Society's Perception of Beauty and Its effects on Individuals

2203 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The negative impacts of idealistic beauty standards

Emily, age sixteen, watches her favorite show, ‘America’s Next Top Model,’ once again. She is entranced as the beautiful women flash across the screen. She wishes with all of her heart that she could be as beautiful as one of these slim women. The show is interrupted by a woman with a dark complexion. “She is the symbol of beauty,” Emily thinks as the amazing J. Lo appears on the screen. Jennifer Lopez, with eyelashes longer than Emily and her mom’s combined, starts the commercial for Cover Girl makeup. Her face is radiant, with zero blemishes or faults. J. Lo’s last line remains fixed in Emily’s thoughts. “Remember, every girl wants to be a Cover Girl.” “I want to be a Cover Girl,” Emily exclaims as she turns off the television and heads to her bathroom mirror. Emily picks up the magazine lying on her counter and stares at the women on the cover. She inspects her own reflection in the mirror. With a scrutinizing glare, she examines the contours of her body, the complexion of her skin, and the color of her hair; she frowns at the girl staring back at her. Her tummy rumbles, and she picks up the half-eaten apple lying on the counter. Taking one more look at herself, she throws the apple in the trash. She will be as beautiful as one of those women, even if it kills her in the process. For girls, and even guys like Emily, the rise in long lasting effects such as depression, anorexia, bulimia and low self-esteem is a direct result from the negative perceptions of beauty imposed by society. Society mandates what is and is not beautiful, through the use of pageants, models, celebrities, and media. In colonial times, the harsh environment demanded men and women to both contribute to survival; society valued strong, fertile women... ... middle of paper ... ...y signal an eating disorder: CNN Health. February 18, 2000. October 4, 2011. http://articles.cnn.com/2000-02-17/health/eating.disorders.wmd_1_eating-disorders- Chrisite, Catherine. “Nutrition and Well-Being A to Z.” 2011. 10, October 2011. http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/Ar-Bu/Body-Image. Holliday, April. “Women’s Sizes by Country.” U.S.A Today. Gannet Co. 2011. 10, October 2011. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/aprilholladay/2006-12-04-size-age_x.htm Croll, Jililan. “Body Image and Adolescents.” 10, October 2011. http://www.epi.umn.edu/let/pubs/img/adol_ch13.pdf Our Bodies, Ourselves: A New Edition for a New Era, 2005. Boston Women’s Health Book Collective. http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/excerpt.asp?id=1 Nussbaum, Kareen. Children and Beauty Pageants. October 10, 2011. http://www.minorcon.org/pageants.html

Show More
Related

  • The Effects Of Appearance In Society

    706 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Jessica Bennett’s “Tales of a Modern Diva” and Daniel Akst’s “What Meets the Eye”,

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography Is Beauty In The Face Of The Beholder

    2233 Words  | 5 Pages

    Laeng, B. Vermeer, O., Sulutvedt U. “Is Beauty in the Face of the Beholder?” Plos One. (2013): 6-7 Ebscohost. Web. 27 Oct. 2013.

    Read More

  • Women's Role In Colonial America Essay

    793 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the course of time, the roles of Colonial women were defined primarily as wives and mothers. They had to run the household and raise the children, while they manufactured goods, such as dairy products and textiles, in order to be resourceful with their family’s budget. Simultaneously, men dominated their lives. Colonial women would be married by the age of twenty and bore large numbers of children, due to the fact that the child mortality rate was extremely high in that era.

    Read More

  • Beauty, Biology, and Society

    1541 Words  | 4 Pages

    What is beauty? How do human beings decide who is attractive and who is not? Society is full of messages telling us what is beautiful, but what are those definitions based on? Do we consciously decide whom we are attracted to, or is biology somehow involved? The issue of beauty and how we define it has been studied for centuries. Scholars from all fields of study have searched for the "formula" for beauty. Darwin in his book The Descent of Man wrote, "It is certainly not true that there is in the mind of man any universal standard of beauty with respect to the human body. It is however, possible that certain tastes in the course of time become inherited, though I have no evidence in favor of this belief." (1) Science has tried to look at beauty beyond the conscious level. It has tried to determine what roles biology plays in human attraction. Scientists have discovered that symmetry and scent play a role in defining human attraction. (3) But while this can begin to explain beauty on the most basic of levels, what accounts for variations in the standard of beauty? The idea of beauty varies within different societies and communities. Do these cultural preferences have a biological basis? What is the relationship between biology and society in relation to the idea of beauty? How do they relate to each other, and how do they differ? In particular what role does science play in the preference that many societies, (in particular South Asian, East Asian, and North American Cultures), have for fairer skin?

    Read More

  • The Beauty Myth Analysis

    2766 Words  | 6 Pages

    The female body is the site of extensive theoretical discourse and intense political struggle; it has become the expressions of culture but also has become a site for social and political control. Through history the female body has been the site of discrimination, exploitation, abuse and oppression. She has also occupied a dominant position in the discourse of beauty; its imagery being pervasive and manipulated throughout literature, visual arts and religions and also the site of scientific and psychological investigation. Through historically male dominated fields of expertise and political power, the female body has become the subject to conscious and unconscious patriarchal influences.

    Read More

  • The Everchanging Perception of Beauty

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    What is beauty? It seems like a simple enough question, yet it has an extremely elusive, ever-changing answer according to American society. What is “popular” or “stylish” at the moment could be completely obsolete the next. This question has plagued societies for ages and continues to motivate women all over the world go to drastic lengths in their search for beauty. As women in remote Asian villages search to attain beauty by stretching their necks with heavy metal coils (Anitei) and women in America lie in enclosed melanoma-inducing tunnels of light so they can emerge gloriously tanned (Is Indoor Tanning Safe?), God has another, far more fulfilling plan for true beauty. Beauty in American society is so fluid, elusive, and superficial that it doesn’t possibly equate to the plan that God has for women to view themselves. Real beauty comes from character, confidence, and an identity in Christ.

    Read More

  • Brumberg The Body Project Analysis

    1234 Words  | 3 Pages

    It makes one wonder how society came to these ridiculous standards of beauty and the taboo of talking about women's bodies that still resonate today. I can personally attest to the uncomfortableness of the conversation of menstruation and developing bodies. My mother was taught, as her mother before and so on, that these conversations are to be kept in private and talked about quietly. In response to this, the power of men have an increasingly strong hold on the ideal physical beauty and how the changes of the body, such as menstruation, be in private and never spoke of. The Body Project gives a disturbing look at how women in the past few centuries and the present should act, look like, and keep hidden in response to what men think is most desirable. No matter how free women think they are, we are still under the control of men even if it is not directly. This book opens the conversation on the problems that are still plaguing women and how society needs to change to have a healthier environment for women to be comfortable in their

    Read More

  • In Defense Of Abortion

    1639 Words  | 4 Pages

    Fried, Marlene Gerber, et.el. Our Bodies, Ourselves for the New Century. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998.

    Read More

  • Brave New World: The Culture Of Beauty

    1938 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley defines the people in their society by how they look, whether they are attractive or unattractive. Even in our society today, we see a lot of people being discriminated on their beauty, which makes a lot of men and women feel as if they are not good enough. In The Culture of Beauty, Gerdes states how there was an international study done by the Dove Campaign that “...thirty-two hundred women worldwide found that only 2% of women from ten countries considered themselves “beautiful.” Indeed the study found that 60% of these women agreed that “society expects women to enhance their appearance” (Gerdes, The Culture of Beauty). Those who favor the ‘real beauty’ ideal that society and Brave New World portrays suggest

    Read More

  • Feminine Beauty As A Social Construct

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    The human body is one of the most complex and yet beautiful things on the earth. We live in a time where our perception of the way we view the body is driven my social stereotypes. In todays world we are supposed to live by the standards of this unwritten code. All of this affects the quality of life we live in. It ranges from the workplace; our personal relationships to the way strangers perceive a person. At this very day in age we are categorized due to being born male or female and things that should be talked about are considered taboo to others.

    Read More

  • The Invisible Woman

    1673 Words  | 4 Pages

    and others should aspire to look like this. This negative image only portrays women as mere objects to be adored and lured with. Advertising leads American women to believe that having the “perfect” face, body, and feminine attitude ensures a blissful life; however, when they fail to resemble the models in advertisements their confidence and self-love diminishes drastically. The first ad I chose to analyze was a side by side picture of Cindy Crawford—an American model and actress.

    Read More

  • What Is Beauty?

    756 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Society Is the Problem: The Beauty Standard

    743 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Cause and Effects of Beauty and the Ideal Women

    2294 Words  | 5 Pages

    Bordo, Susan. Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western culture, and the Body. London: University of California Press, 1959. Print.

    Read More

  • Perception Of Beauty Essay

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    Show business promotes commercials, print advertisements, films and shows where unbelievably perfect women are seen as the ‘ideal beauty’ The ‘ideal beauty’ controls the behavior of young girls and manipulates their perception of beauty. The term ‘ideal beauty’ is defined to be a conception of something that is perfect, especially that which one seeks to attain. Many young girls everyday are exposed to fashion and beauty advertisements that feature models who are portrayed as ‘perfect’. Due to this Technological Age, girls are exposed to many advertisements that encourage them to be like the featured models- tall, skinny, and foreign. There is also a survey conducted by Renee Hobbs, EdD, associate professor of communications at Temple University which states that, “The average teenage girl gets about 180 minutes of media exposure daily and only about ten minutes of parental interaction a day.” Moreover, media also promotes and advertises cosmetics, apparel, diet pills and exercise gears in the name of beauty and fitness, convincing girls to buy and ultimately patronize their products. Becoming very addicted with using such products can eventually lead to overdoes and becoming vainer. It may seem obvious to most of us that people prefer to look at beautiful faces. While beauty itself may be only skin deep, studies show our perception of beauty may be hard-wired in our brains (Stossel,

    Read More

More about Society's Perception of Beauty and Its effects on Individuals

Open Document