Every morning I wake up I look in the mirror, I shake my head with dissatisfaction, and then go on an hour-long mission to get ready for the day and look good. I put my make up on, carefully choosing two shades that will accentuate my eyes. I pick clothes that will make me look slimmer, tighter at certain parts of the body and narrower at other ones. Finally, I put on my high heels that make me look taller and more elegant. After one hour of getting ready I look in the mirror again, turn around a few times and tell myself that I need to go to the gym that day, and then I smile and leave the room. Sometimes I don’t smile because I know that the day before I have eaten too much chocolate and I feel that my stomach is showing a little. And I go through this experience every single day. Secretly I do want to look like Beyonce, and I do follow fashion trends I see in magazines, on TV, commercials etc.
What I do every single day might seem to you as an attempt to achieve the perfect look. Indeed, when I go to the gym, I go to tone my muscles, to loose a little bit of extra belly, and to look perfect. The question is: What does it mean to look perfect? In my previous blog, I told you that media plays an important role in shaping our lifestyle choices, which, consequently, influence our health. As much as media tells us what to eat, it also sets the criteria for the ideal body image. Look at the cover page of any fashion, teenage, or health magazine and you will see the picture of an extremely good-looking young woman. However, the story doesn’t end there. Open any of those magazines, and you will find pictures of cultural icons such as actresses, singers, models, starlets etc. who are extremely skinny, and yet the young people today look up to them, and consider them ext
remely beautiful. Media promotes the image of an ideal woman of today. However, by doing so, media also enhances the occurrence of eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, body dysmorphic disorder, overeating, and other psychological reactions to personal dissatisfaction with own body.
How does media provoke such a negative consequence on the American youth? I like to call my ritual in the morning and going to the gym: “learned behavior”. However, the line between daily habits and obsession is thin when media bombards us with images of women in bodies of 15-year-old girls, with perfect faces, lips, and in skinny jeans. A teenage girl looks at the photographs of Kate Moss, Marie-Kate Olsen, Keira Nightly and sees nicely dressed, popular, rich young women and dreams to be like them. Unfortunately, “like them” also encompasses a look of a very skinny girl-the girl with “ideal body image”. Consequently, the dream to become famous turns into a mission to achieve that ideal body, and ultimately to an obsession that can end with an eating disorder.
Media is an agent that promotes the societal values, which, in this case, reflect the ideals of beauty. By putting forward the images of extremely slim models and stars, media ingrains these ideas into minds of teenage girls but also creates the expectations for being
successful in the entertainment and fashion business. A friend of mine was applying recently for a Dolce and Gabbana internship, in the department of management. However, besides her application, she needed to submit a full photograph of her, showing the entire body. So, my question is: what matters more, the skill and ability to do a job, or the way you look?
As an intermediary between businesses and people, media indirectly influences the decisions we all make. However, sometimes this indirect role becomes an essential element in shaping the way we perceive and define certain societal norms. Having the ideal body image, which media serves to public via magazine photographs, tabloids, or TV commercials, increases self-esteem and self-confidence in many, many girls and women. Unfortunately, the consequence lies in worrying statistics such as following: Anorexia is the third most common chronic illness among adolescents; 40 – 60% of high school girls diet; 50% of girls between the ages of 13 and 15 believe they are overweight; 80% of 13 year old girls have dieted; 40% of 9 year old girls dieted.
Sometimes, just the images launched by media, their accessibility, and frequency c
an shape the choices of Americans on
their lifestyle, which, in turn, shape their health choices. Just imagine a 15 year old girl looking at the cover page of "Bazaar", where Mary-Kate Olsen's picture screams at her: "FABULOUS"! Who wouldn't want
to be?
Sources: Eating Disorders statistics: http://www.mirror-mirror.org/anorexia-statistics.htm
http://i151.photobucket.com
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn
http://www.denimology.com/2009/09/jean-paul-gaultier
http://www.showstudio.com/2009/11/24/kate_moss.jpg
Posted by S.S. for Writing 8 class.
My grandmother used to have a saying: "Pretty is as pretty does." I wonder what happened to that way of defining beauty?
ReplyDeleteI think you're right that the media is putting forth unrealistic standards of beauty. But even these women don't actually look like their images -- they are styled and air-brushed. In the hands of the right stylists and make-up artists, most women could be manipulated to meet a standard of beauty. The question is: why do we care so much? Is it to attract men? I actually don't think so: men are easy to attract. Girls don't need to look like fashion models to get guys interested. Are we trying to outdo one another? Maybe -- but what's the point of this competition? Aren't there better things to compete for?
Interesting post -- I'd like to know what your classmates have to say.
One of my favorite programs is Masterpiece Theater on the PBS. The acting is impeccable, and the actors and actresses look... normal. Like you and me. I truly get the sense that the BBC prioritizes talent over skinniness and flawless features.
ReplyDeleteAnother question I would add, to the plenitude already posted here, is... what defines beauty? And why is beauty have such a different definition today than it did in days of yore? Juxtapose some of your posted pictures with Peter Paul Rubens' famous paintings from the 1500s and 1600s (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Rubens_-_Judgement_of_Paris.jpg) and it's clear that societal standards of beauty have shifted.
Something to ponder...
This is a cultural thing in American and in most
ReplyDeleteWestern countries. My family is from Nigeria and in Nigeria, it is almost the reverse. People in Nigeria, and other African countries value more buxom-like women. (And thankfully, I retained my Nigerian influence in that regard.)
But the problem here is not just a woman's problem, it is an image problem that plagues both men and women. The women case tend to get a lot more attention, but I think the situation is just as severe, if not more so with guys. You can go to the gym and you'll see a multitude of men lifting weights. Why? Their jobs do not require them to be able to bench 250 pounds. Nor does it require them to be able to do a 60 pound bicep curl . But many men spend a lot of time working on their bodies as much as woman. This is because the media also has a certain image of what a man should look like. You can look at a magazine cover of men's health, where the magazine pumped up Andy Roddick's bicepts. (http://www.tmz.com/2007/05/18/did-mens-fitness-pump-up-andy-roddick/)
@Gocsik
ReplyDeleteI think there is a tremendous element of women trying to "outdo" one another. I'm tempted to resort to biology for an explanation--men are way more visually focused, so it's more valuable for a woman to be the best looking female at the party. This competition means that many women can achieve the original "ideal" presented in magazines. That ideal then becomes boring, so it has to be escalated, which I think is why many images of women are altered to the point that they no longer represent an actual human (the following examples are worth looking at)
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/09/29/ralph-lauren-opens-n.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcFlxSlOKNI
@samtilly--I think that the female case tends to get more attention because the attempt to achieve the image has more immediately disastrous results.
Women are often presented with images that are not actually achievable. (See the above picture of the Polo model.) Their attempt to emulate it will cause significant consequences to their health not too far down the line.
Men, however, are "supposed" to be muscular. Lifting weights to build muscle is a behavior that can be taken safely to a much father extreme than dieting.
Of course, the psychological effects of "ideal" images might be equivalent for both genders--this is something we shouldn't overlook.
I remember being confused when I first got back from Thailand to Malaysia. I suddenly hated all the cloths I used to 'show off' in Thailand. Apparently the standard of beauty has its own way to reveal itself in different places. In Thailand, its all about modesty and honoring the color code ( everyday in the week has its color), and most of the people wear polo shirt with the royal family's badge on it. Therefore, a little twist in my fashion sense in Thailand can bring me a long way. However, when I am back to Malaysia, I realized what I wore was only aimed to outdo the others, and none of the materials of the cloths are comfy nor good.Right now, once again, I pull out some of the cloths from Thailand to wear on campus, perhaps I was trying to say ," you can never find this around here, so I win".
ReplyDeleteIf stardom was something that I valued, yes I would starve myself.
ReplyDeleteWe say now that celebrity women are unreasonably skinny, and that their magazine covers have been retouched extensively, yet many of us continue to support the careers of these people by buying the magazines, regarding the women as beautiful, and even subconsciously holding ourselves to the standards that graphic artists set.
We are a part of the system. I can't imagine what life must be like for an overweight person at Dartmouth. Everyone seems to be skinny. I could never go to the gym and use a treadmill beside really skinny people because I would be so self conscious.
I worked at the gym last year, and I hardly ever saw people who were overweight (very subjective, I know). Most people who use the gym are ridiculously skinny. I even found myself thinking a few times, "wow, what are you doing here? I would be so embarrassed."
As I guy I have similar issues with my body. I don't think I'm muscular enough, and I feel really self conscious when I go to the gym. I visited a Latin American country last year where the men actually work on farms and construction sites everyday- they were muscular, and toned, but nothing like what guys who obsessively use the gym (there are many) look like. The media has also constructed an unrealistic ideal for men. We can't say guys aren't pressured to the same extent as women, because the fact is that men don't often speak about their struggles with muscle mass/weight (that's supposedly emasculating).
Samtilly's post really resonated with me. I don't need to be able to to bench-press 250 pounds. I'm plan to work in an office not on an 18th century wharf. Yet I still have feeling of inadequacy because i'm being judged as unattractive by these very unrealistic standards.
This is so frustrating to me, because we are the same people who perpetuate the status quo. I can't tell you how many times I have had friends who lost weight who people responded to like this, "OMG, you lost so much weight *smile and expectant glare*" This child is starving herself, and that is what you have to say? How about, "Wow Jane, you lost a lot of weight over the summer- I hope you are taking care of yourself."
Since we have identified the problem, how about we start changing the way we interact with people to actually do something to change these ridiculous standards of beauty? We are not victims of the media. We are wiling participants in the game that we were given to play.
What I have come to realize is that our definition of beauty is not necessarily being thin. Instead, being thin is just a hard thing to accomplish, so it becomes something that not everyone can achieve it. Indeed, it is a painful process to remain thin and fit, unless you have an amazing metabolism. Similarly, scholarship work is not necessarily a lot of fun, it is valued highly though because not everyone can do it. I wonder whether in a possible world (talking like a philosopher now)in which gaining weight is harder then losing weight, the standards of beauty reverse as well.
ReplyDeleteI wonder, how can we change the definition of beauty? The current definition of incredibly unrealistic and even unhealthy beauty has allowed these media sources to become successful. In a capitalistic society like ours, no matter how many tea partiers say we are heading toward socialism, money rules. In many cases beauty sells, and, unfortunately, no form of beauty sells so well as the one that you speak out against. Movements towards a healthy definition of beauty have had some success and with enough support could usurp the current definition of beauty. Momentum seems to be gaining, and I think that someday the profitable version of beauty will change to one that is healthier, and then magazine covers will not be filled with Kate Moss and others who look like her.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed that recently magazines have started to include some "plus-size" models. While I appreciate the effort, a lot of times the magazines make a huge deal about including the "plus-size" model in their magazine. I think that magazines should simple use plus-size models without having to include a blurb underneath about how the model is plus-sized. I do feel like images in magazines portray the "ideal" bodies. The images put a lot of pressure on girls and boys to look a particular way. I often wonder why extreme skinniness became the ideal for girls. I also wonder if including plus-sized and normal models could potentially change what society considers to be the "ideal body".
ReplyDeleteKeira Knightley happens to be one of my favorite actresses. Do I think she’s too skinny? Well, yes, in fact I do. Scarlett Johansson is also one of my favorite actresses. Same question, do I think she’s too skinny? Nope, I think she’s just fine the ways she is. Am I failed product of the media for finding the fatter woman more attractive? Oh no!
ReplyDeleteI do not believe one actress is more famous or covered by the media than the other. I also do not believe that their level of “skinniness,” contributes to their appeal; Scarlett Johansson in particular does not fit into the stereotypical image of a starved model. So while I cannot speak for anyone else, I cannot particularly say that I am a huge fan of anorexic women as portrayed by the media. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the media plays a minor role in women’s obsessive and harmful attitude to being thin.
One experiment showed that, “’There is a fine line of responsibility on the part of the media,’ indicates Steven Thomsen, associate professor of communications. ‘The media do not act as an initiating, but, rather, as a perpetuating force to those who suffer from an eating disorder. To these young women who are at risk, some of these beauty and fashion magazines can be as dangerous as giving a beer to an alcoholic. The very factors that have made them vulnerable to an eating disorder also heighten their vulnerability to images of thinness and false promises of happiness.’” (article link: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_2667_129/ai_67832384/ )
In another study, “girls were given a 15-month subscription to a teenage magazine and then compared with a similar group who were not allowed to read the magazine.
The researchers say: ‘Despite the increased amount of time participants spent reading the fashion magazine, there were no effects on body dissatisfaction, thin-ideal internalisation, dieting or negative effect over time.’
‘This study suggests that the negative effects have little long-term impact,’ says Dr Stice.
Teenagers who already had a poor body image, however, felt more negative about themselves and more depressed after reading the magazine.” (article link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/428392.stm ). The article does go on however to present a woman psychotherapist saying that the experiment was too simplistic despite the fact that hundreds of girls from age 13-17 were tested for over a year.
I believe that girls and women with eating disorders are bombarded with “ideal” images (from magazines that they buy) and that they should seek help. I also agree that there are certain societal pressures placed on both men and women to strive for an attractive body. I do not agree however that it is to the degree in which the media is burned for. You mention that “50% of girls between the ages of 13 and 15 believe they are overweight.” That is interesting, considering 63.1% of Americans are in fact overweight.
Our society's obsession with bare-bones women is especially strange from the evolutionary perspective.
ReplyDeleteIf a man was choosing a mate based upon child-rearing capability, he'd choose a healthy, athletic woman with breasts and hips. A woman with a supermodel's body is more likely to die in childbirth, and if not, unable to take care of the child and gather food. Sam points out that in Nigeria, men find buxom women more attractive, and this makes sense in the evolutionary perspective.
Society's vision of men's beauty makes a little more sense. I agree with the posters that the obsession with working out and bulking up can be just as harmful as what women go through. However, the archetypal attractive man is an exaggeration of the features that make a good mate. Much like a woman, a good father should be healthy and athletic--able to care for the child and gather food.
If you believe the evolutionary account, than you have to wonder what screwed up western views of beauty? Though, it's not just western. South East Asia also idolizes petite women. These trends have also existed for a long time in both societies. I wonder why.
I actually just had a discussion last night about body image with a group of my friends and one thing I think that may actually play a larger role than media is the lack of a second narrative. What I mean by that is the lack of actually discussion in the US about body image, weight, and appearance. It is obviously taboo and as a boy you are constantly told never mention anything negative to a female about their image (I'll admit this is strongly reinforced in the media).
ReplyDeleteHowever where is our voice? Why do we not talk about this with our families? Our best friends? Why can we not take back the discussion of what we find to be our own healthy look rather than just listening to the television or assuming what is in magazines is correct because the more often you talk with actual people, the more often you realize what is actually considered beautiful, and how much that range actually varies as well as how much off the mark our good ol' media is actually off the mark.