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What Is The Difference Between Pessimistic And Optimistic
What Is The Difference Between Pessimistic And Optimistic
Beauty industry in today's world essay
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Americans usually associate the value of optimism with positivity and the value of pessimism with negativity because remaining optimistic seems to be a societal goal. However, optimism and pessimism go hand in hand and they are both needed daily. Susan Bordo wrote an article titled "Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body" touching on the various perceptions of viewing beauty and art. In this article she utilizes both pessimistic and optimistic views to describe the current beauty industry. Several ideas that can be stemmed from Bordo's writing include how pessimism is usually frowned upon, but it can be helpful; how an overly positive outlook can be toxic; and how to balance pessimism and optimism.
Some people may argue that an optimistic outlook is favorable while
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having a pessimistic view on things is flawed. This seems obvious to many because optimism literally means positive thinking and pessimism means negative thinking. However, Bordo warns "that there are dangers in drawing broad conclusions on the basis of only those worlds which one is familiar"(Bordo, 211). Associating one way of thinking with being correct limits the spectrum of thought. Viewing things from only one point of view severely limits what you take in. Optimism and pessimism live symbolically as one would not exist without the other. They are both equally potent and necessary. Affiliating pessimism with over negativity needs to end as does associating optimism with over positivity. Pessimism and optimism operate in a "yin and yang" style relationship, where it seems they are opposing terms, but rather they are complementary and interconnected. To maintain your best quality of life you should learn to balance optimistic views that help your dreams flourish with pessimistic outlooks that keep your feet on the ground. Being overly optimistic can have many detrimental effects. If you force yourself to be positive and happy all the time that will become the baseline for you. If this occurs, real happiness will have no effect on you. This can be applied to many things such as Bordo notes "women aren't used to seeing naked men frankly portrayed as "objects" of a sexual gaze" (193). When Bordo does see a man in an ad portrayed sexually it was "thrilling and disconcerting" (186). Due to her not seeing this very often it had a significant impact on her. The more and more normalized a stimulus becomes the less impact it has. Thus, forcing yourself to be optimistic all the time will never create true happiness. In the book The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking the author, Oliver Burkeman, notes "our constant efforts to eliminate the negative… is what causes us to feel so insecure, anxious, uncertain, or unhappy." You cannot force yourself to be happy with over positivity. The world tends to frown on pessimism.
While excessive pessimism may not be a good thing, pessimism is needed. Without being able to see the glass as "half-empty" Bordo would not have been able to identify some major problems in the beauty industry such as "the powerful taboos "of "the explicit depiction of penises and male bottoms" (186). If we only acknowledge the positive things happening around us we would never notice all the detrimental facets that need improvement. Bordo used pessimistic thinking to highlight all the issues in the beauty industry that we can improve on. Another reason pessimism can be helpful is that it can help spur change. Bordo was inspired to write her article due to the incident while reading a magazine. In this magazine was an ad with an attractive male model. This delighted and intrigued Bordo as it was a very uncommon experience for her to see this. Instead of thinking it from an optimistic perspective that "this as good as its going to get" she felt this great experience for her should not just be a rarity. This experience inspired Bordo to write the article "Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body," advocating the equal depiction of males and females in the beauty
industry.
In the essay “What Meets the Eye”, Daniel Akst explains scientific facts about the beauty of men and women matters to people. He argues that attractive individuals receive attention, great social status, marries, and gets paid more on a job. One can disagree with Akst’s argument because anyone with the skills and knowledge, despite the appearance, can gain a decent relationship and can get paid well. Akst looks at beauty as if it can lead individuals to an amazing and successful life, but he is wrong. Nancy Mairs’ and Alice Walker’s views on beauty are explained internally and through self-confidence. Both women’s and Akst’s arguments on beauty share some similarities and differences in many ways, and an
People tend to views an image based on how society say it should be they tend to interpret the image on those assumption, but never their own assumptions. Susan Bordo and John Berger writes’ an argumentative essay in relation to how viewing images have an effect on the way we interpret images. Moreover, these arguments come into union to show what society plants into our minds acts itself out when viewing pictures. Both Susan Bordo and John Berger shows that based on assumptions this is what causes us to perceive an image in a certain way. Learning assumption plays into our everyday lives and both authors bring them into reality.
Redefined, Beauty. "Body Positive Sticky Notes." BEAUTY REDEFINED. Beauty Redefined Blog, Jan. 2014. Web. 05 Apr. 2014. .
.... "The Beauty Industry Promotes Unrealistic Beauty Standards." Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2007. Rpt. in The Culture of Beauty. Ed. Roman Espejo. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.
Research, 2016. Bordo implicated popular culture as having a serious negative role in how women of America view their bodies. These images have led to drastic increase change in life altering female disorders and eating. Not only does these images affect Americans but young men and women too which they should be fighting against it, not for
Beauty is often described as being in the eye of the beholder. However in modern western culture, the old adage really should be beauty is in the eye of the white makeup artist, hair stylist, photographer, photo shop editor, and advertiser. Beauty and body ideals are packaged and sold to the average American so that we can achieve vocational, financial, social, and recreational successes. Mass media and advertising has affected the way that women perceive and treat their own bodies as well as their self-concept. Women are constantly bombarded with unrealistic images and hold themselves to the impossible beauty standards. First, we will explore the role of media in the lives of women and then the biggest body image issue from a diversity stand point, media whitewashing.
Every woman grows up knowing that they one day want to be beautiful. In Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” she gives an in depth look at what negative effects the concept of beauty can have on an individual. From infancy to a full grown adult woman, beauty has been a way of thinking and lifestyle. As a little girl you are given petite shaped, blonde, blue eyed dolls. While boys are given brawny soldiers and mechanical toys.
In every magazine and on every page there is another source of depression, another reason to skip a meal or two or a reason to be self-conscious. In present society people are overly focused and determined on the perfect body that both the fashion and advertising industry portray and promote. Through diction, pictures and celebrities presented they are trying to convey a message to their viewers that is “suppose” to be used as a source of motivation and determination. The message they are truly conveying is self-conscious thoughts, depression, and the promotion of eating disorders. It is estimated that millions of people struggle with depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem; concentrated on dissatisfaction with their body image (Ballaro). The advertisement and fashion industry are conveying a message that creates an internal battle for their viewers, though they should be creating a fire in their viewers that provides motivation to be healthier, take better care of themselves and a source of inspiration for style.
Sarwer, D. B., Grossbart, T. A., & Didie, E. R. (2003). Beauty and society. Seminars in
Everyone dreams of being “perfect”, but what they don’t know is that they are perfect. One just has to see within themselves. Everyone is uniquely and secretly beautiful, but that gets taken away because it is not what society wants. What society wants is for women’s self-esteem to be broken so that they can be morphed into a product of someone else's idea of perfect. In “Barbie Doll” Piercy argues that the pressures put on women by society affect their self-esteem. No one needs to change who they are for anyone. If anyone wants to change, they should change for themselves! Being you is all that really matters. The key to beauty is confidence. Something that everyone should keep in mind is that, don’t let someone change who you are, to become what they need; otherwise you don’t need them in your
“Looks don’t matter; beauty is only skin-deep” (Godfrey, 2013). We hear these sayings all the time, yet we live in a society that seems to constantly contradict this idea (Godfrey, 2013). If looks don’t matter, why is every woman in magazines photoshopped? If looks don’t matter, why are women constantly harming their bodies because they are unhappy with how they look and just want to fit in (Godfrey, 2013)? The unrealistic standard of beauty that women are bombarded with everyday gives them a goal that is impossible (Godfrey, 2013). Sociocultural standard of feminine beauty is presented in almost all forms of popular media, forcing women with images that portray what is considered to be the ideal body (Serdar). A majority of the models
In her novel “Beauty Myth”, Naomi Wolf argues that the beauty and fashion industry are to blame for using false images to portray what beautiful woman is. She believes the magazines are to blame for women hating their bodies. Wolf states, “When they discuss [their bodies], women lean forward, their voices lower. They tell their terrible secret. It’s my breast, they say. My hips. It’s my thighs. I hate my stomach.” (Wolf, 451) She is focusing on how w...
Beauty is dangerous, especially when you lack it. In the book "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison, we witness the effects that beauty brings. Specifically the collapse of Pecola Breedlove, due to her belief that she did not hold beauty. The media in the 1940's as well as today imposes standards in which beauty is measured up to; but in reality beauty dwells within us all whether it's visible or not there's beauty in all; that beauty is unworthy if society brands you with the label of being ugly.
The definition of beauty has significantly changed through the ages. Women went from wanting to be seen as a survival partner to perfect sexual symbols. To succeed, they would experience insane health risks and body altering pain. Though many women have fallen to the pressures of media, not everyone has given into today’s obscene standards. There are still women that know beauty does not come only from the outside. This truth shines through the wise words of Amanda Peet: “Beauty is only skin deep. If you go after someone just because she's beautiful but don't have anything to talk about, it's going to get boring fast.” External beauty will vanish and no amount of surgery, chemicals, or exercise can change the toll of old age. If a woman is beautiful on the inside, however, her beauty will remain even when she is gone.
In the essay “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body,” author and philosopher Susan Bordo discusses the history and current state of male representation in advertisements. While using her feminist background, Bordo compares and contrasts the aspects of how men and women are portrayed in the public eye. She claims that there has been a paradigm shift the media with the theory that not just women are being objectified in the public eye, but also men too. Since the mid-1970s, with the introduction of Calvin Klein commercials, men have started to become more dehumanized and regarded as sex symbols. In a similar fashion to how Bordo describes gender, race plays a similar role in the media. People of all different ethnicities and cultures are being categorized into an oversimplified and usually unfair image by the media over basic characteristics.