About Me
Uzrah Abrar is a senior at Wakefield School, graduating in the class of 2022. She will be attending Stony Brook University in New York to major in Sociology under a Pre-Med track. She is interested greatly in social relations, societies, and culture as well as medicine, health, and the human body, thus, Uzrah picked the topic of the media’s effect on body image issues in order to satisfy her interest in both fields. This topic not only discusses the change in cultures regarding body image and beauty standards, the impact of the media on our society today, along with the variety of people that body insecurity can affect, but it also discusses the medical fatalities that can arise from body image issues, such as eating disorders. Uzrah hopes that by creating this documentary and paper, she can inform and educate more people on the dangers of the media on body image, convince people that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and finally, tackle this dangerous and common worldwide issue.
From skinny to curvy, from lean to buff, the ‘perfect’ body ideal is constantly changing with time. Recently, factors such as social media, the fashion industry, the modeling industry, and celebrity culture all play extraordinary roles in the ever-increasing percentage of body image issues in society. By establishing and promoting the ‘perfect’ body, the media pressures women and men of all ages to alter and damage their bodies in order to satisfy this ideal. This pressure can cause body dissatisfaction, urging people to change their appearances through dangerous acts of starving, binging, purging, or pursuing plastic surgery. The pressure to look perfect, which can lead to eating disorders or body dysmorphia, is a lethal weapon in our society, killing thousands of individuals annually.