Language (Im)Politeness Online. The act of body shaming analysed via comments to VIPs posts on social media

26 CHAPTER 2 DATA COLLECTION: BODY SHAMING 2.1 The concept of ideal body image results in the Body Shaming phenomenon The globalization of media has paved way for Print and Television advertisements to use images of thin female bodies to sell products, which are viewed by women all over the world. The researcher A. Poorani, from Bharathidasan University, reports that Nationwide Surveys conducted in the US, between 1970s and 1980s and later in 1990s, indicated that both men and women’s body image perceptions have become more and more negative over time (Cash and Henry, 1995; Cash et al., 1986, as cited in Poorani, 2012). In the 20 th century originated then the study of Body Image, in which many researches were held to prove that men and women, from all over the world, mostly feel bad about their body image especially due to the ideal concept of it that people are exposed to in TV advertisements, fashion magazines and social media. Paul Schilder, in “In The Image and Appearance of Human Body” of 1950, argues that body image is not only a cognitive construct, but also a reflection of attitudes and interaction with others. He defines body image as: “The picture of our own body which we form in our mind, that is to say, the way in which the body appears to ourselves” (Schilder, 1950, as cited in Poorani, 2012). Since 1950, many other researchers have given ‘body image’ concept many different meanings: perception of one’s own body attractiveness, body size distortion, perception of body boundaries (Fisher, 1990, as cited in Poorani, 2012). Not only were there studies meant to prove that men and women feel negatively about their body image, but also many others that attempted to explore the behavior patterns adapted by especially women to achieve the body ideals to which they were exposed.