Mass Media and Female Body Image

During the last two centuries, there has been an unprecedented transformation of the role of females in modern society. Females are being increasingly perceived as empowered agents of their own destiny instead of helpless, docile women. However, the legacy of females as passive objects of male desire casts a giant shadow on the female psyche and female self-confidence. Thesis: Cultural influences such as mass media exert such a harmful influence on female body image because standardized ideals of female beauty harm the ability of individual females to find a suitable male mate and reproduce, thereby threatening the fundamental biological impulse for females to settle down and start a family.

Cultural Factors in Shaping the "Ideal Body"

An Ancient Form of Mass Media: Greek Sculpture

The very first influences on society's understanding of the body came through, as they do now, media. The form of...
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