GET REAL! Toolkit • Digital Media Literacy
Media and Your Body Image
In our media-saturated culture,
it's hard to escape the onslaught
of messages about our bodies.
Media messages tell us how we should look and
feel and sell us ways to achieve it, pressuring
us to diet and exercise, even take supplements
or undergo surgery, to attain the media culture’s
ideal body standard. Learn to think critically
about unhealthy body image messages.
Every time you see advertisements, watch TV,
videos or movies, read magazines, listen to
music, and go online, question and challenge
messages about body image.
Who created the message and why?
• Who wrote and produced the message?
• What is the purpose of the message — to
entertain, persuade, inform or make money?
• Who paid for and profits from the message?
What techniques are used to create the
message? • What words or images got your attention?
• If models or celebrities are featured, do
they really look like that?
• Are the bodies airbrushed or altered in any
way? What values, beliefs, and lifestyles are
represented? • What is the message about appearance,
weight and food?
• What body shape and size does it suggest
is desirable?
• What does it suggest to do to achieve that
look? • Is the information accurate and true?
What’s not said or left out?
What you see, hear and read in the media
will not cause eating disorders, BUT can
influence YOUR body image, make it hard
to feel good about your body shape and
size, and lead to weight and food issues.
How might different people interpret
the message?
• How might the message make people feel
about their body?
• How might a person with weight or food
issues interpret the message?
• What expectations might someone have
about different size people?
What does the message mean to you?
• How does it make you feel about yourself
and your body?
• Does the message make you want to
change something about yourself—your
looks, eating habits or exercise routine?
Is this positive or negative?
• If you could remake the message, what
would you do?
Media tell females:
thinner is better
Media tell males:
muscular is better
Voice YOUR opinion about body image
CRITICIZE unhealthy messages
COMPLIMENT healthy messages
Adapted from the media literacy framework developed by the
Center for Media Literacy at medialit.org
Get REAL! about Media and Body Image | California State University, Northridge | National Eating Disorders Association