Body Image

We have always received messages from the media about what the “ideal body” should look like. In the age of social media, not only are we receiving more messages about what we should look like due to our increased exposure to digital media through our phones, but there are many more ways to alter and filter faces and bodies to meet “idealized” standards. As a result, images and videos of idealized bodies that we see online are often far from reality. Yet, the impact on us can be very real. Gender is a construct and spectrum, but research shows different impacts on women and men within the binary construct. Therefore, in this lesson, we are grappling with the effects of that binary social construct. Some of the questions we’ll explore in this lesson are very old, and some are more pertinent to the current moment. Why is there an “ideal” way to look, and how has that message been delivered to us in the past? How has social media exacerbated the concept of the “ideal” body image through altering and filtering of images and videos? What is the impact of all of these digital messages about what we should look like? And what can we do about it?

Supporting Social Studies series episode: 3

Access the Curriculum