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1Running Head: PLUS SIZE WOMEN IN THE MEDIA

Plus Size Women and Their Portrayal in the Media

Kwanesia Nikole Solomon Ellis

Valdosta State University


Abstract

The media plays an important role in the way that people feel about themselves, as well

as the images around them(Lukaszewski,1992). Data collected from six in-depth interviews

revealed that stereotypes and generalizations that college students have towards plus sized

women are majority negative and that plus size women are shown negatively on social and

traditional media and that the portrayals were sometimes accurate and sometimes inaccurate.

Implications for the findings, limitations, and areas for future research are discussed

Keywords: Plus Size Women, Social Comparison Theory, Reputation Management


Introduction

The purpose behind this research is to discover how plus size women are portrayed in the

media. The media plays such a huge role in the self-esteem in women's, and the way that society

views them. According to womenshealth.gov, more than 60% of women are considered plus

size, if this is the case, then why are plus size women poorly represented. Many expect to turn on

the television and see people who look like them, which is not the case for the 60% of plus size

women in America, and the few times that these women do see women who look like them they

are often portrayed negatively and even by men dressed in drag. On being a plus size model,

Hayley Hasselhoff states "Growing up, I never accepted my curves, but when I got the

opportunity to become a plus size model, I was able to appreciate my voluptuous body and love

myself, not only on the outside, but on the inside."

Image will always determine where people stand in society, it determines how you are

looked at, the amount of money you make, and often times the personality type that many people

think you have (Evans, 2003). This does not however always mean that it is true. The goal of this

study is to explore the stereotypes behind plus size women, the way that they are portrayed on

social media as well as traditional forms of media. It is because of those goals these two

questions are posed:

RQ1: How are the stereotypes and generalizations that college students

have towards plus size women expressed positively or negatively?

RQ2: How are plus size women portrayed on traditional media and

social media, and are those portrayals accurate?


Literature Review

Plus Size Women in the Media

The media plays a large role in framing the way that society sees people, events, and

places. (Meikle & Young, 2012) discuss each of the different forms of media going from

broadcast to stories to theatre, to movies, to social media. Meikle and Young take note that the

media has a huge role in building a reputation for an entire group of people without any

intention, which is where the basis for this research comes from.

Plus size is defined as size 12 and up. (Evans, 2003) Women who fall into this category

are often stereotyped not only by people, but heavily by media as well. The hard thing about

media formed stereotypes is the fact that they are engrained and hard to get out of. People see

them as fact, and Lukaszewski covers that intensively. He makes note that the media puts out

what they want in the ways that they want in hopes to form strong stereotypes, and this is

especially true in the film industry.

According to Barriga, Shapiro, and Jhaveri currently women in films are always shown to

be attractive and alluring in TV commercial and that image has to be the most important thing to

create a high ratio. Chen, Williams, and Hendrickson noticed that both male and female

European Americans were tougher critics than African Americans however when it came to

evaluating overweight models however. They were not in favor of seeing plus size women on the

big screen, and were even prone to not even purchasing products that featured them in them. The

research done in this article also showed that one of the main reason that women are so critical

when it comes to media and other women is because they are judge mental of themselves.


Women use the media to determine the definition of happiness. The women in the films

who look happy show the statute of where happiness should be (Evans, 2003). The same goes for

social media, when plus size women are shown in movies they aren’t ever the happy successful

women, they are the rude women without title. They are the women who are portrayed by men,

or who are often abused.

There are however multiple social media accounts that praise plus size women, and these

are often owned by gatekeepers who themselves are plus sized women (Pingree, 2013). When

people can control the messages that are sent out, they often send out what they can control, thus

the image can be changed which will possibly be one of the only ways to change the way plus

size women are viewed which in the case of actress Mo’Nique was doing at one point in time.

She had become a plus size women’s advocate (Chen, Williams, Hendrickson).

Theoretical Perspective

This research be using the Social comparison theory as discussed by Sedar. It will be

used to discuss how media actually effects the way women in fact feel about themselves, which

in turn causes the way other women feel about the few plus size women who are in the media.

There are very few plus size women in film, and the ones that are, as discussed by Chen,

Williams, and Hendrickson are all rude, aggressive, desexualized, and mummified. Research has

shown that women compare themselves to these women and because of that have to try their

hardest to not be like those women.

It’s through the social comparison theory that l be working with the self-evaluation

maintenance model. Women use the images that the media portrays to uplift or lower

themselves. This is called high self-esteem or low self-esteem comparison. This theory will more


closely work with the research because the negative images portrayed against plus size women in

the media gives women a reason to not want to be plus size.

It gives women a social comparison in the media to want to fit into the standard that they

are building. The media is telling society what is right and what is wrong, what should be and

what should not be. They may not be telling it straight forward, but they tell it in the amount of a

certain type of people they display or according to Williams, Hendrickenson, and Chen the

“Mammy-Type” that they are displaying, they show you what you never what to become.

Methods

Participants

The participants used will be six Valdosta State University students, three male and three

female. Each from different backgrounds, and who all have different physical features, they are

all interested in different genres of films and social media. This is beneficial because this helps to

eliminate potential biases toward potential forms of media. The participants were all chosen

using the snowball effect. Participant one was chosen at random, and he was asked to

recommend someone else who he would consider interested in something different than he was.

This is the way that the rest of the participants will be asked as well.

All of the participants are students at Valdosta State University, and are either juniors or

seniors and will all remain confidential. The participants ranged in ages from 21-25 and were

interviewed in quiet one on one settings. They were explained the basics of the research prior to

the discussion, and were told that it was okay to be extremely honest and that if they had any

personal biases regarding the topic they did not have to push them aside when it came to

answering the questions, because using them would be beneficial to the results that would later

be found.


Interview Design

The qualitative interview design that was chosen for this research was the general

interview guide approach based open research done by Creswell in 2007 and updated by Turner

in 2010. The general interview guide approach was chosen because it is structured, but allows for

flexibility.

The purpose behind the general interview guide allowed the researcher to build a rapport

with each of the six participants before they began the interview in a relaxed and informal

manner so that they were able to ask follow up and probing questions that would better fit the

scenarios. This was very useful in the later questions. According to McNamara (2009), the

strength of the general interview guide approach is the ability of the researcher “…to ensure that

the same general areas of information are collected from each interviewee; this provides more

focus than the conversational approach, but still allows a degree of freedom and adaptability in

getting information from the interviewee.”

Data Design Cycle

When it came to collecting the data, with each participant, the data was transcribed as

each participant spoke. There is a written interview guide which was used with each participant

to outline and lead each individual interview. (see appendix 1).

In order to analysis the data that was received, the questions and answers between the

genders were compared. There seemed to be a variety of answers, which will be discussed in the

results, but overall there seemed to be an overall saturation of negative views. Each participant


gave the research informed consent and had the chance to refuse participation. This experiment

had a very small harm factor.

The codes were developed by looking for repeating data in the results. The interview

transcripts were reviewed for saturation in answers in stereotypes.

Results

“I don’t understand how American can only show skinny women on television and

expect people to not think that being a plus size woman is a bad thing” one participant states

during the one on one interviews. Statements such as these seemed to be pretty consistent

throughout the researcher’s notes and at that point saturation was reached. six things were

noticed during the coding of the interviews, (1)the men were much more uncomfortable talking

to a woman about plus size women,(2)the first 4 words that popped into the participants heads

when they heard the word plus size more than 80% of the time was a negative stereotype, (3)the

participants felt like the stereotypes that are portrayed on social media and in the media are false,

none of the six participants could name any current plus size models, but could give descriptors,

or had confused body language, (4) many of the plus size actresses or models that were named

every participant made sure to note that they were no longer plus sized.

RQ1

Six participants were asked “What is your definition of plus size?” The answers ranged

from; “interesting”, more than half of the people said “heavy-set” or “over 200lbs”, there was a

unanimous decision that a definition of plus size was “overweight.” Two of the three female

participants did state that one definition of plus size was “confident”, these were the only

positive definitions given during that entire question.


The male participants each seemed to have a harder time talking with a female

interviewer during the initial interview especially when giving negative answers, but gave them

quietly with tense body language. Other words that came to many participants head when they

heard the word plus size was “bigger-boned” and “laughs”, when the interviewer asked the

participant to elaborate on the meaning of the word laughs, he stated that “when I say laughs, it’s

because people don’t really take big girls seriously a lot of the time, their just kind of there.

Every so often you will find one that is cute for a big girl, but for the most part they are just sort

of goofy.” Although this is a generalization (Barriga, Shapiro, & Jhaveri, 2009) once it is

engrained in someone’s mind, it does in fact become there reality.

The stereotypes and generalizations that college students had towards plus size women

gave were negative, thus making RQ1 correct. The men showed immense uncomfort when

giving the negative answers, but they were assured that their identities would remain hidden.

RQ2

The media has a direct influence on the way that the public feels about a topic,

(Lukaszewski, 1992). Traditional media was explained to the participants as anything from

television shows, advertisements, radio, or news. Social media was explained as Facebook,

Twitter, Instagram, etc. RQ2 looked to explore the image portrayal of plus size women in the

media, and if the people who saw them found them to be correct.

Each of the participants were asked about their favorite models and actresses, and a few

questions later they were asked if they could name their favorite plus size models and actresses.

The confidence that each participant had in their previous answers waivered.

Five out of six participants that were interviewed before they were able to give an

answered said something along the lines of “I can’t think of one.” Or “I’m not sure.” Or “I know


what movie she is in, and her face is in my head.” Or “You know that movie that….” None of

these were any statements that were said when asked “Who are you favorite models?” or “Who

are your favorite actresses?”

Four out of participants named a person and proceeded to say “But she’s not plus sized

anymore.” This is significant to consider, because where does this place that person because

older shows and episodes of them are still being aired.

This shows a significant bias in the way that all participants regardless of gender see plus

size women are portrayed. They are often seen on television and modeling, but the participants

could not recognize them by name although they could by image. This was not a problem when

asked about “traditional” models and actresses.

Each participant was asked how do they feel about the way plus sized women are

portrayed on both social media and traditional forms of media. The word “negative” was used in

each interview except for one, however each woman also in some form said that some people on

various social media mediums were plus size models or only posted positive uplifting plus size

confidence quotes. Two of the three males that were interviewed stated that “low-confidence” is

something that is seen a lot on social medium forums when it comes to the way that plus size

women are displayed on social media.

When asked if they agreed with the way that plus size women were portrayed on social

media two out of six stated that sometimes they agree, while the rest said that no they don’t

agree, it all depends on the woman. “Size doesn’t equal the person. Those people are funny. Plus

size girls are the funniest people I know though.” One participant stated, agreeing and

disagreeing with the stereotype in one statement alone.


There was a pause and hesitation in four out of six participants when asked about

traditional media, but that were all in compliance that when it comes to television plus size

women are not taken serious. They made note that plus size women are seen as comical, or only

seen in ads as the before picture, or as how you don’t want to be. There was only one male who

used positive characteristics for the television stereotypes, the stereotypes that he used were

“courageous and confident.”

“The stereotypes aren’t true, but they aren’t wrong. They have to come from

somewhere right?” one of the male participants stated during his interview. This is critical to

what has come out of this research. That is showing that some of the stereotypes may be correct,

and some may be incorrect, but they are based on the individual. “Each person is different, and

you can’t judge everybody from one person.” One female participant stated.

Discussion

This study explored plus size women in the media and the stereotypes that are often

associated with them. College students expressed overwhelming amounts of negative stereotypes

when it came to plus size women. The definition of a plus size woman was one of a negative

culture, which according to Webster is above a size 12. Research shows that more than 56% of

Americans women are overweight (Barriga, Shapiro, & Jhaveri, 2009).

This research is of high salience because stereotyping and low confidence levels because

of body image is something that effects so many women in today’s society, and it is important to

find out why (Evans, 2003). Past research shows that the media builds the framework for the way

that individuals see society, and because of that individuals who those who are plus size see

themselves as being negative (two of the participants were plus size).


Past research has found that women take beauty standards and make them fact (Serdar,

2005). This research will be able to contribute to that as well as other past research because it

gives insight into stereotypes of one type of woman, a type of woman that is often forgot about

due to generalizations in the media.

Conclusion

Limitations

This research looked at the different stereotypes and generalizations of plus size women

in the media. It discussed the views of three males and three females of various forms of

traditional and nontraditional media. This could have been missing a male researcher or a non-

female plus sized interviewer so that the participants did not feel intimidated or as if they were

judged by their answers.

A group of college students ages 21-25 was researched, but to get the same information

from an older set as well as a younger set is something that would be beneficial to studies done.

The questions that were answered were the stereotypes and generalizations that college students

have towards college students have towards plus size women and how they were expressed, as

well as the way that plus size women are portrayed on traditional media and social media.

Future Research

The future research that could be done on this topic is focus groups on stereotypes and

body image and where they stem from. It should come from the basics of plus size women and

the stereotypes that the media puts out about them and if the members of the focus group agree

with them or disagree with them. The focus groups can be cross-gender or same gender. These

will be very informational and continue to add to current research as well as this research.


Appendix 1

Interview Guide

1. Who are your favorite models?

2. Who are your favorite actresses?

3. What is your definition of plus size?

4. What are the first words you think of when you hear the words plus size?

5. Who are your favorite plus size models?

6. Who are your favorite plus size actresses?

7. How do you feel plus size women are portrayed on social media?

a. Do you think they are true?

8. How do you feel plus size women are portrayed on television?

a. Do you think they are true?

9. Do you have any biases (whether pro or con) towards plus size women?

a. Where do they come from?

10. Do you try to avoid becoming the stereotypes of plus size women that the media

portrays?

11. Do the stereotypes have an effect on the type of women you are attracted to? (male)


Works Cited

Barriga, C. A., Shapiro, M. A., & Jhaveri, R. (2009). Media Context, Female Body Size and

Perceived Realism. Sex Roles, 128-141.

Chen, G. M., Williams, S., Hendrickson, N., & Chen, L. (2012). Male Mammies: A Social-

Comparison Perspective on How Exaggeratedly Overweight Media Portrayals of Madea,

Raputia, and Big Momma Affect How Black Women Feel About Themselves. Mass

Communication and Society , 115-135.

Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches

(2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Gall, M. D., Gall, J. P., & Borg, W. R. (2003).

Evans, P. (2003). If only I were thin like her, maybe I could be happy like her": The self

implications of associating a thin female ideal with life success. Psychology of Women

Quarterly, 209-214.

Lukaszewski, J. E. (1992). Influencing Public Attituides: Direct Communication Strategies That

Reduce The Media's Influence on Public Decesion-Making. Leesburg: Issue Action Publication.

McNamara, C. (2009). General guidelines for conducting interviews. Retrieved October 11,

2014, from http://managementhelp.org/evaluatn/intrview.htm

Meikle, G., & Young, S. (2012). Media Convergence: Networked Digital Media in Everyday

Life. London: Palgrave MacMillian.

Pingree, R., Quenette, A. M., Tchernev, J. M., & Dickinson, T. (2013). Effects of Media

Criticism on Gatekeeping Trust and Implications for Agenda Setting. Journal of Communication,

351-372.

Serdar, K. (2005). Female Body Image and the Mass Media: Perspectives on How Women

Internalize the Ideal Beauty Standard. Westminster Myriad, Spring.


Schultz, N. J., Hoffman, M. F., Fredman, A. J., & Bainbridge, A. L. (2012). The Work and Life

of Young Professionals: Rationale and Strategy for Balance. Qualitative Research Reports In

Communication, 13(1), 44-52. doi:10.1080/17459435.2012.719208

Turner, D. W., III (2010). Qualitative interview design: A practical guide for novice

investigators. The Qualitative Report, 15(3), 754-760. Retrieved from

http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR15-3/qid.pdf

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kwanesia.weebly.comkwanesia.weebly.com/uploads/4/3/9/8/43986165/plus_… · Web viewThere are however multiple social media accounts that praise plus size women, and these are often