Final Project: A Body Image Journey

Final Project Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8DQi-a9yd_jcm9HLTNjcnV3TnhoVVVIQjRldkVFbThObVlJ/view?usp=sharing

For my final project, I created a graphic novel entitled A Body Image Journey. This graphic novel follows the stories of three different women throughout their lives. They are my grandmother Roberta, my mother Miriam, and myself Tamsin. Each story details how the media influenced our body image at different stages of our lives. How we viewed our body, how we viewed the “ideal body” being portrayed to us in the media, what we did to change our body, and our overall body image experience. In so many ways our experience are very unique to ourselves, but in some many ways they are similar. Each story delves into their specific media influences, and even references actual ads and celebrities of influence at the time. 

Metrecal Diet Ad. Drawing featured in Robert'a story.

The media’s portrayal of body image and the negative effects it has on women is no new idea. In fact it is an idea that has been studied and researched frequently throughout history. It is often cited that media’s portrayal of the “ideal body”-- which is a body of unattainable standards-- causes not only depression among females who can’t attain that body that will make them “beautiful,” but also causes eating disorders among the numerous females who try. In the book The Media and Body Images, the authors state when talking about the effects of media on body image, that the media often encourages a set of rules and beliefs that females follow in order to get this “ideal body”. “If you are not thin you are not attractive. Being thin is more important than being healthy. You must buy clothes, cut your hair, take laxatives, starve yourself, do anything to make yourself look thinner. Thou shall not eat without feeling guilty. Thou shall not eat fattening food without punishing oneself afterwards.Thou shall count calories and restrict intake accordingly. What the scale says is the most important thing.  Losing weight is good /Gaining weight is bad. You can never be too thin. Being thin and not eating are true signs of will power and success” (214 Wykes Gunter.) The media often exploits this vulnerability of women, which they also caused, by advertising off of it. As cited in the article Hunger as an Ideology, “Advertisers are aware, too, of more specific ways in which women’s lives are out of control, including our well-documented food disorders; they frequently incorporate the theme of food obsession into their pitch” (Bordo 105.) And as stated in the article Beauty and the Beast of Advertising, “Desperate to conform to the ideal and impossible standards, many women go through great lengths to manipulate and change their faces and bodies” (2 Kilbourne.) My graphic novel explores all these themes. It explores the awful beliefs us women sometimes have, (starving ourselves to get the “ideal body.”)  My graphic novel explores how food advertisements takes advantage of women and causes them to go on diet after diet. It explores how we use the media as a guide, and spend money on what it tells us to wear and do to our body to be what they say is “ideal” and “beautiful.” But, my graphic novel also explores overcoming these challenges, and creating a healthier view of your body and a healthier way of maintaining it.

Jessica Simpson's pregnancy weight loss magazine spread. Drawing featured in Miriam's story.

Going into this project, I expected the only focus to be body size. I was surprised to discover that a big issue when it came to body image in the media, also included puberty, menopause and other female body experiences that the media either ignores or negatively represents. Many girls fear developing breast too early or too late. They are ashamed of starting their periods, and becoming a woman. In the article The Mainstream Media Is Out to Convince You That Periods Are Terrifying, they state “The regularity, normalcy and uneventfulness of real life menstruation is rarely portrayed on screen. Instead, it’s treated as traumatic, embarrassing, distressing, offensive, comedic or thoroughly catastrophic” (Baker.) Girls are made to believe that having breast too early is wrong, and too late is bad (clip: 0:01-0:38.) And that periods are gross, and also should happen at a very specific age (11 or 12), or else you don’t fit the media’s ideals (Clip: 1:15-2:35.) And while girls are facing the effects of negative media puberty portrayal, older women are also shamed when it comes to their media representation of menopause. Menopause is often ignored in the media world. The media doesn’t like to portray women aging, they just like to show how to stop women from aging… because the “ideal women” is always young. In the article Menopause in the Media: It’s about time!, they explore the negative stereotypes often associated with menopause (aging, moodiness, etc.) and it’s secrecy/ lack of representation. It states “It’s time to speak out and to one another, not only about the physical changes we experience, but about how we deal with them” (Diller.) My graphic novel explores both these issues, and the shame the media brings to a female’s changing body. I explore how the media deals with these issues, either by ignoring them or negatively representing them. I learned that this is also a real body image issue many people face or will face caused by negative media representation. But it shouldn’t be an issue, like Miriam says in my graphic novel, it’s life and natural, and should be celebrated. Other issues talked about are pregnancy and freshman 15 weight gain.

Taylor Swift Diet Coke Ad. Drawing featured in Tamsin's story.

With this graphic novel I’m hoping to give stories that other women can relate to, and get comfort in knowing that they are not alone in their body image journey. To show that women of all ages are being poisoned by the media, and being encourage to harm themselves to become something they are not, instead of celebrating who they are. I’m hoping others will also share their stories (which is extremely therapeutic), and we can continue to make a difference. Changes have been starting to develop, which are explored in my graphic novel, but we need to keep fighting and make more changes. So please share and please help fight this age old battle. I hope my graphic novel encourages women to love their bodies, and to speak out. By sharing our stories and speaking out, a difference will be made.

Bibliography:

·         Baker, Katie J.M. “The Mainstream Media Is Out to Convince You That Periods Are Terrifying.” Jezebel, Jezebel, 19 June 2013, jezebel.com/5925567/periods-are-terrifying-and-traumatic-according-to-movies-and-tv-shows.

·         Bordo, Susan. “Hunger as an Ideology.” pp. 99–134.

·         Diller, Ph.D. Vivian. “Menopause in the Media: It's About Time!” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 15 Sept. 2013, www.huffingtonpost.com/vivian-diller-phd/menopause-in-the-media-its-about-time_b_3595779.html.

·         Kilbourne, Jean. “Beauty and the Beast of Advertising.” pp. 121–125.

·         Wykes,Maggie, and Barrie Gunter. TheMedia and Body Image: If Looks Could Kill. SAGE, 2005.