I am typing from my brand new itouch!! It came free with the Macbook my parents bought me for college :) whee! This thing could keep me entertaiined for hours.

BTW I am so incredibly excited for ASHLEY CHAN to come visit ! <3

AP English 3
Rosenberg
May 12, 2008
Sentence Outline
Thesis: While the media, especially magazines, is often entirely blamed for promoting an unattainable level of beauty, especially in women, it is the internalization of societal values of beauty by both an individual and their peers that plays the largest role in harming the way individuals view themselves; though there is a prevalence of thin, airbrushed and "beautiful" models in magazines and advertisements, the media is simply reflecting society's ideas. The media only plays off of what sells, and consumers continue to buy and encourage this standard. This internalization poses the biggest threat to a healthy body image, for it is what essentially drives women to try to match this impossible standard set by society. Given that an internalization of values is inevitable, however, the older generation must work to change and instill better values in younger children, for it is during childhood that beliefs and values are shaped.  Through this, the harmful beauty standard in society can slowly begin to break down.
Outline:
I.                   While the media is often entirely blamed for promoting an unattainable level of beauty, it is the internalization of societal values of beauty that plays the largest role in harming the way individuals view themselves.
A.    The media may portray thin and airbrushed models as beautiful and the ideal way for a woman to look, but it is essentially only reflecting what consumers deem as beautiful.
1.      One cannot deny that the media (magazines, advertisements, commercials, etc) emphasizes the relationship between thinness and beauty, and that this relationship has a negative effect on body image.
a.       Diet advertisements and articles are ten times more likely to appear in a women's magazine than a men's magazine. Surprisingly, this ratio is almost equal to the ratio of eating disorders in women compared to eating disorders in men. (Dale Cusumano)
b.      Studies show that females who are exposed to appearance-related commercials tend to be less satisfied with their body shape after watching them (compared to women who are exposed to nonappearance-related images). (Cusumano)
c.       Women's magazines have many more articles centered on appearance (weight loss, fitness, beauty, etc.) than do men's magazines (Cusumano).
d.      Even magazines that promote the "largest" body shape have relatively thin women as their models.           
e.       The prevalence of the idea that thinness is equivalent to acceptance in society has even shown up in adolescent books (Marci M. Glessner).
i.                    Examples of such novels include Squashed by Joan Bauer, One Fat Summer by Robert Lipsyte, and Last Was Lloyd by Doris Buchanan Smith.
ii.                  The children who are overweight in these novels are often bullied and teased. If they are not the victims, they are the bullies – the children that everyone else hates.
iii.                The overweight character always struggles with his or her appearance, and almost always has an extremely low level of self esteem.
iv.                The implied message is that in order to fit in, one must be thin. There is also the idea of "will power vs. weight": if one wants to be thin, they will make it happen. In fact, this idea is prevalent in various aspects of the media, and could be closely related to the prevalence of eating disorders among girls (if they have the will power to be thin, they will do anything to make it happen).
2.      Individuals, especially during adolescence, are bombarded with images in the mass media.
a.       Media advertisements do set up an unrealistic expectation for girls' physical appearance.
b.      The more someone is exposed to these images, the more they come to dislike their body. Satisfaction with one's body decreases with age (Mary Polce-Lynch).
c.       Girls are given harmful messages. They are told that those who do achieve a slender body will be rewarded (Marita P. McCabe)
d.      In a study, when asked whether they received positive messages from the media, only a small number of girls reported yes. Even these so-called "positive" messages were related to appearance (food, diet, and exercise) (McCabe).
e.       This bombardment can have a detrimental psychological impact on adolescents.
i.                    Examples include eating disorders, body image problems, and the construction of unfavorable gender stereotypes (Polce-Lynch).
ii.                  There is a definite relationship between adolescent body image problems and worries and the media's messages about what girls should like - especially in terms of how much to weigh, but also what to wear (Polce-Lynch).
3.      However, the media only plays off of what sells.
a.       We as consumers continue to encourage magazines to show a prevalence of these thin, idealistic looking models because we continue to buy the magazines that photograph these women.
b.      Magazines that portray women with this Barbie-doll like contour sell at higher rates than magazines that have images of "realer" women (Nancy Etcoff).
c.       The fact that consumers keep buying these magazines shows that the media is not completely at fault. Though we blame magazines for forcing this image on us, we are giving the message that we want to continue seeing these images.
B.     The internalization of societal values of beauty plays a much more harmful role in hurting a healthy body image.
1.      The more females are exposed to such images, the more they will internalize these images.
a.       There is a shared view in society of what "beauty" looks like.
b.      Surveys in various studies show that people tend to agree on what is beautiful.
c.       They find that similar features are attractive, even across "ethnically diverse faces" (Etcoff).
d.      Beauty is not simply "in the eye of the beholder". As much as we would like to deny it, we share a common view of what is beautiful in society. We have all internalized the same view.
2.      This internalization of values is so prevalent that even young children have a set idea of what one needs to look like to be accepted in society.       
a.       The idyllic idea that beauty does not matter in childhood is completely untrue. Children are just as harsh as teenagers and adults in being quick to criticize – a few minutes of listening to children bullying each other based on their appearance in a schoolyard can confirm that notion (Etcoff).
3.      An individual's internalization of these values is clearly unhealthy and harmful towards women and how they perceive their bodies.
a.       A study of how an internalization of societal values of appearance relate to body image showed that higher levels of such internalization are closely related to eating disorders (Cusumano).
b.      The level of reading of magazines that emphasize appearance (beauty, litheness, weight information) is linked with body dissatisfaction (Cusumano).
c.       Girls who feel that they are living up to the cultural ideal set for them tend to accept themselves more and have a higher level of self esteem (Polce-Lynch).
d.      90% of adolescent girls want to lose weight and reduce their body size (McCabe).
II.                Given that an internalization of values is inevitable, however, the older generation must work to change and instill better values in younger children, for it is during childhood that beliefs and values are shaped. 
A.    The influence of older family members and educators plays a critical role in determining a girl's level of acceptance of herself.
a.       A particular study shows that mothers especially play a significant role. They can either reinforce the societal ideas about beauty or break them down – this choice has a strong impact on what their child internalizes (McCabe).
b.      One study asked girls to report the number of positive and negative messages that they received from a variety of sources, including mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and teachers. (McCabe).
i.                    The girls who received the more positive messages from these individuals tended to view themselves in a much more positive light.
ii.                  Comparisons to other girls tended to make them dissatisfied with their bodies.
iii.                The more negative messages these girls received, the more likely they were to fall into the trap of hurting themselves in order to gain the "ideal" body.
B.        By instilling better values in younger children, we can slowly begin to break the harmful beauty standard that is currently set in society.
a.         A certain elementary school tested this hypothesis by creating a curriculum centered on how to maintain a healthy body image (the curriculum was administered to fourth-grade through sixth-grade students) (Kathy J. Kater).
i.          The curriculum had activities that incorporated certain prevention principles. The goal was to positively affect body image attitudes and behavioral intentions.
ii.         Studies showed that this curriculum did in fact have a positive effect on students.
iii.        Therefore, there is a definite correlation between encouraging a healthy body image in young children and a reduction of body dissatisfaction.
C.     In order to instill these values, the older generation must not only take action once, but repeatedly. Change cannot happen overnight.
a.       Childhood is the most vital time. Children are like sponges, and it is during this time that their beliefs and values are shaped.
b.      Parents can focus on younger children by not having them play with stick thin Barbie dolls, or show them picture books with people of all sizes. More educators can create these "healthy body" curriculums.
c.       Action must be taken, for the values children internalize during their childhood will stick with them forever.