Agora: Red Deer Polytechnic Undergraduate Journal
Volume 14:1 2023 Agora Conference Proceedings

Personal Body Image and Media Portrayal of Ideal Bodies
Reginald Kaip
Personal Body Image and Media Ideal Beauty
Today more than ever people of all ages are being increasingly exposed to various forms
of media in their everyday lives, it is so pervasive that it is hard to not see or use some form of
media daily. The rate at which technology and media are growing and becoming more available is
incredible; people can now communicate instantly with anyone across the world. These
tremendous leaps in technology have led to a large increase in socialization and globalization of
ideas, cultures, and ideals that are portraited and communicated primarily by various forms of
media. This paper seeks to define body image and its involved processes. As well as examine the
ideals of media and its effects on the body image of men and women, while trying to give some
insight into how to minimize the consequences of body-focused media in the process. Body image
can be defined according to the American Psychological Association as “the mental picture one
forms of one’s own body as whole, including physical characteristics and one’s attitude toward
these characteristics” (VandenBos, 2015, p.136). This mental picture and accompanying attitudes
can be further broken down into concepts known as body and self-schemas, which are defined as
mental structures that help summarize and organize perceptions about our bodies and self-relevant
information, respectively (Heinzen & Goodfriend, 2021, p.43). When the term media is used it
will be relating to all forms of various media that people use such as streaming services, social
media platforms, news, television, and more. With the media being increasingly pervasive in our
daily lives and its ideals being portrayed, as well as socialized through media it will certainly have
consequences on our perceptions of ourselves and our personal values and ideals. Oxford
dictionary defines socialization as, "the process by which someone, especially a child, learns to
behave in a way that is acceptable in their society (n.d), which is done through sharing and mixing
ideals and cultures.” What happens then, when the ideal that is being portrayed within media does
not match our own body schemas and images? Tory Higgins suggested a theory known as selfdiscrepancy theory, that everyone has three “selves” our actual self, ideal self, and ought self and
when these three selves don’t match, we experience negative emotional reactions (Heinzen &
Goodfriend, 2021, p. 50).

Media’s Ideal Beauty Standards
Both men and women experience pressure and expectations about how to look and act
within society. This has only been exacerbated by the growing prevalence of media in our everyday
lives. This growing consumption of media has allowed for a culture of ideal attractiveness and
body image to be portrayed around the world. Since the media has had access to and has been able
to portray photography, it has consistently portrayed images of a thin-ideal body shape for women.
One study’s results indicated that messages emphasizing the importance of physical appearance
and portraying body stereotypes are present in many children’s videos (Herbozo et al., 2004).
Physical beauty ideals being found within media which is intended for children is concerning as it
can leave lasting impacts on their body images and ideal selves, especially during a time of
important social development. This concerning trend of appearance-focused media has been
shown to be associated with higher levels of restraint and concerns about eating, in both girls and
boys between eight and eleven years old (De Coen et al., 2021). Media does not only have the
ideal body for women but also for men. They often portray a muscular male body as ideal. These
ideals result in pressure from the media for both men and women to conform to an ideal body.
With the growing amount of media and access to it, we will continue to see more focus and
promotion of ideal body images for both men and women, this growth will also allow for a faster
and more pervasive globalization of the ideals. The research will need to continue expanding in
this regard to keep up to potential consequences and changing body ideals.

Perfect Body Ideals and Self-Discrepancy
Self-Discrepancy
It is evident that media is not only pervasive but portrays certain values and ideals, in the
case of the media portraying an ideal body it has some real implications for people’s personal body
image and can result in self-discrepancy. As discussed earlier, Higgins suggested that we have
three simultaneous selves, and that self-discrepancy occurs when your three selves’ experiences
do not match. The first self is known as the actual self, it is the person we believe we are right now
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including our good and bad qualities as well as qualities we think others see in us. The second self
is known as an ideal self, the person that we hope to become, the best possible version of ourselves.
Finally, the third self is known as the ought self, the person that we think other people expect from
us as well as what our culture does and does not approve of (Heinzen & Goodfriend, 2021).
Perfect Body Ideals
When we consistently experience and see portrayals of ideal body types in media, we begin
to internalize it, seeing as it is what our culture seemingly finds attractive. When our own body
does not match this “ideal” body, one can begin to experience self-discrepancy. There has been
much research in recent years that examines ideal body images and self-discrepancy. One research
article demonstrated, with a sample of 77 studies, that media exposure was associated with stronger
reports of disordered eating and greater discrepancies between actual body size and ideal body
size, as well as women’s perceptions of how others wanted them to look (Hefner et al., 2014). This
research gives a great example of self-discrepancy due to the women’s ideal selves, actual selves,
and ought selves all not matching, it also supports the idea that exposure to media images depicting
ideal bodies is related to various body image concerns for women. It can be concluded from the
presented research that some women do experience self-discrepancy because of the portrayal of
media ideals and are then more likely to engage in disordered eating.
With regards to media’s portrayal of an ideal body it also has consequences for men. A
study from 2008, indicated that pressure from media was associated with negative effects for each
of the following variables body esteem, body satisfaction and, self-esteem (Barlett et al.,). This
same study by Barlett et al. indicated that there was a negative relationship between behavioural
outcomes and pressure from mass media regarding exposure to muscular male images (2008). It
can be concluded that some men also experience self-discrepancy due to exposure to media ideals
and are more likely to have negative behavioural outcomes as a result. It should come as no surprise
that an increasing number of studies are indicating relationships between the drive for muscularity
and unrealistic ideal body goals and potentially harmful behavioural strategies such as steroid use
and excessive weight training (Thornborrow et al., 2020). It is evident then that there are gender
differences in not just media ideals of men’s and women’s bodies but also in how each gender
responds and interrupts the potential self-discrepancy they could experience.
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Women are confronted with the ideal thin body which can result in dangerous avoidance
of eating or extreme diets, whereas men are confronted with the ideal muscular body that can result
in dangerous behaviours such as steroid use or overworking their bodies. Why does some research
then implicate that multiple exposure to appearance-focused Instagram profiles of real same-sex
people led to greater body dissatisfaction among women, but not among men? An example of such
work indicates that women exposed to images of attractive same-sex individuals show an increase
in the extent to which they define themselves and their self-worth by their physical appearance,
which could be an explanation (Casale et al., 2021). Other research confirmed the idea that lower
self-concept clarity predicted a greater degree of internalization of social standards for women but
not for men (Vartanian, 2009). While also indicating that for both women and men internalization
predicts body image and dieting concerns (Vartanian, 2009). Self-concept can be defined as “one’s
description and evaluation of oneself including psychological and physical characteristics” where
clarity refers to the extent to which people with a clear self-concept know who they are, and do
not have beliefs that conflict with one another (VandenBos, 2015, p. 953).

How Can We Mitigate Effects of Body Ideals?
Fortunately, there are ways to mitigate the effects of body ideals in media and possibly also
ways to change it from a negative interaction with self-concept and body image to a more positive
one. One possible way to combat the negative side of what is portrayed in media would be more
inclusive, some research suggests that including more diverse forms of body images and even
sexual orientations could have a positive socialization effect on the included groups. One example
of inclusion would be research that suggests increased exposure to lesbian, gay, and bisexualoriented media could decrease uncommitted members of the LGB groups perceived differences
between their actual selves and their ideal selves (Bond, 2014). With the potentially decreased
perceived differences between actual and ideal selves it would result in some relief from selfdiscrepancy from clashing ideal and actual view of self and body image and with it hopefully
increased well-being. Another great example of the inclusion of body images other than the
media’s regularly occurring thin ideal would be a study that was done indicating that images of
overweight women seem to have a positive effect on women’s body image (Holmstrom, 2004).
This resulting positive effect on women’s body image from viewing images of larger women could
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be explained by the social comparison theory, which is defined by how people evaluate their own
opinions, values, and abilities by comparing themselves to others (Heinzen & Goodfriend, 2021).
Within social comparison theory, there is also downward comparison where people compare
themselves to people are perceived as being worse off (VandenBos, 2015). As a result, increase
self-satisfaction which is what would be occurring when people view images of larger women.
What might also be occurring when people view images of larger people rather than ideal bodies
could be that their perceived ideal selves and actual selves are being perceived as less different
based on media presentation and mere exposure to less ideal bodies.
Other ways that people can mitigate effects of experiencing ideal bodies on media could
be with the use of critical media literacy and social medial literacy interventions. Such
interventions would promote the critical appraisal of appearance ideals that are often concealed
under the guise of health and wellness (Monks et al., 2020). Critical thinking interventions could
also help in identifying social comparisons we do to unrealistic ideals seen in media, and the
pressure media puts on us for these harmful comparisons. This research also goes on to indicate
that we should continue to promote adaptive positive body image features that may assist in
mitigating potential negative effects (Monks et al., 2020).
Some research that investigated outcomes which included body dissatisfaction, restrictive
eating, and symptoms of eating disorders, the results indicated little evidence for media effects in
males and that effects were minimal for most females (Ferguson, 2013), which contradicts earlier
research by Barlett et al. whose results indicated that portrayals of ideal male bodies often resulted
in dangerous health behaviours such as excessive physical activity. Some evidence also suggested
that women with pre-existing body dissatisfaction may be primed by media ideals especially in
experimental studies (Ferguson, 2013). This has implications that treatments and interventions for
people with body dissatisfaction may be able to lower self-discrepancy and effects of media on
women.

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Conclusion
Limitations of Existing Research
Research on the topic of media depictions of ideal bodies and effects on individuals’ body
image and self-schemas has been explored more in recent years however there are some limitations
that need to be addressed in this area of research. First more research needs to be done on the
various body ideals and changing body ideals that are seen in modern times. There is still a thin
body ideal portrayed by the media however increasingly there is more and more media ideals of
women with large lips and buttocks. The evolving taste and ideals that are portrayed in the media
may have differing effects on individuals’ body image. Another limitation that should be addressed
is participation, are the participants regularly, or rarely consuming media. These studies are often
conducted in individualistic Western societies and as such more research needs to be applied to
more collective societies so that a comparison can be made to infer how cultural and societal
differences may impact body image.
Future research
More research needs to be done into the diversity of body shapes, sizes, ethnicities, sexual
orientations, and gender identities being portrayed in media. As discussed earlier the mere
exposure and portrayal of lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) people in media had a positive effect on
uncommitted members in those groups. As did women viewing unconventional ideals such as
larger women in media. More research as stated earlier could be done in countries with different
social climates and cultures to infer societal differences.
Implications
Understanding the impact media ideals can have on body image and potential behaviour as
a result is important to understand and learn how to alleviate negative self-views and feelings.
Knowing that women with pre-existing body dissatisfaction are more likely to be primed by media
ideals gives us ways to mitigate exposure. Understanding that critical media literacy and social
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medial literacy interventions could benefit people who are exposed to media regularly and may
mitigate the effects of media on body image and body dissatisfaction.

Discussion
There is no doubt that media is pervasive in our modern daily lives and that media ideals
regarding body image will likely always be around to some extent. It is evident that media ideals
affect people’s perceptions about their ideal body image and what they believe people want them
to look like (ought self). It evidently affects women more than men in the regard that lower selfconcept clarity predicted a greater degree of internalization of social standards for women than for
men and that women with pre-existing body image problems were most likely to experience selfdiscrepancies. However, there are some possible silver linings to be found within the research, the
idea that depicting diverse groups of people in media could decrease perceived differences in ideal
and actual selves. There needs to be more study in this area regarding how we could turn media
ideals into something of a more positive and inclusive note as opposed to a singular ideal body
type, as it would be pretty strange if we all looked the same.

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