Masterpiece Update

My topic for my masterpiece is body image (media advertising, competition, effects, goal/attitudes).

As a teenage girl in high school, I feel like our appearance and body image is really important to (most of) us. I feel like this topic has become even more important over the past year. Every social media site gossips about body types and features, what makes someone "hot" and what makes someone "ugly". It's a competition out there that has highly impacted many people (specifically teens) emotionally, mentally, and physically.

Researching this topic and how it has affected many people personally will provide an insight into how damaging this controversial topic is and how together we can change the negative vibe of the words and embrace the beauty of body image. Exploring this broad topic about body image will hopefully allow myself and others to become more accepting and open to all body types and features that God gave us.

I feel that this topic requires mature communication skills. This is a sensitive topic to many and you have to approach it with complete respect and understanding. You must be aware of society today in all aspects of life, as well as the history of this topic and how it has transformed.

I don't have a formal plan yet of how I want to go about researching this topic. I do however want to ask people that I, as well as others, know and get their point of view on the topic. I want to somehow (if possible) make an online survey that asks personal questions about this topic and allow people to submit their opinions anonymously. I want to get inside how body image and the media perspectives have impacted people. I want to learn about the effects this topic has had on many and the struggles that they have gone through. I want to branch out to people who have written online articles, books, or who have shared their own personal stories and become educated on the impact of what the importance of body image has had on them. I want to learn about how one can look at these words "body image" and think positively about them.

For this approach, I believe that the computer/internet will be my best tool. I want to give people the opportunity to tell me their stories anonymously if they want to get their story out there but don't feel comfortable with having the world know who it belongs to. I will need to research articles, books, and personal experiences.

To tell my story, I think I'm first going to start with making its own personal blog. On this blog I will post notes and any information that I find and want to use to tie my project together. I would also like to include videos, either ones that I make or ones that I find online. I want to show examples of how social media depicts this topic, its effects, and how we can change this view. As for the final presentation platform, I'm still exploring my options.