Section One: Body Image and Media Our bodies make us who we are. Each person is unique due to their physical characteristics. Although each individual has their own opinion on what their perfect body would be like, changing one's personal characteristics would devalue individuality (Schlegel, 2013). An individual should be proud to know that no person on this earth is exactly like them. Both inner and outer beauty make an individual different from the rest of the population (Women's Health Network, 2012). Life would be boring if everyone was the same. What is body image? Body image is how individuals see themselves and how they think others see them. Body image is how an individual perceives their body and includes perception, imagination, emotions, and physical sensations (Schlegel, 2013). The mass media have been able to change popular culture and have a constant impact on public opinion. However, if abused, the power of the media can harm the general population (Haas, Pawlow, Pettibone & Segrist, 2012). The images portrayed by the media have a habit of causing people to strive to be someone else's idea of ​​perfection, unconsciously ignoring their own power. own objectives. Stereotypes formed by the media that include flawless men and women have led to a decline in self-acceptance (Martin & Kennedy, 1994). Most media today often presents the perfect body to the public, in the hope that consumers will strive to achieve health and fitness by using a certain idea or product (Women's Health Network, 2012). Although this method of advertising could potentially increase a product's market share, countless people suffer from internal conflicts due to the failure to get the media's interpretation of... medium of paper... to be role models (Martin & Kennedy, 1994). In order for individuals to be able to accept and love themselves for who they are, the media must use more realistic figures to advertise their products. If the media took into consideration the effects their images have on society, they could easily modify their advertisements using more average looking models to sell their product (Schlegel, 2013). In this way, the media can eliminate the “ideal” that society has come to accept as the norm of what it means to be attractive. This would give individuals fewer opportunities to compare themselves to unrealistic body types and more opportunities to compare themselves positively to their peers (Women's Health Network, 2012). This could potentially eliminate numerous eating disorders and help more people realize that beauty is more than skin deep.