Fashion Magazines as Influence of Female Body Image Assignment

Fashion Magazines as Influence of Female Body Image - Assignment Example Magazines such as Cosmopolitan use language which asserts that women are socially substandard and not acceptable without sustaining the good looks of other women utilized in the magazine’s imagery. Over time, after being exposed to these messages and innuendos, women believe in this propaganda (Lemberg, 1999). When fashion magazines use images of unattainable physical perfection, it is said that this imagery diminishes feminist ideologies and begins asserting to women that maintaining a similar physical exterior is the fundamental objective of being a woman (Cash, Gitter, Kogel and Zaphirpoulos, 1997). Hence, women begin to develop ideologies related to vanity and seeking a magazine-asserted perspective of body perfection in order to be considered socially-viable which supersedes feminist beliefs. Furthermore, Suls, Martin, and Wheeler (2002) suggest that most women in society look toward social reference group figures when assessing their identities. This well-respected psychological theory suggests that women’s sense of identity is constructed by conducting social comparisons with aspirational figures in society that have built a positive social reputation, achieved fashion sense, or have achieved the body image portrayed in fashion magazines. Magazines seem to understand this phenomenon, which is why these publications use celebrity imagery because of their aspirational traits. Therefore, women look toward these social figures as a means of making status comparisons to themselves and the celebrity. When women see that they have more curves or fatness as compared to these slender and popular famous persons, they begin to develop a negative body image and reduced self-esteem. A study was conducted in which researchers used MRI technology to reveal changes in the brain as a result of exposure to fashion imagery.