The document discusses social media, celebrities, and their influence on body image. It explores how exposure to idealized thin bodies in media can negatively impact women's self-esteem and increase risks of mental health issues. However, some celebrities and social media influencers are now promoting body diversity and acceptance of all shapes and sizes. The document also examines how social media allows editing of images, fueling unrealistic standards, and how women often compare their appearances online and with peers.

1. Social Media, Celebrities,
and Body Image
BY KRISTI N. YUN

2. Body Image
The idealized body has been changing for centuries
Celebrities encourage body diversity
• Khloe Kardashian “Good American” jeans for all shapes and sizes
• Lady Gaga “Body Revolution” embracing all shapes and sizes
Today, the idealized-thin still dominates the media,
but there are attempts at changes being made
• Fat Acceptance
• Body Positivity

3. What is body
image?
Paul Schneider defined body image in the
1920s as “the picture of our own body which
we form in our mind, that is to say, the way in
which the body appears to ourselves”
Attitudes and perceptions have been added
to define it today as a person’s perceptions of
attitudes and their feelings towards their own
physical body

4. Body Image
and the Media
 Exposure to idealized-thin can cause negative
effects on women
 Body dissatisfaction
 Low self-esteem
 Social comparison
 Mental disorders
 Depression
 Anxiety
 Eating disorders

5. Social Comparison & Darwinian Theory
Coined by Festinger in 1954 as the
comparison of one’s self to others to know
where they stand
• Women often compare themselves to
others
• Upward comparisons and downward
comparisons
Darwinian Theory is when women engage in
appearance-related comparisons to evaluate
their own attractiveness amongst their same
sex
• End goal? Attracting a high-quality mate

6. Social media  Social media is a group of Internet-based applications
that builds both ideological and technological
foundations of Web 2.0 and allows the creation and
exchange of user-generated content
 Facebook (2.320 billion)
 Instagram (1 billion)
 Twitter (326 million)
 YouTube (1.5 billion)

7. Social Media
 Social networking sites (SNSs) allow users to edit, filter, and manipulate messages
and/or images
 Further encouraging an unrealistic representation of body image
 Social media influencers (SMIs) shape users’ attitudes and are influential when
promoting products
 These products may include makeup, diet/weight loss supplements

8. Research Questions
 Female social media users will experience
body dissatisfaction when shown images
of thin celebrities and/or SMIs
 Female social media users will be more
influenced by SMIs than celebrities when
influencers are endorsing weight loss and
appearance-related products

9. Limitations/Future
Research
 Social media still relatively new
 More research needed on how influential
celebrities and SMIs are on SNS users
 Negative effects on women from SNS users’
comments/criticisms

10. References
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