Problem
Paper Written By: Makayla J. McDaniel
Paper Reviewed By: Kimberly A. Patrick
A. In your words, describe the purpose of the research. Does the author's literature review move in a direction of responding to or addressing her/his research question(s)?
B. What major areas of the literature are covered? Describe how the author's work fits into the current body of knowledge.
C. How effectively does the writer weave together the sources listed into an organized literature review? How is the cited information analyzed and discussed? What other points might you suggest regarding the sources used in the literature review?
D. How satisfied are you with the writer's understanding of the literature included? What additional considerations would strengthen the writer's case and mitigate its overall weakness?
E. In general, what's the best part about this literature review? Whats the least liked part? If we had to list one change that the writer must make to improve her/his work, what alteration or change would I recommend?
Below is the literature I need help with a literature review on: "Is There Too Much Pressure on Girls to Have 'Perfect' Bodies?" and I need help to answer the literature review questions above numbers 1-5
"Is There Too Much Pressure on Girls to Have 'Perfect' Bodies?"
The topic, "Is there too much pressure on girls to have perfect bodies?'', has been recently getting shed light on. My answer to that question is absolutely and I feel like the rest of society recognizes it as a problem also, they have little care to try and fix the problem.
In this research paper, along with giving reasons to support my claim that this problem exists, I also want to figure out the many roots of this problem, which in this case could be several reasons, but I would like to focus on the main two problems in my opinion which were social media and a mother's influence. Another key topic I will discuss is how to avoid letting your kids develop this insecurity. I also want to talk about how this problem in some young girls' cases could also be inevitable. I also want to add a section in which I tell someone's story who's been affected by body dissociation. Even though there are people who believe that insecurities in young girls are a problem that exists, it should be addressed more.
Belroses' article, "Is There Too Much Pressure for Girls to Have Perfect Bodies? (2020)" argues that there are girls who are struggling with their identity and the body they live in, that feel pressured to compare themselves to other people's bodies types. She argues that due to "societal pressures", these young girls throughout the U. S, are struggling to accept their bodies because they are trying to achieve the "perfect figure" seen on social media, which is causing them physical and mental problems. There was one line in her article that didn't sit right with me which was how she saw several girls wearing "skimpy" clothing, and trying to pose as if they were supermodels, meaning they are having a hard time finding value in themselves. Even though the last part of the sentence is true just because a girl wears skimpy clothing doesn't mean she's insecure with her body or she's trying to be someone else, it could be she just likes that style of clothing. News Desk (2019) enlightens the readers on the feminist psychoanalyst Susie Orbach's concerns and views on why she believes that both women and young girls are being pressured to have a perfect body. Susie Orbach believes that social media is so image-based that it forces women to constantly worry about the state of their bodies.
Social media has given people a platform to express their expectations about and to these women on their bodies. Orbach explains that conditioning of the mind regarding body image is starting to progress and happens at a younger age. I agree with Orbach and the reason why I chose her views to reference in my paper is that in this day and age social media is becoming more and more popular and young children are now using social media more, and now they're more inclined to see these post on social media about perfect bodies and seeing hundreds of ads about losing weight to gain the perfect body.
Another article that points out social media being one of the problems for insecurities in young women is this Illinois State University article titled "Social media effects on body image and eating disorders (2021)", written by Bella Fleps observes the exponential rise of social media usage and its negative and positive effects on body image. The article emphasizes how the amount of time used for media consumption can affect how you see your body. Bella Fleps, the author, reminds the reader how much of a facade social media can be. She talks about the use of filters and photoshops on platforms used to create unattainable body images. I'm using her article for reference because she stated a claim and gave evidence to support it and also gave ways to solve the problem so I'm able to use it later in my research like recommending decreasing or ceasing time spent on social media and for the people that aren't willing to give up their social media consumption, she suggested they consume body positivity content instead of the usual. She also ended the article by listing programs to help students with body positivity. Another reason for the cause of these pressures on young women that I will mention in my paper is how a mothers look on body image can affect how her daughter perceives it.
The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology article named, "Influence of Mothers on the Development of Body Dissatisfaction in Daughters (2017)", argues that even though social media, family members, and friends can have a strong influence on body dissatisfaction, mothers have an even stronger influence because they act as role models for daughters in the making of their eating and weight loss habits. This article was very informative. It gave us two ways a mom's influence can influence their kids' body image. Which were direct and indirect maternal influences. He explains that direct maternal influence is a form of criticism or comments that mothers tell their daughters that can cause girls to feel insecure and then start to develop a negative perception of their bodies. Indirect maternal influence is portrayed through attitudes and indirect comments. In my research paper, I'm also going to address the effects that body image dissociation can cause in people. Griffiths, S., et. al. article titled, "Sex differences in the relationships between body dissatisfaction, quality of life, and psychological distress (2016).", expresses how body dissociation makes up most of why people's "quality of life" isn't good. They write about how surveys are telling us that the reason why some people have mental health problems is that they don't like their bodies. I enjoyed that they provided sample statistics. They reported that the community sample of 966 males and 1,031 females living in Australia provided information about their body dissatisfaction, mental health and physical health-related quality of life, and eating disorder symptoms.
The author then explains how the results for the sample were that rising levels of body dissatisfaction were associated with poor mental and physical health and high psychological distress for both males and females. I incorporated ways people should accept their bodies or ways society can lessen these pressures on young women. The University of Illinois Counseling Center article. "Body Size Diversity and Acceptance", insists that it would be easier to give up the idea of achieving the "perfect" body if people weren't so easily influenced by the media's perception of beauty. The author ends the article by giving the readers a few ways to help with this problem. They consist of not buying fashion magazines, looking the other way when you see height-weight charts, wearing clothes that fit, not judging others' bodies, etc. Lastly I wanted to add an article about someone who has a personal experience with body image insecurities.
Teen magazine article titled, "Body Image and Social Expectations for Women '', brings up the discussion surrounding transgender model Jari Jones. The model's appearance in a Calvin Klein ad made author Ali Qiu realize how accepting society has become regarding body and beauty image. She continues by expressing how most people want to be socially accepted and alter themselves to do so. Although in our day and age the expectation of women regarding body image isn't as dire. She addresses the toxic expectations our society has set on beauty standards. She talks about how there isn't enough body diversity in certain areas of media. One thing I didn't agree with was when she stated how "losing weight" was always considered healthy, although you can be healthy at any size. I do agree with the first part on losing weight is always considered a healthy thing because losing too much weight could be a bad thing but in the last part when she said you can be healthy at any size I don't know if it wasn't meant to be taken literally but that isn't true.
Conclusion
This literature review listed references that would help me achieve a successful research paper about how the amount of pressure being put on young girls to have a perfect body is increasing. I found these sources by googling keywords related to my topic. To make my research paper more credible I used government sites or education sites that tend to end in .org or .edu. I also tried to use sources that focus more on the facts rather than their opinions because depending on the topic some people tend to be biased.
References:
A. Belrose, Olivia. "Is There Too Much Pressure for Girls to Have the Perfect Bodies?" The Mercury, Accessed 1 Oct. 2022
B. Influence of Mothers on the Development of Body Dissatisfaction in Daughters," Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology: Vol. 12: Iss. 1, Article 10.
C. Griffiths, Scott, et al. "Sex Differences in the Relationships between Body Dissatisfaction, Quality of Life and Psychological Distress." Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, vol. 40, no. 6, Dec. 2016, pp. 518-22. PubMed.
D. "Social Media Effects on Body Image and Eating Disorders." News, 21 Apr. 2021.
E. "Body Image and Social Expectations for Women." The Teen Magazine.