ABSTRACT
Debates about the role of the media in shaping women's attitudes towards their bodies have been at the forefront of both popular and medical discourse on eating disorders. This chapter focuses on a qualitative investigation into the impact of media images of the female body on women's body images, drawing upon this debate, feminist arguments about the media and women's embodiment, and the growing theoretical debate on the body within sociology. A wealth of empirical research on women's 'body image' exists within the psychological literature. Feminist writers have provided many critical analyses of media portrayals of women's bodies within patriarchal Western societies. A qualitative approach, namely in-depth interviews, was used to explore the impact of media images of the female body on women's body images. Three main themes emerged: the dominant image of the female body portrayed by the media; the media's construction of an 'ideal' female body type; and media images versus the 'reality' of women's bodies.
