Idealization of the women's body in social media

The prepared study tries to explain how the female body is idealized on social media. The effects of social media on the process of women's body identity construction have been evaluated and how the female body is represented on social media has been analyzed sociologically. In this context, a survey was conducted with 150 social media users over the age of 18. The study is limited to participants living in Atakum district of Samsun province and 28 questions were asked to the participants. The analysis of the data obtained as a result of the survey was carried out with the SPSS 23 program. In addition, One Sample Chi-Square analysis was used for the distribution of categorical variables, and Chi-Square analysis was used to examine the relationship between categorical variables, and Fisher Excat and Fisher Freeman Halton tests were used in case of appropriateness. As a result of the findings of the research, it was observed that most of the participants use social media frequently. The majority of users use social media especially for sharing applications. The majority of participants are those who share their own photos on these applications. The findings showed that the participants had a positive judgment towards filter and retouching applications. There is a perception that individuals who approach the body and face image that society imposes on individuals are more appreciated. Changing one's body or face using social media applications and receiving appreciation for this change causes great satisfaction. In addition, participants responded that they appreciated the retouching or filter applications applied by influencers or celebrities in advertisements published on social media. It is seen that the majority of participants think that the individual has a desire to look different than he is on social media when the attitudes and comments towards aesthetic concern on social media are evaluated. Findings show that social media applications are also associated with the increase in plastic surgery applications, which have been frequently performed recently. It shows that the ideal body perception imposed by social media is given more importance especially by women, when the data obtained throughout the research are evaluated. It will be possible to lay stronger foundations on social media when a person accepts every aspect of his or her body and associates being healthy with beauty. Besides of these it is thought that this study will contribute to the literature, when considering the quality of studies on ideal body perception in the literature. Including both genders in the research helped bring together different ideas about the idealization of the female body. In this respect, it is possible to say that the study will make significant contributions to the literature.