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The main aim of my research is to find out how and in what ways the media influences young girls idea of the ideal body shape. I will present them with pictures of celebrities from magazines

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Introduction

The Media plays an important role in influencing young girls on the ideas on the ideal body shape. I have chosen to study and research this statement as I believe that the media puts pressure on young girls to conform to to the idealistic images constantly portrayed in the media. 'Slimming' articles along with related television programmed has increased. The number of young girls within this age span that develop eating disorders has increased in the last thirty five years. I feel that the media and its ideal of super slim models and celebrities that dominate the media affect me. Concepts and context I intend to tackle the issue head on and first of all ask the question what is the relationship between the media and eating disorders. Vaughnhan and Fous conducted a study looking at the amount of time that girls were exposed to media and the development of eating disorders. They used 374 girls ranging from 12-14. They were surveyed twice at different times, each being one year apart. ...read more.

Middle

This would suggest that the statement 'thin is in' used in these magazines is true. Both studies suggest that the concept I lay out, that women's ideal shape that they strive to be is directly influenced by the material they read, is very much true. The theological approach that I have employed is that of the interpretivists. My research needs to be an in-depth study, as I want to discover the participant's perception of the media. In order to opperationalise my concepts I intend to employ a main research method of semi structured interview, allowing elaboration to employ a more qualitive approach. I did consider using a survey or questionnaire but this seemed unrealistic considering my current position. I have in take into account when choosing my method factors such as time and money, access to data, situational constraints such as the fact that I am an A-level student and previous research. Most of the research I have looked at has been done on a large scale or over along period of time. ...read more.

Conclusion

I intend to employ a certain element of deception as I will not inform the participants of full details what the study is for until after the interview. Problems Reliability is an issue as the girls may restrain from telling me what they really think because of interview bias. They may not answer truthfully but answer the way they think that they should. The method I have chosen may prove time consuming. If the participants don't give consent and so I would have to start sampling again. The participants are minors, and so therefore I would have to have parental consent before carrying out the study. I may also be criticized for only using females. Bake r 1924 said "Men's self consciousness about their appearance is probably greater now that ever before ...given the massive exposure of men's bodies in the media". I have chosen females as the religious desire to be thin is much more extreme in women than in men proven by the fact that eating disorders are ten times more common in women than in men and the ideal of slimness is much more forceful toward woman than to men (Striegel-Moore). 1997). ...read more.

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