The Effect of the Media on The Female Body

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The Effect of the Media on The Female Body

In today's society it seems that a woman's body is the main focal point in the media. We see the female body being portrayed as one of a model with unattainable measurements such as 36-24-36. All of this can be attributed to how our TV shows, movies, music videos, magazines, etc. portray the perfect female body. America and its' media need to begin portraying women with all types of figures. This would help greatly to widen our thoughts and definition of what beauty really is, not to mention greatly lesson the different types of health problems American citizens have as a result of today's unattainable beauty standards.

The first such example can be taken from the video Dreamworlds II. In this particular source, it explained the media's effect, particularly in music videos, on the way society views how the female body should look and be treated. Deamworlds II continuously displayed many different types of music videos throughout the video to give the viewer a harsh look at reality. The video made the viewer take a look at how these music videos are normally the creation of males and will most always show the female as being the weaker sex that is around for only one reason, which is to satisfy the man. By showing the music videos continuously throughout the video, it made viewers take a harsh look at how we portray women and often never think twice about it when we are watching the music video on TV.

In our modern society, in almost every form of advertisement we use provocative sexual imagery to get the audiences attention. This idea often carries over to music videos in hopes that the sexual themes will get the viewers attention, which will attract them to the artist and their music. According to Dreamworlds II, men today direct ninety percent of the music videos. This results in videos with sexual dreamlands where men can make women do or be however they please. When this happens, it can be very dangerous for women and girls. They are no longer being seen as an actual person with subjectivity but instead they are shown as just body parts waiting for men to use or watch them. In these videos, the women's stories are no longer being told because they are only seen in certain roles such as exotic dancers, teachers, nurses, housewives, or prostitutes.

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