The article I am thinking about choosing for my WP3 is “Friends and family an their influence on body image dissatisfaction” by Cate Curtis and Cushla Loomans. This article is an in-depth study about body image. I thought this would be an interesting topic to do because back home I was an intern at a psychologists office who specialized in this area. I was able to facilitate groups of young girls from the ages 9-14 to promote a healthy body image. This topic is especially important in today’s society because we have seen a noticeable increase—in recent years—in the girl’s diagnosed with anorexia and bulimia.
The article goes in depth about the influence of friends and family which is what I like because most of the studies done are about the influence of media on body image. According to this study, body image dissatisfaction can be defined as the inconsistency between how a person perceives their body, and how they would like their ideal body to be. A person may be dissatisfied with a particular body part, or their general shape, or they may be discontented with their body as a whole.The study took a sample size and questioned them about different things such as their childhood, past and current relationships, and judgements made about them. Friends and family often start to promote the thin ideal by teasing, negative comments and modeling of weight concern. I think it is important to have this investigated more and translated into different genres because it can help people become more self-aware of how they are making others feel.
I was thinking for the first translation of the article, I would make it into an article or question forum for teenagers who are exploring this topic. I can explain that people come in all different shapes and sizes, and that friends and family do have an influence on body perceptions. I would also go into depth about why this is an issue. This forum would be more of a step toward preventing this type of body image thinking in the first place (as well as informational). I think when certain things are pointed out to you, you can start becoming more self-aware of what is happening in your surroundings. I would make up a question that many girls have about a body image and then translate the journal article into the answer.
For the second translation, I was thinking about making it into a parenting blog article for parents of any age. I see many of my friends’ parents and grandparents often putting them down for being “too big” or “gaining weight.” If this generation were to be more informed of the negative affects these words and phrases have on individuals, then it would be a turning point for this field of study.
For both of these articles, it will be important to explain the why. For example, why this topic is important and why these phrases can actually promote low-self esteem. Addressing these questions—I believe—will make my topic and argument stronger when re-creating this article.
