anxiety." International Journal of Eating Disorders 38.1 (2005): 85-90. Academic Search Complete. Web. 5 Oct. 2011. Park, Lora E., Ann M. DiRaddo, and Rachel M. Calogero. "SOCIOCULTURAL INFLUENCE AND APPEARANCE-BASED REJECTION SENSITIVITY AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS." Psychology of Women Quarterly 33.1 (2009): 108-19. Academic Search Complete. Web. Thompson, Kevin J., Patricia Van Den Berg, Megan Roehrig, Angela Guarda, and Leslie J. Heinberg. "The Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Scale-3 (SATAQ-3): Development and Validation." (2005): 293-304. Academic Search Complete. Web. 5 Oct. 2011. Yoo, Jeong-Ju. "Peer Influence On Adolescent Boys' Appearance Management Behaviors." Adolescence 44.176 (2009): 1017-031. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Oct. 2011.