1. Running head: WOMEN’S SELF PERCEPTION
Body Image, Sexual Orientation, and Media’s Progress: Examining Women’s Communication
and Self Perception in Relation to the Media
Cherie Azzopardi
University of San Francisco

2. WOMEN’S SELF PERCEPTION 2
Introduction
The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand the how media’s representations
affect the ways in which women in the United States perceive and communicate about
themselves. The following study considers previous literature involving the media’s effects on
women’s communication about their self-worth. Succeeding that, I consider the experiences
offered by numerous participants that were interviewed in this study. Lastly, the study poses
implications and future directions.
Literature Review
The media has a wide spectrum of channels, ranging from entertainment media, political
campaigns, billboards and advertisements, social media, all the way to fashion and health
magazines. In turn, media has a wide range of positive and negative effects on its consumers and
active participants. Along with general category of adolescents, young women are one of the
most commonly sought after groups when it comes to studying the media’s impact. The reason
for this is because the media tends to have a mutually negative effect on women, specifically
when it comes to their perceptions of themselves. All types of women have been observed and
recognized in this research, including preteen adolescents, young women in college, as well as
women of diverse cultural backgrounds and residents of different countries. A primary consensus
in the compiled research thus far is that the media has a substantial, often deterring, influence on
how women view themselves and their self-worth (Knobloch-Westerwick, Kennard,
Westerwick, Willis, & Yuan, 2014; Vandenbosch & Eggermont, 2012). The most common
themes that have been explored in existing research are the media’s effect on beauty norms and

3. WOMEN’S SELF PERCEPTION 3
ideals, self-objectification, and doubts about the potential to have a successful professional career
and future.
Idealized Beauty Standards
Whether they are embedded on the covers of magazines, presented in media
advertisements, portrayed through celebrity images and personas, or demonstrated through
entertainment and reality television, there are numerous messages being projected about ideal
attractiveness and beauty standards. A mutual premise reached amongst researchers is that media
portrays attractiveness as the new “healthy” or the new “just-right” (Conlin & Bissill, 2014;
McGladrey, 2014). According to a study by Conlin and Bissil (2014)—which compared several
trending fashion and health magazines to draw similarities on how they portray attractiveness
and health—both styles of magazines focused more on images of the body rather than beauty
images of the face, which effectively contribute to ideals and norms about unrealistic body goals
and forms. Although the language in health magazines highlight positive principles about being
healthy, the unrealistically thin images of the women within the magazine contradict its content.
The overall affect of this contradiction is that women associate norms of health and wellbeing
with those of being thin and attractive.
In another study that examined how preteen girls intellectualize the “perfect”
representations of beauty presented to them, and whether or not they aspire towards them, a
similar effect was found in the creation of norms according to idealized beauty of celebrities or
“Disney girls” (McGladrey, 2014). Although it is in a completely different context than Conlin
and Bissill’s (2014) analysis, McGladrey’s (2014) study found that preteen girls are adhering to
some standard of beauty, however it is one that is not generally predicted. Rather than
identifying with the “curvaceously thin ideal” they strived more towards being “just-right” (p.

4. WOMEN’S SELF PERCEPTION 4
367). This just-right perspective has “two defining attributes: a normative body shape and a
‘pretty’ self-presentation. In contrast to the curvaceously thin ideal that prescribes extreme
thinness with the exception of a large bust-line, the girls in this study expressed that girls should
have the ‘right’ shape…‘not underweight, not overweight’” (McGladrey, p. 359). The problem
with this is that being “just-right” according to these young girls is associated with images of
Disney Girls (or celebrities), therefore still slightly unrealistic beauty standards and being just-
right are becoming their new norm. This is similar to the normalization of attractiveness as being
healthy (Conlin & Bissill, 2014), in the sense that the media has taken positive attributes such as
wellness or being “just-right” and made them about the impractical beauty standards of fitness
magazine models or Disney girls on television.
Internalized Future Doubt and Body Scrutiny
Media portrayals of women not only create universal norms about beauty and
attractiveness, but they also instill self-doubt about the ability to obtain a prosperous professional
career. According to several groups of researchers, the general conclusion is that although media
is not entirely accountable for the negative impact of idealized beauty, it significantly contributes
to the general public feeling obligated to be attractive in order to thrive and be affluent (Bissel &
Chung, 2009; Knobloch-Westerwick et al., 2014). Certain aspects of the media can stipulate
potentially disheartening and negative estimates of how women see their future going. The media
tends to place women in domestic roles, and primarily highlights their physical attributes and
whether or not they are considered sexy and sought-after. Entertainment media regulates patterns
of social norms centered on sexualizing women (Knobloch-Westerwick et al., 2014). Not only do
women essentially view attractiveness as the key to future success, this also has an effect on how

5. WOMEN’S SELF PERCEPTION 5
women communicate overall about their abilities as individuals and how they self-objectify
themselves (Knobloch-Westerwick et al., 2014; Vandenbosch & Eggermont, 2012).
According to a study by Knobloch-Westerwick et al. (2014), the media has a heavy
impact on how women view their potential and foresee their future. Being exposed to the
depictions of women soley as sex objects and caretakers affected the way the women spoke
about their chance to truly be treated as an equal individual apart from her normative, socially
constructed roles. These women expressed worries about their physical attributes, their ability to
be viewed professionally, personal affairs, and the overall capability to balance their work with
their interpersonal relationships. Even being exposed to positive media representations of women
in the media had a negative effect. Rather than viewing them as something to aspire to, the
women associated them with feelings of pressure and anxiety, and saw them as unachievable
(Knobloch-Westerwick et al., 2014). Furthermore, corresponding with Vandenbosch and
Eggermont’s (2012) study, sexually objectifying content of entertainment media and social
networking sites is causing “the internalization of beauty ideals, self-objectification, and body
surveillance” for teenage girls (p. 870).
The representations of women as sexual objects in various media facets not only causes
doubt about future success, it leads to self-objectification for young women. It has been
demonstrated that teenage girls are involuntarily conditioned by the media to place significance
on appearance-based attributes more so than competence-based qualities (Vandenbosch &
Eggermont, 2012; Knobloch-Westerwick et al., 2014). Studies confirm that the mental process of
self-objectification and the practice of body scrutiny can be directly and indirectly connected to
the consumption media and it’s sexualized representation of women. Young girls typically
internalize body image and beauty ideals from all forms of media, which then leads to body

6. WOMEN’S SELF PERCEPTION 6
surveillance and self-diminishing tendencies, ultimately causing them to have doubts about their
future potential and success.
Methods
For this study I utilized a qualitative method for the purpose of gaining deeper insight
into whether or not the media has an effect on the way women perceive and communicate about
themselves. Denzin (2010) states that qualitative research provides a better way to see “through
the eyes of others…observations and unstructured interviews allow respondents to demonstrate
what is important to them” (p. 10). Furthermore, I chose to use a phenomenological research
tactic so that I could acquire a greater understanding of the ways that people have common
experiences and why.
Data Collection
Participants.
For this study I interviewed six women, all of whom claim to consume some form of the
media on a regular basis. Although, one of the six participants claimed, “I don’t know if I really
identify as a woman” and said that she can identify more as a lesbian than within the general
category of “women.” Five of the six participants were between the ages of 20-23, and one of
them was in her mid-thirties. Most of the participants were born in the United States, excluding
one of the individuals who is from Guatemala and lives in the U.S. while attending college.
Procedures.
Those who partook in this study were employed through a convenience sample. This
research was primarily conducted at a private university in the Western United States, as well as
in several other locations in the nearby area. The participants of this study were individually
interviewed for roughly 30 minutes in a setting that was both convenient and neutral. Before

7. WOMEN’S SELF PERCEPTION 7
each interview was conducted, participants were given informed consent paperwork and said
paperwork was reviewed with them individually. Using a semi-structured interview model, data
was recorded and documented into roughly 42 pages of transcriptions.
Data Analysis
The data manifested in this study was collected and investigated using thematic analysis.
Data were classified using the three I’s of qualitative research: insight, intuition, and impression
(Dey, 1995). The data was then summarized collectively and identified through in-depth
observation and coding. The primary codes lead to three overarching themes: (1) self perception
and body image, (2) sexual orientation as an impact on self-perception, and (3) media
representation and how it is progressing.
Analysis
Self Perception and Body Image
This study asked participants about several aspects of their self-perception, including
questions about self-worth, self-doubt, inadequacy, and feelings of being undesirable. Body
image and related self-esteem issues was the most dominant subject that came up when these
questions were posed. When asked the question: “Has the media’s portrayal of women had a
negative effect on how you perceive yourself? Why or why not?” 5 out of the 6 participants
interviewed responded by speaking about their exterior or body image and how they compare
that to the standards set by women in the media. This was an interesting observation because
although the question broadly asked about how women perceive themselves—which could relate
to their behavior, personality, work ethic, and skills, amongst other things—a high majority of
the sample immediately linked it to their outer appearance. In response to this question, one
participant said that the media negatively affects her self-perception, “because there’s a lot of

8. WOMEN’S SELF PERCEPTION 8
focus on the exterior. So, growing up I wasn’t the skinniest kid ever, I was taller than the boys,
and it’s like even though I know I’m college educated, I’m working, I know where I’m going to
grad school, like everything…there’s still this thing in my mind like, ‘Oh you just need to lose
ten more pounds.’” This participant briefly addresses distinguishable qualities about herself that
are positive—such as having a job and being college educated—but immediately refocuses her
speech to be about the negative aspects of her body.
A significant portion of the women in this study brought up the example of Victoria’s
Secret when discussing how the media effects their perception of themselves in relation to their
body image. One participant discussed how she cannot flip through a Victoria’s Secret catalogue
objectively and just to look at the advertised undergarments, she said,
“I look through and immediately just compare myself to those body types, like ‘Oh my
gosh my legs aren’t thin,’ you know you just have all these things that you see about
yourself that shouldn’t be negative at all because it’s just your body and everyone’s body
is different, but you do see it negatively because of the way that it’s portrayed.”
Another participant related to this experience with Victoria’s Secret catalogues, describing a
scenario in which she saw a bra ad and thought, “wow she looks amazing!” Afterward, she was
compelled to go into the store and to look for that same bra describing how, “you put it on, and
obviously it’s not going to look the same, but you’re so disappointed because you’re like that’s
what it looked like, that’s what I should look like too. So then…[it] creates a negative cycle.”
Rather than focusing on how their bodies are simply different than the models, the women in the
study instead focused their communication about their appearance as ugly or inferior in
comparison. Although another participant expressed that she does not necessarily want to look
exactly like the “freak human” models in Victoria’s Secret, she said that there is definitely a
“stigma for how I want to be, how I want to look, [which] is driven by women in media.”
Sexual Orientation as an Impact on Self Perception

9. WOMEN’S SELF PERCEPTION 9
In this study there was a noticeable difference in the way that sexual orientation affected
not only how the participants perceived themselves in relation to the media, but also how they
critiqued the media that they consume. The two women that were interviewed that identified as
lesbians claimed that they have a hard time relating to the representations of women as a
gendered category. One participant said,
“I mean if I have to check a form I do check ‘woman,’ but I think for me my identity first
and foremost is as a lesbian. And for me, to be a woman has to be read through that.
When people talk about women, it’s something that I don’t feel that I necessarily belong
to ‘women’ as a category just because of my experience.”
In identifying as a lesbian, this participant finds that she does not fit into the standardized image
of how a woman should act or look in accordance with the media. Another lesbian participant
also related to not being able to associate herself with the image of women, specifically
portrayed by music videos in entertainment media. Referring to an example from a rap music
video, one participant said,
“I would look at those girls and be like, ‘I don’t think I could do that.’ I don’t really see
myself as like being the kind of girl that people would want me to like get naked and
shake my butt around. Like that always just made me feel really awkward.”
Although these participants experienced feelings of being left out in their youth, in the present
they choose to recognize that they do not conform and therefore do not let it affect them.
These particular participants deflected the negative influences of the media by focusing
on the personal qualities or other identifiers that distinguish them from the general category of
women, classify as a lesbian, and make them stand out as individuals. For example, one
participant essentially created a new category for herself by dressing in a way that was
comfortable for her and distinct from the standard attire of what a woman is expected to wear.
She explained,

10. WOMEN’S SELF PERCEPTION 10
“ That’s why I like dressing in a weird way because then it’s like it takes me out of that
category, so it’s not like a comparison because now it’s clear that I’m my own breed
and we’re not going to be comparing me to the girls and obviously not the other men.
We’re just going to look at who I am.”
By dressing in baggier, more masculinized clothing, this participant evades the pressures of
conforming to media’s overarching portrayal of how women should be, and dressing as “more of
a representation of how I feel, who I am, [giving] people the chance to like me for who I am.”
Another participant provided an example from her work with sex education for San Francisco
sex information. To separate herself from the general category of women she “make[s] a joke out
of it” and says, “I’m the organization dike. I speak as a dike I don’t speak as a woman. And so
for me, that’s the story I tell about myself.” By speaking in accordance with her sexual
orientation and identity, she effectively avoids the negative perceptions that are placed on the
general grouping of women by the media.
Media Representation: “It’s Getting Better”
When it comes to discussing the noticeable patterns of the representations of women by
the media, most of the participants in the study came to the consensus that the media’s portrayals
are inadequate, but that “it’s getting better.” Several participants said that they noticed progress
in the media’s representation of women compared to 10 years ago, and looking even further back
historically. Although it is difficult to represent women as a whole, one participant said, “I think
it’s slowly changing because we see more pictures of other things in the media since we were
younger, like there’s not just one predominant picture.” One popular example that was brought
up in this study suggesting progress for the portrayal of women in the media was through the
Netflix series Orange is the New Black (OITNB). One participant said that OITNB is a show that
does not just represent “one type of woman.” Another participant reiterated this point, saying that
the show depicts “all these women [that] have incredible backstories” allowing you to “learn

11. WOMEN’S SELF PERCEPTION 11
about their history, and their character, and they’re beautiful for that, and they’re diverse.”
Presenting a more diverse population of women is a theme that the participants believe enables
an overall progress in the media’s representations.
Although representing a wider range of women in the media is seen as progressive, one
participant said that it is important to look “at the way in which media thinks that it’s reframing
and treating women well. And the fact that when we do that it’s actually doing the exactly the
same thing, it’s just calling itself something different.” One effect of bringing in more diverse
pictures of women is that it can create new discourses and standards. Introducing counter
discourses on the existing subject, such as “real” women with “real” body types, can work to
discriminate against those women who do look like and can relate the models in the media. One
example brought up by a participant was Nicki Minaj’s song and music video “Anaconda”,
which is meant to empower women with bigger butts and curvier body types. The participant
initially thought “yeah this song is awesome” until one of her coworkers who is a very tiny Asian
woman with no curves at all spoke up saying that she thought the song was mean. The song has
one line that says “fuck those skinny bitches” which made the participant realize this “is like a
whole ‘nother plan to discriminate against somebody else” and therefore it is counterproductive.
Discussion
In the process of going through the analysis of the data, a few implications have
developed. While women have a tendency to compare themselves to the unrealistic body images
of the women in the media, they need to realize that there is more worth in what makes them
unique rather than focus on why they are not equivalent. Those in the study who identified as
lesbian seemed to have the right approach in terms of combatting the dominating discourse of
how women “should” be, and that is to place your self worth on individual qualities and

12. WOMEN’S SELF PERCEPTION 12
successes. Although it is beneficial to have more diverse images of women represented in the
media, it is important to recognize that this can have the same negative effect but on different
types of women. The key is to be aware of the discourse surrounding women and be able to
critique it from outside perspective. The establishment of groups and meet-ups that help to
educate young women about how the media is working to reframe their identities while helping
them reconstruct how they talk about their self perception could be beneficial.
Limitations
There were numerous limitations present in this study. Firstly, the use of a convenience
sample may have affected the participant’s responses in the sense that they had some sort of
relationship to the researcher. Although this lead to a more conversational interview style which
was beneficial in terms creating a comfortable and natural setting, and probing to getting more
specific examples, it also lead to tangents and discussion of topics that were only partially related
to the topic and therefore did not contribute to the findings. Another limitation in this research
was the age-range of the participants in the selected sample. The study only included one
participant older than the ages of 20-23, providing a point of view that was not as easily
comparable to the rest. This research could have profited from a wider and more diverse sample,
one that was not nearly exclusive to young women in college.
Future Directions
In future research, it would be beneficial to look at more specific forms of media rather
than focusing on all types of media that women are consuming. By focusing on one type of
media, the study could gain more exact findings on ways in which a media outlet frames women
and how that particular framework affects women’s self-perceptions. For example, rather than
getting a sample of data that talks about media from all ends, yielding many different

13. WOMEN’S SELF PERCEPTION 13
perspectives and claims that are scattered and difficult to group into themes, a future study
should focus on one outlet of social media such as Facebook. This would provide a deeper look
at how women’s communication and self worth are influenced by one type of media.
Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to understand to what extent, if at all, the media’s
representation of women effects how they perceive and communicate about themselves. After
exploring existing literature and studies on the subject matter, conducting individual interviews
within a convenience sample, and deconstructing the outcomes, three themes were established.
These themes are: self perception and body image, sexual orientation as an impact on self
perception, and media representation and how it is viewed as making progress. This research
found that media outlets, such as Victoria’s Secret ads, had a dominant effect on how women
perceive themselves because it led them to focus soley on their body image as a source of self
worth. Another finding in this study was that participants who identified as lesbian were more
able to combat the media’s messages and representations because they took themselves out of the
general category of women and communicated more about what made them different. Lastly,
this study found that although the participants thought that the media was making progress, they
did not realize that this was coming at the expense of other types of women. Rather than trying to
empower the women who are not represented by the media, it is more effective to be able to
critique the existing discourse and look at it in an objective way.

14. WOMEN’S SELF PERCEPTION 14
References
Bissell, K. L., & Chung, J. Y. (2009). Americanized beauty? Predictors of perceived
attractiveness from US and South Korean participants based on media exposure,
ethnicity, and socio-cultural attitudes toward ideal beauty. Asian Journal of
Communication, 19(2), 227-247. doi:10.1080/01292980902827144
Conlin, L., & Bissill, K. (2014). Beauty ideals in the checkout aisle: Health-related messages
in women's fashion and fitness magazines. Journal of Magazine & New Media Research,
15(2), 1-19.
Denzin, N. K. (2010). The qualitative manifesto: A call to arms. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast
Press.
Dey, I. (1995). Reducing fragmentation in qualitative research. In U. Keele (Ed.),
Computer-aided qualitative data analysis (pp. 69-79). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Knobloch-Westerwick, S., Kennard, A. R., Westerwick, A., Willis, L. E., & Yuan, G. (2014). A
crack in the crystal ball? Prolonged exposure to media portrayals of social roles affect
possible future selves. Communication Research, 41(6), 739-759.
doi:10.1177/0093650213491113
McGladrey, M. L. (2014). Becoming tween bodies: What preadolescent girls in the US say
about beauty, the “just-right ideal,” and the “disney girls”. Journal of Children & Media,
8(4), 353-370. doi:10.1080/17482798.2013.805305
Van Dembroucke, C. (2014). Exploring media representations of Argentina's president Cristina
Fernández de Kirchner. Feminist Media Studies, 14(6), 1056-1070.
doi:10.1080/14680777.2014.882858
Vandenbosch, L., & Eggermont, S. (2012). Understanding sexual objectification: A

15. WOMEN’S SELF PERCEPTION 15
comprehensive approach toward media exposure and girls' internalization
of beauty ideals, self-objectification, and body surveillance. Journal of Communication,
62(5), 869-887. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01667.x