Zero Draft
What is Body Image?
What is Positive Body Image?
What is Negative Body Image?
What is the difference between Negative and Positive Body Image?
Why is Body Image such a “hot topic” in today’s society?
How does the “Selfie Culture” affect body image?
Why do so many people talk about it?
How does positive and negative body image affect the way a women views herself and others?
What is the problem with body image?
What sort of affect does positive vs negative body image have on women in particular?
Is there not a good enough balance of both?
Why does our society put so much value on the physical appearance of people?
These are some of the questions I plan to answer/incorporate into my inquiry project. This is a very “talked about” issue in today’s society, culture, celebrities, etc. I want to know why. I want to start specifically with what Negative and Positive Body image is and what sort of things affect them, examples of them, how they affect things, etc. My main focus at this point I think is going to be social media specifically and how it contributes to positive and negative body image.
When talking about negative body image, I want to talk about magazines, celebrities, movies, music videos, peers, and specifically how those all play into social media and body image. I think looking at Instagram will be one of my biggest points that can support my argument. Celebrity, peer influence, and the “explore” page and how they can be a huge cause of negative body image. Not only do I want to look at negative body image and the negative affects of it in general but also specific cases of this. I want to talk about eating disorders, plastic surgery, photoshopping, etc. and how they are outcomes of this distortion we have in our social media culture today. One of my biggest questions is how the “Selfie Culture” affects negative body image.
On positive body image, I want to talk about how much our society has improved on this issue. With celebrities in particular encouraging women to think positively about themselves and not use social media and one another to discourage themselves about the way they look. I want to use examples from Amy Poehler and Jennifer Lawrence for these. There are also many movements that have been made in our media with the Dove Challenge for Confidence and the No-Retouching promotion that Aerie has made.
With all of these things taken into consideration, both positive and negative, why is there still such an issue? What drives the issue of body image into every women in the world? Is social media to blame? Did we have this many problems with negative body image before social media? If we have such positive influences on body image then why do we have so many eating disorders, plastic surgery, lack of self confidence, etc. I don’t just want to talk about this issue in a “big picture” way. I want to look at and talk to real women who struggle with these issues including myself. Granted this is a hard topic to be writing on or asking on but it’s something worth talking about.
