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Female body image in advertising
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In global media and advertising, there are many female stereotypical images of body image and self-worth. Whatever the norms are for how women should fit in or how skinny their body should be affect many young ladies, when they hit puberty. Once girls reach their puberty, they become self-aware and try to change their body image to please others and to fit within society. Nevertheless, the girls grew up with Barbie dolls and fairy princess with physical features are perfect and unrealistic, yet are still an iconic over a long time. It is possible that children’s toys, such as Barbie are more than simply a plaything. It imparts a message of how things should be, wanting to be a kid forever, rather than living with the differences and changes that life throws at. This need to have the perfect thing is what they think most likely leads to their acceptance in society by physically altercating themselves. Yet over the years, there has not been much change, as women have gone through emotional and physical condemnation, simply because they are not the perfect woman. In the poem, “Barbie ...
Author, Marge Piercy, introduces us to a young adolescent girl without a care in the world until puberty begins. The cruelty of her friends emerges and ultimately she takes her own life to achieve perfection in “Barbie Dolls” (648). At the time when all children are adjusting to their ever changing bodies, the insults and cruelties of their peers begin and children who were once friends for many years, become strangers over night caught in a world of bullying. A child who is bullied can develop severe depression which can lead to suicide; and although schools have been educated in recognizing the signs of bullying, there is an epidemic that has yet to be fully addressed within our schools or society.
“If Barbie was designed by a man, suddenly a lot of things made sense to me,” says Emily Prager in her essay “Our Barbies, Ourselves” (Prager 354). Prager’s purpose for writing this essay is to explain the history of Barbie and how the doll itself has influenced and continue to influence our society today. Prager is appealing to the average girl, to those who can relate to the way she felt growing up with Barbie seen as the ideal woman. Emily Prager uses a constant shift between a formal and informal tone to effectively communicate her ideas that we view women today based upon the unrealistic expectations set forth by Barbie. By adopting this strategy she avoids making readers feel attacked and therefore
It has recently been brought up that media influences girls in pre-adolescence, which is highly likely since most young girls idolize Barbie (Rintala & Mustajoki, 1992). “Were Barbie a flesh-and-blood woman, her waist would be 39% smaller than that of anorexic patients, and her body weight would be so low that she would not be able to menstruate” (Rintala & Mustajoki, 1992). Most young girls wish that they could look like Barbie when they grew up, but if they knew the reality of having her measurements, their perceptions would probably change. Children frequently fantasize about who they will be, what they will do, and how they will look when they grow into adulthood. Advertisers use women that are abnormally thin, and even airbrush them to make them appear thinner.
The treatment of females from the 18th century through the 21st century have only gotten worse due to society’s ignorant judgment of the gender. Of which, is the change from the previous housewife like actions to the modern day body figure. This repulsive transaction is perceived throughout literature. From the 19th century’s short story, “The Story of an Hour” written by Kate Chopin in 1894 and the 20th century’s poem, “Barbie Doll” composed by Marge Piercy in 1971.
In Marge Piercy’s, “Barbie Doll,” we see the effect that society has on the expectations of women. A woman, like the girl described in ‘Barbie Doll’, should be perfect. She should know how to cook and clean, but most importantly be attractive according to the impossible stereotypes of womanly beauty. Many women in today’s society are compared to the unrealistic life and form of the doll. The doll, throughout many years, has transformed itself from a popular toy to a role model for actual women. The extremes to which women take this role model are implicated in this short, yet truthful poem.
The Barbie is a plastic, man-made female toy, which has perfect facial symmetry, unnatural body dimensions, and perfectly unblemished white skin. In Chris Semansky’s Overview of “Barbie Doll,” he explains that the Barbie “is invented to show women have been socialized into thinking of their bodies and behavior in relation to a male-controlled idea” (Semansky). The title directly alludes to the Barbie toy, which represents a design of a man-made construction of the female image that shows an unnatural human form that could only exist inside the imagination of men. Throughout both “Barbie Doll” and “The Birthmark” you will find the female protagonists seeking an ultimately perfect form, free of the characteristics that those around them see as unworthy. It is as if they are chasing the blueprint of perfection that is present in the Barbie. The original Barbie came with three outfits a bathing suit, a tennis outfit, and a wedding dress (Semansky). Her outfits clearly symbolize restrictions forced on female privilege, identity, and autonomy, where “she embodies the ideals and values of her middle-class American community” who expect her to “spend her days at the country club and her afternoons cooking dinner for her husband” (Semansky). This is directly similar to the “outfits” those around the women in “Barbie Doll” where the girlchild is born
In the beginning of “Barbie Doll”, pleasurable and unpleasurable imagery is given so that the reader can see the extremes girls go through to be considered perfect.
Imagine being a 5 year old girl playing with baby dolls and brushing your Barbie doll’s hair and feeling fat. A 5 year old feeling fat sounds crazy, right? Well with the influence Barbie has had for years is causing girls younger and younger to feel that their body is not “perfect”. Eating disorders, unrealistic expectations, and self-confidence are all at jeopardy once a young girl is rewarded with her first Barbie doll.
Marge Piercy and Gwendolyn Brooks are authors of short poems who utilize themes, figurative language and imagery to convey ideas. The poems “Barbie doll” by Marge Piercy and “Sadie and Maud” by Gwendolyn Brooks use literary elements to detail the abstract ideas of self and happiness. Both poems are similar in atmosphere and share general identity concepts, however, they both focus on two separate narratives that can be categorized as a story of societal pressure and one of chosen path. The poems “Barbie Doll” and “Sadie and Maud” both have two distinct themes. The “Barbie doll” has a washed out, recycled theme that is society's beauty standards and the effect it has on self acceptance.
Too many people have had their minds fixed on the ideas that the perfect women should be a “lady” embodying the image of a Barbie, the only known flawless character known to our human species or the ideal man should have to live up to the unachievable expectations of every females dream of being 6’7 with an abdominal structure of a firefighter and a P.H.D in law. These expectations are extremely high and are impossible to obtain. Living in a materialistic environment influences children to adapt to trends and sudden changes to make themselves appear more passable for the people around them. The children of our generation have been infected with a disease called insecurity. TV shows and music videos have made the wrong idea of what people should look like and act like. The world should create better influences, end all violence, and have better places to live for the children of the future.
Barbie, a doll manufactured by Mattel, Inc., encourages an unrealistic body image, racial insensitivity, and contradictive goals, and it is having a negative influence on young girls everywhere. Launched in March 1959 by Ruth Handler, an American business woman and president of Mattel, Inc., Barbie quickly became popular and has gone on to sell three dolls every second, in over one hundred and fifty countries. However, Barbie’s rise to success has not been wholly positive – there have been numerous controversies, parodies, and lawsuits, all addressing a number of issues. One such issue is how Barbie promotes an unrealistic and unobtainable body image. For example, to scale, Barbie is five feet, nine inches tall, has a thirty six inch chest, eighteen inch waist, and thirty three inch hips. Had Barbie been a real person, she would not be able to walk, much less hold her head up. Secondly, Barbie is racially insensitive and perpetuates stereotypes. “Mexico Barbie,” from Barbie’s “ethnic” line, comes with a passport and a Chihuahua, as well as stereotypical red lace ribbons in her hair. Lastly, Barbie portrays goals that are both unobtainable and contradictive. Barbie has had a variety of careers, such as being a doctor, astronaut, and President of the United States, but also engages in stereotypical domestic activities, such as cleaning and baking. These characteristics are affecting young girls in a time when they are most developmentally susceptible, and teaching them a number of negative lessons.
In the poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy, a young girl is bullied for not achieving physical perfection. The title itself is an icon of perfection, it gives the reader an idea of the standard the girl is held to. Barbie dolls are modeled to be tall, thin, colored eyes, with a symmetrically beautiful faces the icon of perfection. The speaker states, “Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs,” (Piercy 7). Here the young girl is objectified into body parts. She becomes her flaws and is no longer seen as a person. Even though the speaker states “She was healthy, tested intelligent, / possessed strong arms and back,” (Piercy 7-8), everyone focuses on her flaws and ignore all the good aspects to her. The speaker goes on to state, “She was advised to
Women are forced to reach for unrealistic standards that have been pushed onto them by society. Society, however does not wait for young girls to grow up to face these struggles. The illusion of a carefree childhood is shattered by this push into adulthood at a young age. In “Barbie-Q” by Sandra Cisneros and “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, the main characters touch this theme in different ways that both give a firsthand experience and serve an example of what most women must face.
The Dangers of Society Society’s projections of body image can play a huge factor in people’s lives by changing how they view their bodies. In the eye opening poem by Marge Piercy,“Barbie Doll”, a young girl starts feeling insecure about her body because of a rude comment made that targeted her nose and thighs. Piercy’s uses of irony, imagery, and symbolism manifest that society’s thoughts on the perfect body are unrealistic and teach girls that they need to look a certain way in order to be desirable. All body types are beautiful in their own way, but it has to be seen by one’s own self even when society doesn’t see it that way. People should be happy with their bodies without needing approval from others.
It creates the social norms about the standards of beauty, “Media, including fashion magazines and music videos, are also cited as powerful influences on girl’s body image, or their belief about the “ideal” body weight and physique” (Grabe, Ward, and Hyde). The ideal body shape that Barbie doll represents in “Barbie Girl” gives teenager girls a complex about their figures. The result of it is the girls think they must strive to be beautiful and to live a perfect life, and they are obsessed by the idea of perfection. For example, the girl starts her diet or drinking medicine which advertised by the mass media so as to lose weight and attain her look, even if it leads to being unhealthy and dangerous for health. They consider makeup as beauty and always makeup when they go out.