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The impact of media on body image
Medias negative impact on body image
Medias negative impact on body image
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“Fat is a Feminist Issue” Susie Orbach’s story, “Fat is a Feminist Issue,” is a story that myself and many other, young and old women alike, can relate to. It seems that every channel we listen to or watch, has something to do with dieting, exercising, and having procedures to eliminate being fat. There are so many different claims of pills that will help us to lose weight and even will just cause the weight to drop-off without any changes in diet or exercise. It makes one confused to attempt to locate the product that will be the best, and will work on each individual basis. Ms. Orbach, mentions that “physical fitness and beauty are every woman’s goals.” In my opinion, this is an overstatement and not true. Many women do not care if they are physically fit and beauty is not a common goal. However, I will say that there are also many women who would like to be physically fit, and partake in the riches of make-up and attending hair salons, but they do not have the initiative to do so. Sometimes, it may be that they can work on their fitness level, but do not have the money to purchase products that are required to help them achieve the beauty they desire. My argument is though, that many women are confident, and do not require the “physical fitness and beauty” as Ms. Orbach states. Later in the story, Ms. Orbach discusses how fat women who disregard what the world believes, are fat and staying that way because of rebellion. “My fat say ‘screw you’ to all who want me to be the perfect mom, sweetheart, and maid. Take me for who I am, not for who I’m supposed to be. If you are really interested in me, you can wade through the layers and find out who I am”. Ms. Orbach, states that, “in this way, fat expresses a rebelli... ... middle of paper ... ...any women do desire to be that typical “stereo-type” that portrays the perfect, ideal woman. Attaining it is easy for some, but very difficult for others. Does it matter to every woman who lives in the world, as the story seems to incline; no, not at all! It matters to the majority, yes, probably so. However, it is certainly not something that every woman thinks about, or will die from, if they are not that perfect “fit”. Each woman is unique, and offer their own, style and beliefs. Classifying every woman to be in a certain category is not the way the world is. A feminist issue, yes there is one, but not completely. Being fat is an issue for men and for women alike, and some people care about it and some don’t. That is the bottom line! References: They Say I Say with readings.Fat Is a Feminist Issue.By Susie Orbach.Page 448-453. November 2012.
Fat is not a Fairy Tale, written by Jane Yolen, is a lyric poem explaining how fairy tales have not accepted princesses of different sizes. Most don’t think that “fat” is something that people don’t have a problem being or some are even proud of the body that they have. They think that everyone is looking forward to that “ideal” body of being skinny, with a flat stomach, and a tiny waist. Jane Yolen used imagery and a bit of exaggeration throughout the poem. For example, when she referred to the princesses as “anorexic, wasp-waisted; flinging herself down the stairs.”
As the rising epidemic of obesity has attracted considerable media attention, so has the promotion for maintaining healthy wellbeing. Tom Naughton’s documentary, Fat Head, is a stellar model of this media attention. It examines the exact cause of weight gain, and the reliability of the Government’s nutritional guidelines. The contention of Fat Head is that the U.S Government and Morgan Spurlock (the creator of Super Size Me) present misleading information. However, Naughton’s bias becomes apparent through the careful selection of film techniques, and the silencing of certain characters, who may express opposing viewpoints. The ideal audience of this documentary, parents and concerned parties such as medical professionals, are invited to agree that the U.S Government and Spurlock are deceptive.
The article “Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance” is written by Mary Ray Worley, a member of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. She writes of her firsthand experience as a “fat person” in society. Throughout the article, Worley explains what it is like to be obese and describes the way society treats those who have a weight problem. She attacks the idea of dieting, criticizes medical professionals for displaying an obscured view of health risks, and defends the idea of exercising to feel good rather than exercising to lose weight. Unfortunately, her article seems to reflect only own opinions and emotions rather than actual facts and statistics.
What woman doesn't want to be beautiful? Women want to please and will go to extreme measures to achieve the beauty ideal. Over the centuries, women have mauled and manipulated just about everybody part - lips, eyes, ears, waists, skulls, foreheads, stomachs, breasts and feet - that did not fit into the cookie-cutter ideal of a particular era's ideal of beauty and perfection. Women have suffered, sacrificed and punished themselves under the tyranny of beauty.
The argument she gives is something that is very empowering following the first read. In reality, this being a magazine means that the article would often not be read more than once and the viewpoint rarely questioned. “Fat Acceptance” is well suited for this magazine as it is from a left wing feminist perspective and really pushed the ideology of this viewpoint, catering to the demographic this magazine is intended for. The essay goes as far as subtly attacking the functionalist perspective of manufacturing, business, and capitalism at the end, saying “[the] capitalism diet culture is the business of manufacturing failure” (Geissler). Following this point it is quite apparent that Giessler is intending to push her social beliefs on the reader in a very clever way. The use of a highly debated topic give good reason for someone to give the essay a read without prior knowledge of the underlining message within the essay. As a result of this, one can understand why this eassy was published in this magazine and has received limited criticism.
However, Kilbourne’s statement surprised me when she claimed, “dieting doesn’t work.” Although Kilbourne’s intention with this statement was to encourage young women to accept their bodies, it creates leeway for laziness and obesity. Advertisements at times can be used as inspiration or motivation for those who try to sculpt their own body through fitness and healthy dieting. Dieting in today’s society is often associated with depriving oneself from the food they love. However, dieting is simply eating food in moderation and not splurging excessively. Furthermore, advertisements displaying women who are overly skinny from an eating disorder such as Anorexia, is not helping the current and future generations of women. In fact, companies should advertise women that have dedicated their lives to a healthy diet along with a vigorous routine of fitness and have achieved a healthy and achievable body.
Our society is entirely based on looks and how “the perfect women should be”. To be pretty you are expected to have the perfect body with the perfect face and hair. You could never cut your hair short because you would be considered a dyke. If you’re makeup isn’t perfect you are considered ugly and if you don’t have the “hourglass figure” you are considered fat and overweight. “Despite higher global self-esteem, women do not feel good about their appearance. This disconnect can be attributed, at least in part, to concerns about body image.” (@PsychToday, paragraph 4) Our society and social media is so caught up on how every woman should look that our own judgment has been clouded and we always believe we need to look and act that way. “The truth is that women’s insecurity about their appearance is driven by competition with other women.”(@PsychToday, paragraph 16) All we do nowadays is compare ourselves to others and that’s not how it should be. You are considered to be a “whore” such as Eve if you sleep around, so women are afraid to do it. You are considered to be “weak” if you stay at home and can’t support yourself, such as Lori. Our world is so caught up in people thinking that they need to be a certain way in order to impress themselves and others. Why do women shave their legs? Why do woman dye their hair? Why do woman get spray tans? Everything we do has to do with our appearance in order to impress
Obesity is a serious epidemic that majority of Americans face. The dangerous of obesity should not be taken lightly and addressed admittedly. However, the big question is how or why do some individuals stay skinny or become fat. The movie Weight of The Nations, Part 2: choice helps us explore this unanswered question to give us a better understanding of how this problem has gotten so out of control. This movie targets the obese society in America. This documentary uses scientist to research and address techniques to help people prevent weight gain and loss unhealthy weight. Most Americans want quick fixes to this problem, but have to realize big changes take time, but offer big results. Over all, the idea is to get people motivated by positive results to live a healthier live style.
I do believe that the media really depicts what beauty is “supposed to look like,” which is being thin or muscular, but to some people being “fat,” as Smith would put it, is just as beautiful. Personally, I really do not like the word "fat," I prefer the term overweight or the politically correct term “people of size.” Throughout Smith’s article, she refers to “people of size” as “big,” “heavy,” or “fat” people (86-88). She uses all of these snarl words to bring a negative connotation and generalize that people view overweight people this way.
Fat does not equal lazy; fat does not equal bad; fat does not equal overeating; fat does not equal ugly. Fat oppression is something so prevalent in our society, yet Americans refuse to recognize it as a problem or even an issue. After hearing an amazing woman named Nomy Lamm speak this weekend, I could not longer let this issue be ignored. (Lamm is a fat oppression activist and has been published in Ms. magazine). Fat oppression exists in this society and we all must recognize the damage it does to everyone, especially fat people.
In How Do You Fuck a Fat Woman? By Kate Harding, she talks about the hatred and negativity fat women encounter from society. According to our society, Harding is considered fat and therefore, she cannot be attractive or loved by anyone. She starts off the article with hateful comments left on her friend 's blogs. “You should consider yourself lucky that some man finds a hideous troll like yourself rape-able,” and “You fat whores would be luck to even get raped by someone” (Harding 68). She goes on to explain that in our society, it has always been believed that a woman’s job is to please a man. Without a man, a woman is nothing. To get a man, you need to be attractive. In society’s eyes, being attractive
The myth of you can eat whatever you want, only if you live an active lifestyle has been proven as false. The American people have become lazy and have chosen to give a blind eye to the matter, stating that we all need to accept ourselves and love one another. But this simply is not the case. Whether or not you love yourself and your weight still has no effect whether or not you are on of the three hundred thousand a year that end their life early due to bad eating habits.
This paper will look at two areas, which are physical and mental problems. Fad diets are becoming more popular because the consumers spend a huge amount of their money to follow specific type of diets to lose weight hastily as industry contributes to the dissemination of more books and magazines that deceive people and take their money. The FTC deceives consumers by using advertisement weight-loss and as a result it has collected almost $107 million since 2010 (Giorgianni, 2014). In addition, people need to increase their awareness of fad diets by knowing the negative impacts of it.
...th the modern era defining beautiful as having less weight. (WiseGeek, n.d.) Another argument is that thin is a feminist issue and they just use this as a headline grabber because 39.4 million of Americans suffer from obesity and the British NHS survey of Disordered Eating noted 620 hospital treatments for anorexia or bulimia (with some patients registered twice or more) for 2005 to 2006 as opposed to 17,458 for the same period for obesity. They also argue that more material is being saved when models are thinner and clothes look more elegant and drapes effortlessly on skinnier models. Most models and designers argue that models are not supposed to eat and they are meant to be skinny to sell more clothes or make them look more appealing.
According to recent statistics, every year Americans spend about $50 billion on products and services promoted to help them lose weight. Many of the overweight and obese people that join commercial weight loss programs are looking for a quick fix to lose the weight, such as fad diets and dietary supplements that are marketed to burn fat fast. However, many of these diets offer little success or success for a short time, resulting in many gaining the weight back a short time afterwards. Fad diets are “a trendy practice that has widespread appeal among a population. After a period, however, people lose interest in the practice, and it becomes no longer fashionable. People often lose weight while following fad diets, but usually regain much of