To what extent do the media effects an individual's self-identity?

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I have decided to look at to what extent the media affects an individuals self-identity. I am directly concerned with how the media affects young women within today's society, particularly through the use of gender stereotyping within young women's magazines, mainly through articles and advertisements. Here, the ideas and beliefs already created by the media are useful to advertisers because they are socially accepted ideologies. They know that they will influence women. It has been stated in the past that it is these media interpretations of 'The Perfect Woman' that have been the cause for so many women becoming increasingly pressured into looking good and so dieting, keeping fit etc. This can, in extreme cases lead to serious psychological diseases such as anorexia and bulimia, where one of the main causes has been identified as social pressure.

I am going to study this as, being a young woman in modern society myself, I have a very personal interest in this topic. Through conducting this research, I aim to prove my hypothesis that 'women are stereotyped in the advertising media, mainly through the use of supermodels and celebrities and made to feel they have a social duty to