Beauty myths, as well as social and cultural trends about the perfect features that a perfect woman should possess, are all partially to blame for today’s scandalous beauty standards (EssayShark). The topic of beauty has been a controversial issue in society for more than ten decades. Today's society has created a description of beauty that interferes with every woman's self-consciousness (Sassoon). Despite the fact of the proverb that beauty is what is found within, many people use facial along with body features to define a person's true beauty (Talamas). In the academic journal “When Beauty Matters Too Much: Understanding and Treating Women Obsessed With Their Physical Appearance”, Jessica Sassoon thoroughly creates a balance in the way …show more content…
The importance that modern society has placed on external beauty has contributed to the lack of connection that today’s women have with their soul (Sassoon). “Now, more than ever, we have become a society fixated on beauty.” Modern society is influenced by new technologies and social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. “Research is reviewed which indicates that considerable personal and social damage is caused by the way images of women are presented, manipulated, and falsified in the media.” Media gives women the illusion that these alterations are natural, causing insecurities because the standards are unattainable. Sassoon suggests that if more realistic images of women were presented through media, this would help to decrease the amount of uncertainty seen within women. “Beauty is a demon that breeds and proliferates when …show more content…
The idea of body beauty is now portrayed as a well-toned, hourglass figure. Individuals who do not fit in with society's stereotype of body beauty are left excluded (Sassoon). “Women who struggle with body image no longer see their true reflection in the mirror.” In search of a look that is more justifiable by society, women become obsessed with artificially creating perfection. Body dissatisfaction is one of the leading causes which moves women into creating a negative self-image about themselves. Sassoon does a great job uplifting all body shapes. She makes it aware to women that it is okay to be different and because of this, any woman that reads this journal will hopefully begin to appreciate
Beauty is a cruel mistress. Every day, Americans are bombarded by images of flawless women with perfect hair and smooth skin, tiny waists and generous busts. They are presented to us draped in designer clothing, looking sultry or perky or anywhere in between. And although the picture itself is alluring, the reality behind the visage is much more sinister. They are representations of beauty ideals, sirens that silently screech “this is what a woman is supposed to look like!” Through means of media distribution and physical alteration, technology has created unrealistic beauty ideals, resulting in distorted female body images.
Women are told that in order to get anywhere in life they must constantly worry about their outer appearance. In Jennifer Weiner’s article, “When Can Women Stop Trying to Look Perfect?” she delves deeply into how today’s society women’s worth is based on how they look. Weiner believes that women who do not meet the standards of beauty do not have as many opportunities.
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.
The media negatively influences the way women are portrayed in modern society and culture. This can severely impact the way a woman views her self worth and beauty.
Naomi Wolf's "The Beauty Myth," discusses the impact of our male-dominated society upon women. Wolf argues that women's most significant problems associated with societal pressures are a "fairly recent invention," dating back to the 1970s (6). She explains that women have "breached the power structure" by acquiring rights equal to men in areas such as, education, professional careers, and voting. As a result, Wolf suggests that the "beauty myth" is the "last one remaining of the old feminine ideologies that still has the power to control those women" (3). Considering that the beauty myth is women's last battle, the struggle is increasingly more difficult. Wolf claims that women are currently experiencing "a violent backlash against feminism," noting the recent rise in eating disorders, cosmetic surgery, and objectification of women's bodies (3,2). While Wolf accurately defines the beauty myth, she incorrectly states that eating disorders, cosmetic surgery, and pornography are recent issues, resulting from an intentional "backlash" against women's rights.
It is shocking to see the digression in humanity’s morals and values over the past decade. As cliché as it sounds, the media is the center of it all. The way women are being represented, from our television sets, the radio, pornography and even art has pushed beauty to the top of the list of controversial and widely debated topics around the globe. “Whenever we walk down the street, watch TV, open a magazine or enter an art gallery, we are faced with images of femininity,” (Watson and Martin).
To begin, social media has created unrealistic standards for young people, especially females. Being bombarded by pictures of females wearing bikinis or minimal clothing that exemplifies their “perfect” bodies, squatting an unimaginable amount of weight at a gym while being gawked at by the opposite sex or of supermodels posing with some of life’s most desirable things has created a standard that many young people feel they need to live up to. If this standard isn’t reached, then it is assumed that they themselves are not living up to the norms or the “standards” and then therefore, they are not beautiful. The article Culture, Beauty and Therapeutic Alliance discusses the way in which females are bombarded with media messages star...
On the contrary, men are supposed to be tough, macho, strong, emotionless, breadwinners and dominant. This portrayal of females has devastating effects on women, such as depression, eating disorders and low self-esteem. Media outlets are giving the idea that the ideal women is outrageously attractive with a gorgeous body. When in reality, most of the female population does not look like that way. Furthermore, Photoshop and hair and make-up teams play a tremendous role in creating these ideal bodies.
In this age, media is more pervasive than ever, with people constantly processing some form of entertainment, advertisement or information. In each of these outlets there exists an idealized standard of beauty, statistically shown to effect the consumer’s reflection of themselves. The common portrayal of women’s bodies in the media has shown to have a negative impact on women and girls. As the audience sees these images, an expectation is made of what is normal. This norm does not correspond to the realistic average of the audience. Failing to achieve this isolates the individual, and is particularly psychologically harmful to women. Though men are also shown to also be effected negatively by low self-esteem from the media, there remains a gap as the value of appearance is seen of greater significance to women, with a booming cosmetic industry, majority of the fashion world, and the marketing of diet products and programs specifically targeting women.
Media portrayal of beauty has become a major issue in society regarding body image; indeed, it has irrevocable long term effects on young girls and women. With beauty standards being enforced based on patriarchal views come physical and psychological problems, unless females are taught not to try so hard on following beauty perspectives. Standards of beauty are arbitrary; body shame only exists to the extent that our physiques do not match our own beliefs about how we should look. The question is: who determines a specific beauty expectation if everybody has different perspectives about these topic? Reflections of women appearance may be distorted by socially constructed ideas of what true beauty means.
Alexandra Scaturchio, in her article “Women in Media” (2008) describes the media’s idea of beauty as superficial. She supports her argument by placing two pictures side-by-side; a picture of a real, normal-looking woman and her picture after it has been severely digitally enhanced. Her purpose is to show young teenage girls that the models they envy for their looks are not real people, but computer designs. She also states, “the media truly distorts the truth and instills in women this false hope because…they will live their lives never truly attaining this ideal appearance”. Scaturchio wants her readers to realize the media’s distorting capabilities and feel beautiful about themselves, even with flaws.
Today, the idea of beauty has been turned into unattainable forms by media, trends, and marketing. To reach the social’s standard of beauty, many people have gone anorexic, bulimic, or have been addicted to plastic surgery. Many people are wasting money on beauty products to make themselves prettier, but they forget that their inner beauty is more important. Inner beauty is an essential key to the overall appearance of someone. Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder and is the combination of inner and outer attractiveness of one
The concept of “beauty” is something that everyone feels, thinks, or wants, in order to fit society’s standards. In today’s society, we are often faced with the unrealistic ideals of what beauty is. Due to society’s constant portraying of unrealistic beauty ideals, this reinforces a negative influence upon women’s idea of beauty, resulting in a negative impact in their confidence, and self-esteem, which leads to others, specifically women to be manipulated by society’s corrupted outlook of what beauty is. To add onto this issue, we are constantly surrounded by sources of this negative influence in our everyday lives, including magazines, television, advertisements, and so on. However, women specifically, are more prone to be victims of this negative effect, thus will have more pressure upon themselves to match society’s idea of “beauty,” which includes unrealistic and sometimes unattainable beauty standards. Women especially, can sometimes be so deeply manipulated by society’s unrealistic ideals of what is beautiful, such that it’s possible that they don’t even realize it Furthermore, in order to do so, women often will receive negative impacts rather than positive impacts, such as in their confidence and self-esteem. The negative effects of society’s beauty ideals also lead women to have an overall corrupted idea of what is “beautiful.” Society creates unrealistic ideals of beauty towards women through the media by creating an unrealistic image of what women should look like to be considered beautiful. Men negatively affect women’s idea of beauty by using the unrealistic beauty standards exposed by society which further pressures women to try to fit society’s idea of what is beautiful. Beauty pageants negatively affect women’s ov...
Despite the unusual appearance of the plastic surgeries, Ms. Wildenstein is reported to be "ecstatic with her work. She feels beautiful. She looks in the mirror and she loves what she sees. She got exactly what she wanted."
Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are used Against Women. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1991. Print