Kim Bissell

The Globalization of Beauty: How is Ideal Beauty Influenced by Globally Published Fashion and Beauty Magazines?

The current research examined the portrayal of female beauty worldwide through a content analysis of 5577 female models in four top beauty and fashion magazines from 12 countries/regions. Different magazines used different standards to frame stories and select models, suggesting that the image of beauty was more a result of the editorial rooms than derived from objective standards. North American and European magazines dominated the beauty standards. Asian countries were relatively independent particularly in terms of sexual frames and sexual model selections. Magazines distributed in Latin America and South Africa were in danger of being assimilated into the Western norms of beauty.

Understanding Anti-Fat Bias in Children: The Role of Media and Appearance Anxiety in Third to Sixth Graders' Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Toward Obesity

This study of 601 3rd-6th grade boys and girls examined implicit and explicit attitudes of anti-fat bias along with media exposure variables and appearance anxiety. In this study, predictors of implicit attitudes of bias were measured and then those same implicit measures were tested as possible predictors of more explicit measures of anti-fat bias. Given the uniqueness of the measures with a sample of this age and the self-report measures of media use, the hope was that the results may prove helpful in understanding the complicated factors related to childrens attitudes and beliefs about weight bias in order further explain how and why thinness is regarded as such an important social and cultural attribute. Findings suggest that exposure to an image of an overweight child and fear of negative appearance evaluations were the strongest predictors of two measures of explicit anti-fat bias. Furthermore, implicit attitudes representative of fat bias were also evident across the sample. Greater television exposure was related to decreased levels of anti-fat bias and more favorable assessments of overweight subjects viewed in photographs; thus, findings suggest several factors are important in better understanding the correlates related to anti-fat bias in children.

Americanized beauty? Predictors of perceived attractiveness from US and South Korean participants based on media exposure, ethnicity, and socio-cultural attitudes toward ideal beauty

The objective of this project was to identify themes, patterns and predictors related to attractiveness ideals and appearance norms in other women among a sample of men and women in the USA and South Korea. The socio-cultural theoretical model has the strongest empirical support for understanding body image disturbance and appearance anxiety, by presenting to women through media representations the current societal standard for image and appearance. What is not known is how these cultural norms present in the USA are also present in countries like South Korea. This studys objective was a comparative analysis of South Korean and USA perceptions of attractiveness and beauty along with the influence of US media on South Koreans’ attractiveness ideals. Several independent variables (media exposure, socio-cultural pressures to be thin, socio-cultural pressures to be attractive, perceived influence of outside sources in the development of ideal beauty, and gender) were measured to determine which variables might be more significantly linked to attractiveness estimates and appearance norms. Findings suggest significant differences between US and South Korean participants’ evaluations of attractiveness in others, and several predictor variables including BMI, self-discrepancy, and socio-cultural attitudes were found to be related to higher or lower attractiveness evaluation scores. These and other findings are discussed.

Prejudice: The role of the Media in the development of social bias

Numerous studies document the existence of bias: bias against gender, race, sexual orientation, age, mental illness, and body shape or weight. This article presents a model of bias development, whi...Numerous studies document the existence of bias: bias against gender, race, sexual orientation, age, mental illness, and body shape or weight. This article presents a model of bias development, which helps explain the influence of mediated, individual, social, and ideological influences on the development of bias. This article applies the proposed model using four experimental studies that examine weight bias in children and adults. The results from the four studies lend empirical support for the model. Data from the studies suggest the explication of a theoretical model is necessary to understand the factors related to the development of bias against a variety of groups, character traits, or attributes in others. It is difficult to argue that any one factor whether it be media, individual, social, or ideology “trumps” other factors as the development of bias seems to be very individualistic. Therefore, a model that represents the myriad of factors identified above is proposed.

Olympic Effort: Disability, Culture, and Resistance in the 2012 London Olympic Games

Disability scholars have long argued that the hegemonic constructions of “normal” bodies segregate, regulate, and demean people whose bodies are deemed disabled. Given that athletic competition stands as a public measure of ability, situations like those embedded in the 2012 London Olympic Games could create spaces to question the social construction of disability. This monograph asks, “Does the athletic competition within the 2012 London Olympic Games provide space to successfully challenge hegemonic constructions of disability?” To help answer that question, this work engages in a critical, cultural, and rhetorical analysis of the mediated messages of the Summer Games through the coverage of athletes involved in Olympic qualification and competition, as well as media reports and commercials aired during and after the Games. The case studies selected focus on athletes whose representation is based on their non-normative bodies during athletic competition as compared with those with normative bodies. Using three case studies that examine mediated representations of the body in sport, how disability is framed by traditional media will be examined.

“The Best I Can Be”: Framing Disability Through the Mascots of the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics

For the first time ever during the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, the mascots for each game were introduced together. The Paralympic mascot, Mandeville, and the Olympic mascot, Wenlock, are similar in appearance and construction. However, their adventures, established through online movies, highlight striking differences between the mascots and the athletes they represent. As mascots portray physical representations of the ideologies of sporting teams and events, producing two mascots for two different sets of athletic competition creates a unique situation through which to compare normative constructions. Through the online-mediated representations of Mandeville and Wenlock, the present study used rhetorical analysis to examine how the two mascots’ stories communicated specific messages to viewers about ability and disability. Within these films, those deemed as disabled are clearly otherized through injury, isolation, and displays of ability. The lens through which viewers learned about able-bodiedness and disability present a stereotypical representation of the body at best, but through the animated stories told about the two mascots, viewers’ perceptions about disabled athletes being injured, being feminine, or being incapable of managing specific tasks may have developed or been reinforced.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Olympics, Media, and Society

When we think about the Olympic Games, the facets of those Games that touch media and through the media have an influence on society, are many. Submissions for this special issue spanned topics from how doping problems and policies are covered, to concerns with accurate portrayals of the security of the Games, to the relationships between journalists and their home country athletes, to how documentaries on the Olympics present a one-sided, rose-colored view of the Games. In the end, none of those topics made it into this publication, but several of the original 40-plus topic submissions were accepted. The wide range of interests that were represented by the initial submissions suggests that the field of Olympics, Media, and Society is one ripe for additional research. We are happy to produce a venue where some of that research can be presented. Submissions for the special issue often focused on more recent Olympiads. The 2008 games in Beijing are represented by four of the articles selected for publication in this issue. Three manuscripts focus on the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. But only one manuscript was accepted from earlier Olympiads—and that was much earlier. The 1936 Olympics, known mostly for the successes of Jesse Owens in track and field, provided the background for an analysis of how an Olympian’s image is not necessarily his (or her) own to control. Owens’ story became larger than the reality, in many ways, and the person of Owens may have been lost amidst the larger cultural understanding of the mediated Owens. That story is told well in the work of author Mike Milford. Mass Communication and Society, 15:481–484, 2012 Copyright # Mass Communication & Society Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication ISSN: 1520-5436 print=1532-7825 online DOI: 10.1080/15205436.2012.688477

Persuading Me to Eat Healthy: A Content Analysis of YouTube Public Service Announcements Grounded in the Health Belief Model

ABSTRACT The current study presents a content analysis of public service announcements (PSAs) promoting healthy-eating behavior on YouTube. A total of 341 PSAs within a one-year period were retrieved and analyzed based on the Health Belief Model (HBM). The results demonstrated that a variety of sources attempt to educate the public about eating healthy but differ in what they choose to emphasize. All the four elements drawn from the HBM model were present in PSAs but not equally. The use of persuasive message appeals appeared to be matched with content elements. The most viewed, liked, and commented PSAs are also examined. Implications are provided for conducting theory-based content analysis and social media public campaigns in designing healthy-eating PSAs.

Let Go of My iPad: Testing the Effectiveness of New Media Technologies to Measure Children’s Food Intake and Health Behaviors

This field experiment with more than 100 children at a school in the Southeast examined children’s use of an iPad app as a means of improving the measurement of their food consumption. External factors related to children’s food preferences and food consumption were also examined to determine how the iPad app could be further developed to help them become more aware of the foods they ate and how they could become more proactive in their health and well-being. Results indicated that the app enabled children to have more precision in recording the foods that they ate, and children expressed great appeal for the app. The foods that children reported eating via the app were compared to attitudes toward eating and nutritional knowledge; in both cases, more positive attitudes toward eating and stronger nutritional knowledge meant that a child was more likely to report eating healthy foods. Findings from this exploratory study contribute to knowledge in several areas because the findings represent the first of its kind in the discipline.

Active Video Game Play in African American Children: The Effect of Gender and BMI on Exertion and Enjoyment

ABSTRACT Applying the uses and gratifications theory (U&G), this study tested the influence of gender, body mass index type and past exercise experience on African American childrens Wii game-playing experience and heart rate. A field experiment was conducted with a convenience sample of 51 African American children. Overall, the findings supported the proposition of using Wii games as alternative means of physical activity in African American children and suggested choosing games based on childrens background information to maximize the effectiveness.