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Beauty standards in society
How has womens body image been affected by media
How has womens body image been affected by media
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Girls, Aren’t you sick of living under society's idea of perfection? Nowadays, high and unrealistic standards are set for all women to live up to. Women are socially influenced to meet the criteria of the perfect outer image. People surrounding us, the media, and stereotypes of the ‘perfect girl’ are telling us we must have flawless bodies, confident and happy personalities, and an innocent outlook on life.
All over social media we see beautiful girls living out the perfect life. These girls all have big boobs, a big bum, nice legs, a small waist and clear skin. But is this their reality? As I scroll through Instagram I see post after post of skinny girls posing, looking effortless, but in fact they have just chosen the right lighting, gotten
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On a photo she once said was “candid” O’Neill wrote “…Stomach sucked in, strategic pose, pushed up boobs,” she says “I just want younger girls to know this isn’t candid life, or cool or inspirational. Its contrived perfection made to get attention.” This is exactly what girls are chasing after; a false image of perfection. There is really no “ideal girl”, having a good body, amazing hair and good clothes will never make you happy. We as humans are capable of so much more than having the flawless outer image. O’Neill has experienced first-hand the glorified “perfect life” and it is far from happy and fulfilling. The social issues research centre (SIRC) has found that “The current media ideal for women is achievable by less than 5% of the female population – and that's just in terms of weight and size. If you want the ideal shape, face etc., it's probably more like 1%.” How do we expect ourselves to fit into this unrealistic expectation? I mean, guys, it has been proven that we actually can’t fit into what everyone thinks is perfect. Unless you are one of the lucky few in the 5%, we need to start realising there is more than outer beauty and
When we look into the mirror, we are constantly picking at our insecurities; our stomach, thighs, face, and our body figure. Society has hammered into our brains that there is only one right way of looking. Society disregards that there are many different shapes, sizes, and colors. Then society makes us believe that corporations can shove detrimental products to fix our imperfection. As a consequence, we blame media for putting all the negative ideas into women’s brain. It is not wrong to say that they are in part responsible, but we can’t make this issue go away until we talk about patriarchy. In the article Am I Thin Enough Yet? Hesse-Biber argues that women are constantly concerned about their looks and if they are categorized as “beautiful” by society. These ideas are encouraged by corporations that sell things for us to achieve “beautiful” but the idea is a result of patriarchy. Hesse-Biber suggests that if we want to get rid of these ideas we need to tackle patriarchy before placing all the blame on capitalism.
We hear sayings everyday such as “Looks don’t matter; beauty is only skin-deep”, yet we live in a decade that contradicts this very notion. If looks don’t matter, then why are so many women harming themselves because they are not satisfied with how they look? If looks don’t matter, then why is the media using airbrushing to hide any flaws that one has? This is because with the media establishing unattainable standards for body perfection, American Women have taken drastic measures to live up to these impractical societal expectations. “The ‘body image’ construct tends to comprise a mixture of self-perceptions, ideas and feelings about one’s physical attributes. It is linked to self-esteem and to the individual’s emotional stability” (Wykes 2). As portrayed throughout all aspects of our media, whether it is through the television, Internet, or social media, we are exploited to a look that we wish we could have; a toned body, long legs, and nicely delineated six-pack abs. Our society promotes a body image that is “beautiful” and a far cry from the average woman’s size 12, not 2. The effects are overwhelming and we need to make more suitable changes as a way to help women not feel the need to live up to these unrealistic standards that have been self-imposed throughout our society.
Societal constructs of bodily perfection have a massive influence on both genders and on all ages. If you look at any magazine, you will see women constantly being compared to each other, whether it is in the “who wore it better” section or in the “do’s and don’ts” part of the magazine, comparing body images and overall appearances. All parts of the media that encompasses our daily lives are especially dangerous for young and impressionable teens because they see people being torn down for trying to express themselves, and are thus taught to not only don’t look like “don’ts”, but also look like the “do’s”. This is dangerous in that women in the magazine set very high standards that teens want to emulate, no matter the cost to themselves or their health. Celebrities have the benefit of media to make them appear perfect: Photoshop and makeup artists conceal the imperfections that are often too apparent to the naked eye. Viewing celebrities as exhibiting the ideal look or as idols will, in most cases, only damage the confidence of both young teens, and adults, and warp the reality of what true “beauty” really is. It makes teens never feel truly content with themselves because they will be aiming for an ideal that is physically impossible to attain and one that doesn’t exist in the real
Every teenage girl goes through a time in her life when she just does not feel good enough. That time when the perception of what a girl should look like is just not realistic. Body image is a big part of a girl's life, no matter if it is a positive or negative one. It helps decides whether or not she will grow up to be confident and strong or scared and nervous. Having a good perception of yourself is important to having a positive body image. However all around us society is shoving “the perfect body” in our face and shaming those of us who don’t fit the cookie cutter image they’ve created. From lingerie store Victoria's Secret, to popular teen magazine Seventeen, all of the women that we up to seem to have that perfect body. How are we letting something like pretty underwear, promote a perfect body for teenage girls? Dove steps in eventually to explain that nobody on this Earth is perfect.
Times have changed throughout the generations and the portrayal of women in the media has definitely changed over the years. Unfortunately, there is still a stereotypical appearance and social role in the media that women need to achieve in order to be socially desired. Even though it has improved, there is such a stigma towards being too fat, too skinny, too tall, or too short and the list of imperfections go on and on. Aside from body image, social roles are a big issue in the media today. When you look at any advertisement in the media, you can notice the appearance, gender, and race of the model. The media’s idea of the “perfect” body is having the unflawed and women are typically skewed for this by society.
Did you know that nobody is “perfect”? Well in “Killing Us Softly” Jean Kilbourne a speaker who is internationally recognized for her work on the image of women in advertising explains that not even the perfect people shown in advertisements are perfect. Setting standards that aren’t even obtainable. Chris Godsey Professor at the University of Minnesota in Duluth writes in Cro-Magnon Karma how even these “perfect” are now starting to affect how men see themselves including himself. Emily Prager author speaks in “Our Barbies, Ourselves.” How men have an unrealistic idea of a perfect women. In these we will see how (Thesis) media shapes our identities and how we see ourselves.
looks, the bodies girls look up too are all unattainable. The media tells us that the perfect girl is a size zero that has long hair and always dresses stylish. It then makes us just
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
What is the perfect body type? Throughout our adolescence ages into the adult hood stage many of young women struggle to answer this question. Our idea of what the perfect body type is ever changing however it is always influenced by the Medias perception of what the perfect body image should look like. We all idolize these images we see on television and in magazines and some of us would do anything to look just like them. This image forces us to have self esteem issues.These advertisements are damaging both our mental and physical state of being Many young girls who take extreme measures to live up to the Medias perception of the perfect body type are more likely to develop one of the many body image disorders. The average age a girl starts to diet is eight ("Media and Eating Disorders" 1). When a girl becomes obsessed with dieting and looking better, they can easily become anorexic or bulimic. 79% of teenage girls who vomit are dedicated readers of woman's magazines ("Media and Eating Disorders" 2). The Medias standard of perfection puts stress and pressure on young girls to become skinner. Eating disorders, excessive exercise, and depression are a result of the Medias influence on their self image. The media have negatively influenced the self image of young girls by forcing their unrealistic perception of what women should look like onto them .
I can’t help but point the finger towards today’s super-skinny models that set these atrocious trends of ‘size zero’. We’ve all seen it: their flawless, faultless bodies plastered all over magazines. Girls end up looking up to these ‘idols’ and their minds become engrossed with this so-called idea of perfection. What is a ‘perfect’ body in the minds of young girls, I hear you ask? Well, let’s say a bunch of emaciated-looking people would be an understatement. It’s even more saddening to hear that some girls aren’t even aware of the risks and realities...
People are always complaining about how they aren’t as pretty as models on billboards, or how they aren’t as thin as that other girl. Why do we do this to ourselves? It’s benefitting absolutely nobody and it just makes us feel bad about ourselves. The answer is because society has engraved in our minds that we need to be someone we’re not in order to look beautiful. Throughout time, society has shaped our attitudes about appearances, making it perfectly normal and even encouraged, to be five feet ten inches and 95 pounds. People have felt trapped by this ideal. Society has made these beauty standards unattainable, therefore making it self defeating. This is evident in A Doll’s House, where the main character, Nora, feels trapped by Torvald and society’s standard of beauty. The ideal appearance that is prevalent in society is also apparent in the novel, The Samurai’s Garden, where Sachi is embarrassed of the condition of her skin due to leprosy and the stigmas associated with the disease. The burden of having to live up to society’s standard of beauty can affect one psychologically and emotionally, as portrayed in A Doll’s House and The Samurai’s Garden.
Is it not strange, how everyone is born to be different, and yet so much precedence is placed on having the ‘perfect’ body? Body image is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2016) as “the subjective picture of one’s own physical appearance established both by self-observation and by noting the reactions of others.” An individual has a distorted body image when they perceive their body in a negative and unrealistic way (Nordqvist, 2014). The value that society places on what is perceived to be the perfect body has taken its toll, especially on adolescent girls. A study in Malaysia found that 87.3% of adolescent girls from 15 to 17 years old experienced body size dissatisfaction (Soo et al., 2008), whereas 50-88% of adolescent girls in
Girls have a lot to measure up to in society, like appearances and body weight, to feel like a beautiful woman. Unfortunately, magazines, television shows, and movies present what perfection is and how far we will go to try to live up to it.
In American culture today, society's view of beauty is controlled by Hollywood, where celebrities are constantly in the lime-light. The media watches Hollywood's every move, and is quick to ridicule “A-listers” whenever they dare to gain a few pounds or to let an uncontrollable pimple show. The media has created a grossly distorted mental image of what should be considered beautiful, and with almost every junior high and high school-age girl reading and viewing this message, the idea has been instilled in them as well. This view of beauty is causing many teenage girls to become obsessed with a highly problematic and unattainable goal of perfection.
There are over seven billion people on earth and every single one looks different. No matter how much people say that being different is unique, they are wrong. Society has set a beauty standard, with the help of the media and celebrities, that makes people question their looks. This standard is just a definition of what society considers being “beautiful.” This idea is one that mostly everyone knows about and can relate to. No one on this planet is exactly the same, but people still feel the need to meet this standard. Everyone has two sides to them; there is the one that says “you are perfect just the way you are”, while the other side puts you down and you tell yourself “I have to change, I have to fit in.” There is always going to be that side that cares and the one that doesn’t.