From the moment we wake up in the morning media is at our finger tips. As our day goes on we cannot escape all the visual media. One image after another a person’s self-confidence is either boosted or destroyed. Through the use of Photoshop a picture can be altered to get the perfect figure, skin, and hair, but when is the line drawn, when has it gone too far. Hailey Magee takes a stand when it comes to the ethics behind Photoshop in the world of beauty, “In this “Ethical Inquiry” we explore the ethics of digitally altering photos of individuals so as to make the subjects appear “more beautiful” in alignment with cultural standards of beauty”. Shiela Reaves, Jacqueline Bush Hitchon, Sung–Yeon parks, and Gi Woong Yun agree with Hailey Magee in the discussion of photo manipulation in beauty and fashion. “This study is concerned with the moral dilemma that stems from the digital manipulation of magazine ads to render models thinner. Exposure to the “thin ideal” has been linked to such damaging psychological responses as body dissatisfaction, loss of self-esteem, and to eating disorders”. Women and men are constantly affected by exposure to models that achieve the unrealistic beauty outcome of the media. Using the theories of social comparison and cultivation/ media literacy we are able to explain why photo manipulation makes women take on the thin-ideal. In the media driven world photo manipulation has become an accepted practice since it increases sales and fulfils the “thin ideal”, but the emotional and physical damage it has on women is catastrophic. One of the ways photo manipulation in the media is ruining lives is by destroying the image of female beauty. Through all forms of popular media women are being bombarded with image... ... middle of paper ... ... way media portrays the female body, we could help women to become media literate so they can recognize those images and not really and have been manipulated. Sands said, “If women can be taught not to internalize the sociocultural ideal, they may be able to counter the negative effects of the ultra-thin images that are almost inescapable” (Sands & Wardle, 2003). In conclusion, media has used its power to sell products using unrealistic women. Through photo manipulation the “thin ideal” was created and has been destroying the lives of women for ages. Through the use of social comparison and the cultivation theory/ media literacy, we are able to explain why women take on the thin-ideal. Even though we may not be able to change medias view of women, we can give women confidence in their self-image by making them aware of the evils of photo manipulation in the media.
Media is a wide term that covers many information sources including, television, movies, advertisement, books, magazines, and the internet. It is from this wide variety of information that women receive cues about how they should look. The accepted body shape and has been an issue affecting the population probably since the invention of mirrors but the invention of mass media spread it even further. Advertisements have been a particularly potent media influence on women’s body image, which is the subjective idea of one's own physical appearance established by observation and by noting the reactions of others. In the case of media, it acts as a super peer that reflects the ideals of a whole society. Think of all the corsets, girdles, cosmetics, hair straighteners, hair curlers, weight gain pills, and diet pills that have been marketed over the years. The attack on the female form is a marketing technique for certain industries. According to Sharlene Nag...
Kasey Serdar (2005) argues that only a small number of women can actually fulfill the characteristics of what media defines beautiful. Yet, women are constantly being exposed to the ideal women image. Serdar (2005) illustrates that “models shown on television, advertisement, and in other forms of popular media are approximately 20% below ideal body weight, thus meeting the dia...
The media is a fascinating tool; it can deliver entertainment, self-help, intellectual knowledge, information, and a variety of other positive influences; however, despite its advances for the good of our society is has a particular blemish in its physique that targets young women. This blemish is seen in the unrealistic body images that it presents, and the inconsiderate method of delivery that forces its audience into interest and attendance. Women are bombarded with messages from every media source to change their bodies, buy specific products and redefine their opinion of beauty to the point where it becomes not only a psychological disease, but a physical one as well.
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.
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.
As seen in films like Killing Us Softly 4 and Miss Representation, we can see how much media and advertisements affect everyone consciously and subconsciously. Through images and advertisements, women’s bodies are hacked apart to sell products. This has a negative effect body image and self-confidence in young girls and women all over the world. It is extremely important to understand the extent to which circulating images of women in media affect standards and expectations of women in our society in order to hopefully cease to create such degrading images. Our society hurts itself by producing the types of images we see in media and advertisements today, yet it has done very little to try to reverse the messages put out. For the sake of our
...s about body-images and beauty. It’s no secret that images in magazines are routinely manipulated to present a certain idea to sell their products. Healthy legs are often reduced to toothpicks and wrinkles are often wiped away to present youth. Growing up in an era of media, every magazine you can find in stores seems to have flawless photos of various celebrities and models posing with the latest handbag or holding the newest mascara. These ads and magazine spreads with flawless pictures may help sell products in beauty and fashion industries, but are detrimental to those who constantly see these altered images. Edited pictures not only give others a false reality of beauty, but it also pushes what a perfect body is expected to look like, causing women to reach for something unrealistic and unattainable – we can’t compare ourselves to something that doesn’t exist.
The idea of the ‘perfect woman’ is one that has been a popular topic of discussion over the past decade. Unreal Celebrity Photoshop Transformations was a video revealed on YouTube and Buzzfeed on January 7th 2014. The purpose was to educate the public on the effects altered photos has on society. Within a matter of one week the video gained over a million views. The argument behind the viral text has many different aspects and angles to view it from. The video argues the damaging effects of altering photos through a logical lens by displaying examples of unnecessary transformations of celebrity photos, grasping an individual’s emotions to understand the psychological toll photos take on young adults in society.
In this Synthetical essay we are going to challenge the idea that media has had a positive effect on women.Because it doesn't. The reader is going to acknowledge one's and for all that the media has set beauty standards that women should follow and also how they should be seen in images that are not categories as a”good and healthy body”, in source A the author expresses this “When women get together, the chatter eventually turns to whose skinny jeans don’t fit anymore and who weighs in heavier on the scale.”(Goudarzi) Supporting my argument by explaining that no matter the body type women have been taught that they need to look as best as possible, and those who can't, are considered as outsiders.
A study in Fiji was conducted to see if TV had changed women’s views in Fiji (506). Before TV women in Fiji found bigger women to be more attractive and desirable. However, after TV was implemented Girls in Fiji strived to be more and more like the girls in TV, skinny (506-507). "Media images that associate thinness with material success and marketing that promotes the possibility of reshaping the body have supported a perceived nexus between diligence(Work on the body), appearance(thinness), and social and material success..."(509). This study shows what a powerful impact the media can have on young girls. Women are told to be thin through the media not directly but through cryptic messages. This causes many girls to lose body confidence and sometimes starve themselves in order to fit the gender stereotype of girls being
Eighty percent of women report that they are insecure because of the images on television and in movies. This was admitted in the article “How Do I Look?” in an issue of People’s magazine in 2000. Only ten percent of the women that were interviewed said that they are completely satisfied with their body. How could the media have this much control? According to this poll ninety percent of women are not completely satisfied with how they look. The statistics are even worse for teenagers and children. Many steps need to be taken as a world wide community to lessen the media's effects on young women; young women are choosing unhealthy methods to lose weight, young women are thinking less of themselves because of the media, and overall the media has too much say in what the average citizen should do and say.
Almost everywhere a person looks, they are bombarded with pictures and advertisements. Whether one is simply glancing at a magazine while waiting in line at a store, or just watching commercials on television, advertisements can be seen everywhere. It is quite evident, by looking at the thin waisted and skinny pictures of young women, what the media considers to be the ideal body figure. The perception of the ideal body type that society has produced, plays a huge role in our country’s obsession with thinness and appearance. The United States’ obsessions exhibiting slim, thin models as beautiful, gives a distorted impression leaving many young women the wrong idea about beauty and body image.
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.
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.
“The mass media serves as a mediating structure between individuals and their bodies by sending a powerful message to society: only a determined physical stereotype of beauty is valued” (Sepúlveda & Calado, 2012). Women develop a sense that they are not beautiful unless they look like the women in the photographs that are being advertised, thus causing a large impact on their health putting them at risk to develop physiologic issues possibly leading to eating disorders as discussed in the information presented above. This correlation does not affect women here and there; across the United States women are being impacted by the advertisements perused by the beauty industry because of the popularity of mass media in the current