Whether you realize it or not everyone is influenced or affected by fashion models through the media in some sort of way. I believe that teenage girls are a specific target and remain more so negatively pretentious by this. How so? Well throughout my writing I plan to tell you why I believe this is an issue. Fashion models are aspiring role models to young girls everywhere. Young teenage girls look up to models in this way because they are; tall, thin and all around beautiful. Their weapon of beauty in this case is their use of makeup and even more so their appearance within their weight of figure. The construction of models being “dolled up” with makeup and having to portray their body image in a certain way, so much, that they have to have …show more content…
The average American woman living in the United states is about 5 feet 4 inches, weighing 166.2 pounds. How do they stay so skinny you ask? Most of them eat very sparingly. A former Australian Vogue editor Kristie Clements shares her story; “I was dressing a model from the US on a beauty shoot, and I noticed scars and scabs on her knees. When I queried her about them she said, nonchalantly: ‘Oh yes. Because I 'm always so hungry, I faint a lot.’ She thought it was normal to pass out every day, sometimes more than once.” (https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2013/jul/05/vogue-truth-size-zero-kirstie-clements). This article source was troublesome to me, as it shares the idea that, models get so used to this routine and not being able to eat, that being hungry constantly and fainting from lack of food is just something that happens to everyone and they think nothing of it. Teenage girls see how thin these fashion models are, but are blinded by the insight that they are so unhealthy. Rachel Simmons, a leadership development specialist at Smith College (Northampton Massachusetts) and author, writes an intensive article titled, “How Social Media Is a Toxic Mirror.” This article talks about how social media is seen as a toxic mirror. In my opinion the toxic mirror is how social media is now a place where it allows people, teens in particular the ability to post selfies and pictures of them self in order to compete or compare themselves with others. Social media has become a competition of who looks better, who can get more likes or comments on a picture. Looking for
If these models are exemplars of ideal beauty, then the measure for women is that to be beautiful, starvation level is required. It appears that the media and the fashion industry would have the public believe that ultra thinness symbolizes beauty when in reality, the standard represents infertility, and premature death. The public has to realize that Twiggy was different. Her slenderness was natural, and everyone should not set their physical goals to that of hers, because it is physically impossible.Twiggy is revolutionary. She is the pivotal woman who changed the image of the ideal woman, and the face and body of fashion models. Her popularity allowed her to drastically increase a models income.
The media and how it affects our society has changed tremendously over the past few decades. Our population of children who spend a lot of time in front of the television or on social media continues to increase, creating a superficial view of themselves and who they should be. This superficial outlook has been created by the media because it preaches to our society that looks matter. Not only are there millions of advertisements saying to lose weight and buy certain products to be beautiful, but there has been a specific standard of beauty set for models and actresses to obtain. These standards include big eyes, volumino...
Many women believe that the models that they see on TV have typical bodies, when in fact "the ideal body type today is unattainable by most women, even if they starve themselves. Only the thinnest 5% of women in a normal weight distribution approximate this ideal, which thus excludes 95% of American women" (Fallon, Katzman, Wooley 396). And yet "more than half of the adult women in the United States are currently dieting, and over three-fourths of normal-weight American women think they are too fat'" (qtd. in Fallon, Katzman, Wooley 396).
Although thin people seem to dominate society, the average size for a woman today is a size twelve. That puts the number of models on a smaller scale, and boosts the number of ordinary girls that make up most of society today. It’s not just about ordinary girls outnumbering models; it’s about the way that the media portrays these models. Slowly, the image of the “thin and beautiful” being the best is going down the drain. Larger models and actresses are taking the places of the “thin.” Hopefully, this will decrease the increasing numbers of anorexics in the United States as well as all over the world.
Rather than feature and promote unnatural body weights, society can benefit from the promotion of a healthy physical appearance. This would increase self acceptance for young girls of their body. After all, women and girls come in all sizes and shapes. If society cares about the future of our young girls, steps should be taken to minimize eating disorders. With the knowledge that young girls can be very impressionable, society and the media have a responsibility to stop promoting unrealistic body images. The need to have clothing look better on the runway is not more important than the health concerns of young women.
“My lips and fingers were blue because I was so thin that my heart was struggling to pump blood around my body”, said teen model fashion Georgina (Carroll 1). The new skinny has become excessively scrawny. Is it definitely not normal for today’s society models to walk around with blue fingers starving themselves until their organs start failing! As for the model agencies, they couldn’t care less of the pressure and dangerous practices they put the models through in order for them to stay thin for the runway. Even fashion Designers continue to produce the smallest couture sample sizes and scout for the slimiest bodies to wear the designs not aware of the consequences of the pressure they not only put on models, but on the society girls to look like these starving models. And when the models continue to get offers from the most important fashion industries like Prada, it motivates them to keep doing what they are doing to stay in the shape they are in (Carroll 1). But little did the outside world know what this pressure had on the models and what they were doing to their bodies to peruse their modeling careers.
The media shows women that represent beauty, even if these women are not real. This means the women in magazines that teenagers wish to look like is not authentic. Many teenagers don’t understand the difference of what is real and fake. So, they believe that the ave...
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In our society today, people would rather see what celebrities are up to than what is going on with our health plan. Watching the news makes us aware of the latest trend, new gadget, who’s in rehab, or who has an eating disorder. In the eyes of society, women like Eva Longoria, Kim Kardashian, and Megan Fox are the epitome of perfection. What girl wouldn’t want to look like them? Unfortunately, this includes most of the girls in the US. Through TV shows, commercials, magazines or any form of advertising, the media enforces a certain body type which women emulate. The media has created a puissant social system where everyone must obtain a thin waist and large breasts. As a society, we are so image obsessed with the approval of being thin and disapproval of being overweight, that it is affecting the health of most women. Women much rather try to fit the social acceptance of being thin by focusing on unrealistic body images which causes them to have lower self esteem and are more likely to fall prey to eating disorders, The media has a dangerous influence on the women’s health in the United States.
Fashion models don’t need to be thin, they need to be diverse and healthy at whatever weight that is. Not everyone is supposed to be thin, some women are big boned and curvy, others are naturally slim and small boned, some are tall, others are short, some are light skinned and others are darker. So many diverse looks exist in the world today and the fashion industry need to change their perception of perfect. Body image in our society is out of control. We have young men and women comparing themselves to unrealistic models and images in the media and feeling bad about the way their own bodies look because they somehow don’t measure up. (Dunham, 2011) The struggle for models to be thin has led to models becoming anorexic or bulimic, untimely deaths, and inferiority complexes. Even worse is the fact that they influence a whole generation of young women who look up to these models and think “thin” is how they are supposed to be. They influence what we buy, how we eat and what we wear. Why has this specific group captured our attention so much? Why do we seem to be so fascinated in their lives, to the point where we try to look and act just like them? The media is largely to be blamed for this, many people believe the media has forced the notion that everything supermodels do is ideal. Others believe that the society is to be blamed because we have created a fascination with their lives. There are many opinions, and I agree with both of these specific opinions. We allow ourselves to be captivated by these people's lives, and the media portrayal of their lives seem to also enthrall us. (Customessaymeister, 2013) Despite the severe risks of forcing models to become too thin, designers, fashion editors, fashion brands and agencies still ...
The Fashion Industry can be described as a glamorous world with cameras flashing, beautiful models strutting down the runway, in stunning and grand designs. What really goes on behind fashion’s dolled up doors is only an illusion compared to what reality is. Beautiful people, stylish clothing and timeless sophistication all make up the illusion of the glitz and glam of the fashion industry, but behind the curtains countless of models and designers constantly fall victim to this industry’s ever changing wrath. Fashion can be defined as a popular trend especially in styles of dress, ornaments or behavior. A model is a person who poses or displays for art purposes, fashion or other products and advertising. Fashion models are used mainly to promote products focusing mostly on clothing and accessory. The two main type of modeling in the fashion industry is commercial modeling and high fashion modeling. High Fashion models usually work for campaigns, designer’s collections and magazine editorials for high fashion designers. Runway modeling also known as “catwalk modeling” is displaying fashions and is generally performed by high fashion models. In my research paper, my main focus will be the multiple effects on high fashion models based upon the industry’s unregulated standards.
A tall, glamorous runway model is every girl’s dream. Long beautiful legs, lean body, and beautiful shiny hair is what an average young woman views as an ideal image for a female. If you don’t resemble the images of those stunning Victoria Secret models and Fashion Week models, you suddenly become ashamed of your own body. It is a great life to have with the high pay, fame, drinking champagne on a yacht with famous celebrities and even being on the Vogue cover page. Fashion Modeling Industry has been the most influential source in our young women’s lives. Young girls and young women are seen eating as little as they can, even starving themselves at times to resemble those models. What they don’t realize is that they are contributing to the 2.7 percentage of 13- 18 year olds suffering from anorexia and bulimia. Susan Albers, a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic said exposure to thin models is a great trigger in maintaining an eating disorder. When watching America’s Next Top Model or flipping through a Fashion magazine, these young women don’t apprehend that those models are either naturally slim or they are suffering from an eating disorder themselves, in other words, hostages in the dark hell hid behind those runway curtains. The growing number of young anorexia and bulimia patients, and the number of websites such as thinspiration, where girls put up pictures of their thin bodies clearly suggest that the fashion modeling industry do not at all bear any responsibility in providing healthy, realistic physical role models for young women.
Nowadays, fashion industry is such a negative push on teenagers’ standard of beauty that it is now becoming an unsolved dilemma for our society.
Anorexia is the third most common chronic illness among teenagers. With 80% of teen females and 15% of teen males being or attempting to be anorexic, it is surprising that it is not higher up on the list. Anorexia is the most common negative view shown on media. On the social media site Tumblr, pro-anorexic blogs have become a popular trend to follow and many show images of models with captions reading "I want to be able to sit down and have my thighs not touch," (My Pro). The truth is, however, that the average model is 23% under their ideal weight. The average US model weighs 117 pounds and is 5'11" while the average US woman weighs 140 pounds and is only 5'4". This causes perspective to see those far too skinny as beautiful and the normal weight to seem more than it is. In a recent study when asked if they were overweight, 75% of the women answered yes and only 25% of them were. (Perfect) Social media has swayed beliefs of the past by making the thin want to be thinner and those who believe themselves to be overweight feel as if reaching their correct BMI is impossible.
Society is now so used to seeing these models who have their beauty and superiority idolized that they feel all women must look this way. However, looking like a model is becoming increasingly unattainable. According to Bennett the difference between the catwalk and reality is so stark that the slightest change in a girls form makes them self-conscious because they are constantly sizing themselves up to models (Bennett). Today models are dramatically thinner and taller than they were a few years a...
Teens on social media have been around for many years. Have you ever thought of the Internet being a place where teen’s self-esteem may be affected in a negative way? However, it doesn 't mean that social media is out to purposely make people feel this way, it 's all how the teens per take. Many people don’t realize that the little things others post on social media can affect someone in the long run. This is especially true with young teenagers who have access to the internet and social media platforms. I strongly believe that social media does affect teens self-esteem by lowering it due to the reason of advertisement, personal image, and bullying.