The Negative Effects of Social Media on Women’s Self — Image and Body Positivity
Introduction
In recent years, the use of social media has come into every aspect of people’s life. Ranging from political election canvassing to shopping without leaving home to sharing our experience with friends and relatives far away in the world anytime and anywhere, the Internet in the form of social media has brought great convenience to our lives. However, ， nowadays, it is also being used as a platform to convince people to behave or perceive things in a certain way (Meister, 2014). Patriarchy and capitalism utilize social media such as Instagram, China’s Wechat and MSN to advertise specific standards of beauty. This further appeals to the kind of society they favour, which is consumer culture or a nation whose morals and values are ruled by consumption. This standard can cause women’s dissatisfaction with their bodies. According to statistics, more than 84% of women are not satisfied with their appearance as they compare themselves with the images presented by social media (Kozicka, 2015). Therefore, social media may bring benefits to our lives, but it can also bring problems to us and our society. In a place where beauty affects one’s career and relationship, the images that social media perpetuates cultures and negatively influence the physical and mental health of women. Social media is utilized for advertising the objectification of women that dehumanizes us. Furthermore, these ideas of beauty promoted in social media negatively influences the overall well being of women.
Viewpoint 1: Social Media Advertisements objectify Women
The Chinese people are relatively concerned with their image. The standards of beauty in this society are white porcelain skin, round eyes and stick slim figure (Goodman, 2017; Ching & Xu, 2018). Similar standards of beauty are encouraged and can be observed in other Asian cultures such as that of Japan, South Korea and the Philippines. It is not difficult to hypothesize how capitalism and patriarchy are benefitting from these beauty standards through social media. Whitening products from famous international brands such as L’oreal, Olay and Clinique hire popular women on social media, also known as influencers, to endorse their products. For example, Yang Mi (杨幂), a famous Chinese influencer who has more than 600 000 followers, was hired by Estee Lauder to endorse their cosmetic products (Estee Lauder Instagram, 2017). Their “type,” which is white skin and the slim figure, becomes the standard. Their repeated appearance on these cosmetic companies’ social media platform becomes a constant reminder of what beauty should look like. The unfortunate truth about this is that women become objects to which we are checked on whether or not we meet these standards. These standards of beauty perpetuate culture and society. Focusing on the Asian culture, more specifically in China, one’s physical looks have become a determinant of one’s future. A woman’s or even a girl’s face and body become an investment to her husband, her parents and also to society as a whole. In this country, if one has a “beautiful face and body,” then it is more likely for her to be offered a job, treated pleasingly by others, as well as favoured by her parents (Ching & Xu, 2018). There is also a saying, “ nan cai nu mao” translated as ‘a talented man matches a beautiful woman,” wherein a woman who has fair white skin, round eyes, long hair and stick slim figure has a higher chance of landing a husband with a stable job or even a wealthy background. Women are being treated like objects whose value is determined by whether or not we meet those standards of beauty. This objectification of women leads us to be dehumanized. Our internal attributes such as intellect, personality and perspective in life, come second to our looks. This is one way of how patriarchy and capitalism manipulate women through social media. This then can negatively affect our physical and mental well — being.
Viewpoint 2 Social Media Advertisements dehumanize Women
More often than not, these advertisers or social media influencers are portrayed in an ideal way wherein they are glamorized or portrayed as successful or just someone who receives a lot of favouritism. This kind of image that the social media portrays perpetuates the culture of capitalism and patriarchy, and it affects how society views women. It also affects how we see ourselves. In her TEDTalk, Jean Kilbourne (2014) discusses how the objectification of women in advertisements is worse than before, and it is because of some software like Filters and Facetune. Filters or Facetune is readily available in many social media, which then further makes the standard of beauty even more unattainable. The rule of beauty marketed by the cosmetic and beauty companies that are further augmented by digital enhancements influences one’s view of self. It makes women keenly aware of the gap between “How do I look?” versus “How should I look like?” All of these then causes dissatisfaction in women because of their physical attributes. According to Ching and Xu (2018), the unhappiness that these women, commonly young adults, the experience causes them to alter their looks through cosmetic surgery. As of recent, Japan is one of the largest consumers of cosmetic surgery, falling behind the US and Brazil (Kinonen, 2017). China is not so far behind with its cosmetic surgery industry-valued for more than 71 billion US dollars (Zhihua, 2018). More than this is the notion of mental health as it relates to one’s self — image or how one view oneself. Comparing one’s self to the digitally enhanced version of others, more specifically of those social media influencers, may negatively influence one’s self-esteem (Barr, 2019). In addition to that, Dr. Keith Hampton (as cited in Walker, 2019) claims that one’s internalization of the ideal image that the social media portrays may aggravate an individual’s tendency to become depressed, and experience mood and anxiety disorders.
Conclusion
The way I see it, social media is a platform that can be used in a variety of ways to either benefit or cause harm to others. Its prominence in the digital world and its influence in our lives cannot be easily ignored. Hence, the matter of how social media impacts how women view themselves should be carefully looked into. In their separate TEDTalks published on Youtube, Cameron Rusell (2013) and Lindsay Kite (2017), discussed women’s looks and body and why we should embrace ours no matter how conforming or non-conforming, it is to the society’s standards. If social media can be used as a tool that causes women to be dissatisfied with their image, why not use it more to deliver the opposite, better and positive message? That is to acknowledge and love oneself, instead of pictures of patriarchy and capitalism devalued and benefited by women
References
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