{“Beauty [byoo-tee] –noun, plural –ties. 1. The quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.) a meaningful design or pattern, or something else, (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest). 2. A beautiful person, esp. a woman.” (dictionary.com) This is the definition of beauty in the dictionary. It is broad and up for interpretation, letting people decide for themselves what beauty really is. But, do we decide or do we subscribe to media’s interpretation of beauty?
Women and girls both face a great force of pressure to be perfect. They must obtain the perfect weight, the perfect hair, and the perfect make up, and if it is not possible to do so, drastic measures must be taken, such as surgery to remove unwanted curves or implant what one does not have. The female gender is constantly bombarded with the accepted definition of beauty: bone thin models with air brushed skin show up everywhere from magazines to bill board ads. All of the advertisements seem to whisper, You are not good enough, and you need to be improved, in every woman and girls’ ears. “This focus on beauty and desirability effectively destroys any awareness and action that might help to change that climate (Jean Kilbourne, Media activist).” One would think that the distress of weight and perceived perfection lie in the minds of teenagers and women, but studies conducted by Marika Tiggermann and Levina Clark in 2006 called: “Appearance Culture in Nine- to 12 Year-Old Girls: Media and Peer Influence on Body Dissatisfaction” reflect that almost fifty percent of all pre-teen girls believe they need to be thinner, and take on diets or consider starting one. Meaning that the age group that is being attacked is getting younger and younger.
On a magazine rack, we are showered with advertisements that offer quick fixes to our body weight woes. But the truth is that 90 to 95 percent of all dieters regain the weight they lost. So, where does that leave us? Insecure and feeling inadequate about how we look. There have been magazines in other countries who have used a woman who fits the criteria of an average woman, the publication received letters and letters of readers who were overjoyed at seeing a woman who wasn't bone thin on the cover. It was the advertisers, however who had the worries. The way they see it, when women begin to see how their normality is acceptable, they will no longer feel the need to buy into an expensive diet or a ridiculous number of beauty products who always leave the user feeling as if they have still fallen short of perfection. They were losing money, so the magazine replaced the average woman, yet again with a rail-thin model on its next issue. Research has shown time and time again, the negative effect of the media on women and girls. The constant demonstration of skinny, young, and air brushed models has been proven to have a connection to depression, loss of self-esteem and the development of unhealthy eating habits in women and girls.
The fact of the matter is that the accepted vision of beauty is unattainable by the majority of women. The use of photo-shop and air-brushing is everywhere to create the perfect woman. Media activist, Jean Kilbourne states, “Women are sold to the diet industry by the magazines we read and the television programs we watch, almost all of which make us feel anxious about our weight.” Here are the numbers found in a teen magazine in 2003: 35 percent of girls 6 to 12years old have been on at least one diet, 50 to 70 percent of normal weight girls believe they are overweight, and overall research reveals that 90 percent of women are dissatisfied with the way they look in some way. Scary, no?
Women and girls both face a great force of pressure to be perfect. They must obtain the perfect weight, the perfect hair, and the perfect make up, and if it is not possible to do so, drastic measures must be taken, such as surgery to remove unwanted curves or implant what one does not have. The female gender is constantly bombarded with the accepted definition of beauty: bone thin models with air brushed skin show up everywhere from magazines to bill board ads. All of the advertisements seem to whisper, You are not good enough, and you need to be improved, in every woman and girls’ ears. “This focus on beauty and desirability effectively destroys any awareness and action that might help to change that climate (Jean Kilbourne, Media activist).” One would think that the distress of weight and perceived perfection lie in the minds of teenagers and women, but studies conducted by Marika Tiggermann and Levina Clark in 2006 called: “Appearance Culture in Nine- to 12 Year-Old Girls: Media and Peer Influence on Body Dissatisfaction” reflect that almost fifty percent of all pre-teen girls believe they need to be thinner, and take on diets or consider starting one. Meaning that the age group that is being attacked is getting younger and younger.
On a magazine rack, we are showered with advertisements that offer quick fixes to our body weight woes. But the truth is that 90 to 95 percent of all dieters regain the weight they lost. So, where does that leave us? Insecure and feeling inadequate about how we look. There have been magazines in other countries who have used a woman who fits the criteria of an average woman, the publication received letters and letters of readers who were overjoyed at seeing a woman who wasn't bone thin on the cover. It was the advertisers, however who had the worries. The way they see it, when women begin to see how their normality is acceptable, they will no longer feel the need to buy into an expensive diet or a ridiculous number of beauty products who always leave the user feeling as if they have still fallen short of perfection. They were losing money, so the magazine replaced the average woman, yet again with a rail-thin model on its next issue. Research has shown time and time again, the negative effect of the media on women and girls. The constant demonstration of skinny, young, and air brushed models has been proven to have a connection to depression, loss of self-esteem and the development of unhealthy eating habits in women and girls.
The fact of the matter is that the accepted vision of beauty is unattainable by the majority of women. The use of photo-shop and air-brushing is everywhere to create the perfect woman. Media activist, Jean Kilbourne states, “Women are sold to the diet industry by the magazines we read and the television programs we watch, almost all of which make us feel anxious about our weight.” Here are the numbers found in a teen magazine in 2003: 35 percent of girls 6 to 12years old have been on at least one diet, 50 to 70 percent of normal weight girls believe they are overweight, and overall research reveals that 90 percent of women are dissatisfied with the way they look in some way. Scary, no?
♥ Emily
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