Though magazines are only one of the many devices the media uses to skew society’s image of the “perfect body” or of the “ideal image,” they are often deemed the major culprit for promoting thin body ideals (Tiggeman 426).  Magazines have been proven to increase body dissatisfaction, create an unrealistic portrayal of women’s, or even men’s beauty, and even to contribute to the continual rise of eating disorders (Botta 390).  Though many magazines contain countless articles about dieting and weight loss, the primary tool magazines use to construct an ideal body image is pictures, especially in advertisements.  Many of these pictures show already-thin models.  For example, Cameron Diaz and Julia Roberts who both appear regularly in magazines, meet the Body Mass Index for anorexia (Media and), but many of these pictures are altered to create a “new” body image.  No matter how magazines do it, they present a skewed depiction of body image and are a main contributor in the media’s obsession with the perfect body .

            Though most people would likely recognize the media of being at least an indirect cause of body dissatisfaction, thin-body ideals, and eating disorders, many deem television a more threatening influence than magazines.  This simply is not true.  Harrison and Cantor (1997) recognize “Magazine reading seems to more consistently predict body dissatisfaction and disturbed eating than does television watching” (Tiggemann 420).  Psychological studies, such as Cash & Deagle (1997) have proven that "those vulnerable to eating disorders are indeed those with greater body dissatisfaction" and that feeling "ashamed, depressed, and dissatisfied with [one's] body...predispose[s] eating disorders" (Myers 446).  Furthermore, magazines’ thin-ideal messages are stronger or more effective than those in television because many times, they are merely still-frame photographs.  In magazines, one has more time to observe or absorb the thinness or muscule-mass of a model, and these unchanging images in magazines have been proven to spread the thin-body ideal “more effectively” than in television (Tiggemann 426). 

            When addressing magazines’ influence on the public perception of body image, one must begin with fashion magazines.  These magazines, ones focused on beauty, high style, trends, or even lifestyle, are most often targeted at women, and even when they are regularly read by men, magazines are linked to the desire for a decrease in muscularity (Botta 397), a stark contrast to the common male body ideal.  According to the Standard Periodical Dictionary, from 1950 to 1999 an average of 5,500,000 women subscribed to the four most common fashion magazines--Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Vogue, and Mademoiselle--(Sypeck 343), and the number of women exposed to these magazines increases every year due doctors’ offices, friends, and more.  Furthermore, the contents, specifically photographs, of these same four popular fashion magazines have had drastic changes.  As the media has established a new, unrealistic body image, magazines have also displayed this image.  Though the average woman’s weight has risen in the last fifty years, the average weight of a fashion model has decreased and is currently 23% below that of the average woman (Media and).  Body Mass Index, (BMI) used to determine a healthy weight, can be skewed because it does not take muscle into account, but with thin celebrities, especially models, BMI is an accurate and effective measurement.  It is determined by taking one's weight, dividing it by height in inches twice, then multiplying by 703 (Dibattista 30).  Moreover, in magazines pictures have evolved from mostly head or upper-body shots in the 1960s, to mostly full-body photographs in current society.  While this trend certainly contributes to increased body dissatisfaction, among other problems, it also highlights the media’s new idea of beauty, not a pretty face or stunning smile, but a rail-thin body (The more ribs showing the better!) (Sypeck 346).

            Fashion magazines have been proven to increase the internalization of the thin ideal (Tiggemann 426), which is closely correlated to body dissatisfaction.  As stated earlier, body dissatisfaction, as well as low self-esteem (Myers 447), are directly related to a higher vulnerability of developing an eating disorder.  Fashion magazines are continuously depicting thinner models and selling or advertising clothes in smaller sizes; while America gains weight, the fashion industry loses weight.  This is simply not a realistic portrayal of body image and because fashion magazines tend to depict ideal bodies, as well as causes psychological problems that can lead to eating disorders, they are harmful to society and give an unreal illustration of body image.

            Another type of magazines that creates an unrealistic body image is fitness or health magazines (Muscle & Fitness, Flex, Exercise and Health, and more), which, unlike fashion magazines, have a greater influence on men than on women (Botta 390).  However, in contrast to fashion magazines which emphasize thinness, fitness and health magazines stress musculature.  Cohane and Pope (2001) go so far as to say, “A drive to be muscular may be as dangerous for adolescent boys as a drive to be thin for adolescent girls” (Botta 389).  Like in fashion magazines, contents of health and fitness magazines have changed over time—over four decades “men’s” magazines have increased the number of weight loss advertisements, and male models have gotten progressively more muscular (Botta 390).  Furthermore, these types of magazines, while encouraging males to become bigger, stronger, and build muscle, mass lead to pill or supplement usage or even to steroid usage.  With the combination of muscular male models (many of whom are clearly on steroids) and athletes, especially baseball players (one of whom is a seven-time MVP who shall remain nameless), young males are exposed to "ideal" bodies and sometimes go as far as using illegal supplements to acquire the media’s proposed body image.  Reading health and fitness magazines, overall, has a larger influence on men than on women, but like men, women reading these magazines have been shown to have a stronger drive to be thin, leading to increased eating disorders and body dissatisfaction (Botta 396).  Through types such as health and fitness or fashion, magazines enhance the media’s unrealistic portrayal of body image and create a skewed depiction of beauty in present society.

                       Another aspect of magazines that spread thin-body ideals is advertisements, specifically dieting ads or even dieting articles.  Advertisements in magazines almost always feature a thin model, even when selling a high-calorie product.  Companies rarely use overweight models, partly because the image is simply less appealing and partly because a reader might not want that product to result in being overweight.  Jennifer Nardozzi states that because the media uses contrasting images while selling products, people “seem bombarded by contradictory media influences” (37).  In a recent advertisement in Fitness magazine for Jarlsberg Lite Cheese, a thin model in a short dress sat at a bar, eating cheese, with the caption “Everybody could use a little less fat.”  Likewise, an advertisement in Flex magazine (right) shows a girl in a very sexual position telling one what to do after working out.  Not only does it display a thin women but also it causes one to wonder if the perfect body is possible or if there are always are of one's body to improve.  But advertisements do not strictly depict women; countless other advertisements show bare-chested, muscular men challenging the reader to read "the guide to perfect physique" or to "gain muscle mass."  These blatant portrayals of thin-body or muscular-body ideals complement the numerous other negative advertisements in magazines that lead to an unrealistic illustration of body image. 

            While many of the images used in magazines depict overly skinny or muscular models, many of these images are not as they seem.  A technique employed by many magazines, notably GQ and Redbook, “magically” causes unwanted blemishes to disappear.  This process is called airbrushing, and it is not limited to men or women with average or overweight bodies.  It is used for everyone, even beautiful models or celebrities like Tyra Banks, Julia Roberts, and Kate Winslet.  For example, actress Kate Winslet’s legs were unnaturally elongated for her GQ cover image for the February 2004 issue.  The actress has been quoted saying that her legs in the original photos looked great and did not need to be altered (Freydkin 2).  Kate Winslet, who has been called fat by some media sources, is a refreshing example of a celebrity who openly rejects the media’s exaggerated image of beauty.  Similarly, the cover of the July 2004 issue of Redbook featured a spliced picture of Julia Roberts, the headshot from a photo taken at the 2002 People’s Choice awards and the remainder of her body from a four year old photo (Freydkin 1).  The explanation for the photo fusion?  The publisher of Redbook said that the picture combination was done in order to create a more “popping” photo for the cover of the magazine (Freydkin 2).  When magazines feel the need to fix photographs of already-thin celebrities or models, something is seriously wrong with their standard of attractiveness.

            The media as a whole has greatly contributed to self-image problems for men and women, but magazines especially enhance this problem.  Fashion magazines and health magazines portray overly skinny or muscular models, leading to thin-body ideals and body dissatisfaction, which can lead to eating disorders.  Advertisements in magazines use skinny models for nearly every product and promote thin ideals by constantly asking people to examine their weight or lose weight.  Airbrushing, a relatively new phenomenon, skews the reader’s view of reality by improving the appearance of an already thin model or celebrity.  Greg Apodaca airbrushes for a living, and though he clearly does not condone airbrushing, he recognizes how ridiculous many demands are.  He writes, “It doesn't seem natural to me to take out every curve, to airbrush out every blemish, but what the Art Director wants, the Art Director will get” (Apodaca).  Like Apodaca's Art Director, magazines want an unrealistic depiction of beauty and body image, and, unfortunately, they get it.

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Pictures Obtained Here:  Cameron Diaz, Jane, Muscle and Fitness, Newspaper, Nivea, and Airbrushing