The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.

-Malcolm X

Introduction:

The first chapter I chose is Chapter 2: Culture and the Media. Mass Media, according Sociology the essentials by Anderson et all, is defined as the channels of communication—the print, film, and electronic media, as well as Internet, such as Facebook. It is safe to say that we receive most, if not all, of our current event information from media. However, what we often fail to consider is how media skews our perceptions of the world on virtually anything and everything.

Scholarly Article:

The role of the media in body image concerns among women: a meta-analysis of experimental and correlational studies

The following link will take you to the preview of an article published by the Oxford University Press. The article discusses how being dissatisfied with your body has become a cultural norm thanks to media. The article reports that a staggering 50% of women admittedly fall into this category of body dissatisfaction.

http://www.mendeley.com/catalog/role-media-body-image-concerns-among-women-meta-analysis-experimental-correlational-studies/#

Photograph:

Anorexia

Video link:

Websites that combat media:

http://www.cmch.tv/mentors_parents/bodyimage.asp

This website breaks down how different forms of media try to skew perceptions of body image. The website also touches on a few media campaigns that are trying to give people back their body image confidence. The target audience seems to be parents who are trying to education themselves on these current issues.

http://mediasmarts.ca/body-image

Canada is really on to something with this website! This website is all about debunking what the media says in the “norm” for a variety of subjects ranging from diversity, to gender representation, and marketing consumptions.

 References

Anderson, M. L., & Taylor, H. F. (2013). Sociology: The essentials. (p. 39). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning

Clifford, S. (2011). The media’s influence on body image[Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECd-zdTg4tQ

CMCH. (2008). Cmch mentors. Retrieved from http://www.cmch.tv/mentors_parents/bodyimage.asp

Grabe, S., Ward, L. M., & Hyde, J. S. (2008). The role of the media in body image concerns among women: a meta-analysis of experimental and correlational studies. (M. Boden, Ed.) Psychological Bulletin, 134(3), 460-476. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18444705

Media smarts. (2009, June 6). Retrieved from http://mediasmarts.ca/body-image

(n.d.). Anorexia. [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://blogs.saschina.org/aplangparker/files/2011/02/anorexia-206×300.jpg

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://thinkexist.com/quotations/media/