How Does the Media Shape Your Self-Esteem?

Korean American comedian Margaret Cho describes herself as a "trash-talkin' girl comic." In this excerpt from her one-woman show The Notorious C.H.O., she offers her thoughts on self-esteem:

You know when you look in the mirror and think, "Oh, I'm so fat, I'm so old, I'm so ugly"? That is not your authentic self speaking. That is billions upon billions of dollars of advertising--magazines, movies, billboards--all geared to make you feel bad about yourself so that you'll take your hard-earned money and spend it at the mall. When you don't have self-esteem, you will hesitate before you do anything. You will hesitate to go for the job you really want. You will hesitate to ask for a raise. You will hesitate to defend yourself when you're discriminated against. You will hesitate to vote. You will hesitate to dream. For those of us plagued with low self-esteem, improving [it] is truly an act of revolution! (Custudio, 2002)

Cho is right. We live in an "appearance culture," a society that values and reinforces extreme, unrealistic ideals of beauty and body shape (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1999). In an appearance culture, standards for appearance are defined through digitally enhanced images of bodily perfection produced by the mass media (Field et al., 1999). When we internalize media standards of perfect body and perfect beauty, we end up despising our own bodies and craving unattainable perfection (Jones, Vigfusdottir, & Lee, 2004). This results in low self-esteem, depression, and, in some cases, self-destructive behaviors such as eating disorders (Harrison, 2001).

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