Fueling Insecurity: Americas Race to Perfection
analytical Essay
1337 words
Throughout time, people have sought out admiration and acceptance from their peers, especially based off of their physical appearance. For decades, they have spent millions of dollars on beauty products and surgical procedures to achieve what they perceive as beauty. The American Media has assured them that they will never be beautiful enough. Young girls have grown obsessed with their images and, as a result, have gone to extremes to achieve model-like appearances. Americans will always attempt to chase perfection- an impossible task. The media has had a vast influence on our lives. Everywhere we go, we are bombarded with a plethora of advertisements, screeching out at us to purchase their products. The medias peak demographic to target are teenagers, who are proven to “spend 31 hours a week watching television, three hours a week watching movies, four hours a week reading magazines…[etc.]” (Newson). Each of these activities is about “Ten hours and 45 minutes of media consumption a day” (Newson). Through advertising, they are also projected through Fowles’s various appeals, such as to sex, autonomy, and power. With research, Fowles has discovered methods in which the media has used these appeals in advertising. These advertisements depict the ideal of perfection that Americans have sought out for decades. The announcements that showcase beauty, however, are simply delusions. Such delusions are showcased through every advertisement we have viewed. Photoshop is one method through which we are fooled into believing that the model in the photo looks exactly like the image in real life. Such unnecessary measures have resulted in a vast decline in individuals who believe that they are truly beautiful. Many women are damaged by these... ... middle of paper ... ...-has-changed.htm> 23 May 2014. Grogan, Sarah. "Body Image." Body Image. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2014. "Health Consequences of Eating Disorders | National Eating Disorders Association." Health Consequences of Eating Disorders | National Eating Disorders Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2014. Miss Representation. Dir. Jennifer Siebel Newsom. 2011. Documentary. One Poll. Women Need Further Educating Into Extent of Digital Manipulation of Models in Mags, New Look Survey Finds. Newsday. N.p., 26 Nov. 2013. Web. 24 May 2014. Schwartz, MB. "Obesity and Body Image." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Jan. 2004. Web. 26 May 2014. Toren, Nadine. "Men and Plastic Surgery: The Stats." Arizona Foothills. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2014. Williams, Tennessee. Scene 1. The Glass Menagerie. New York: New Directions, 1999. 25. Print.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that people have sought admiration and acceptance from their peers based off of their physical appearance. the american media has assured them that they will never be beautiful enough.
- Analyzes how fowles' appeals to sex, autonomy, and power have been used in advertising to depict the ideal of perfection americans have sought out for decades.
- Explains how photoshop fools us into believing that the model in the photo looks exactly like the image in real life, resulting in a vast decline in individuals who believe that they are truly beautiful.
- Explains that advertisers alter photographs to enhance the appearance of models' bodies, and such alterations can contribute to unrealistic expectations of appropriate body image, especially among impressionable children and adolescents.
- Analyzes how advertising has greatly weakened the self-esteem of many americans. both sexes face false perceptions of the body and what it means to be beautiful. western cultures emphasize thinness, denigrate excess weight, and stigmatize obese individuals.
- Explains that anorexia nervosa has rapidly spread throughout the united states, primarily affecting young women and girls.
- Analyzes how the mother, amanda, yearns for her daughter laura to receive a gentleman caller in the play the glass menagerie.
- Explains that the standards of beauty were not always so impossible to meet. being thin was not the ideal.
- Analyzes how the media has persuaded women to purchase their products to fit in. makeup is used by women of all ages and even young girls; shaving was not as widespread as it is today.
- Analyzes how jennifer lawrence's character, katniss everdeen, was criticized for being too "fat" for the role. she despises diets because of their ridiculousness.
- Opines that americans will always seek perfection. they will spend millions on the beauty industry and feed their insecurities. large beauty conglomerates will pinpoint minor flaws and blow them out of proportion.
- States that ama adopts new policies at 2011annual meeting. brownwell, kelly d. dieting and the search for the perfect body.
- Cites grogan, sarah, "body image" and "health consequences of eating disorders".
- Analyzes how the national center for biotechnologyinformation, u.s. national library of medicine, and toren, nadine, published the stats on men and plastic surgery.
Related
- analytical
- explanatory
- argumentative
- Media – the Negative Influence on Femalesanalytical essayThe media has promoted a dominant view of how people should perceive beauty, and what consists of perfection in beauty. According to Dr. Karin Jasper, the media have women encouraging them to be concerned with their outward appearance and how others perceive them by surrounding everyone with the ideal female beauty. (Jasper, 2000) Body image has become a particular concern for young girls and women, often females work diligently to attain the perfect body image advertised in mass media. (Gibbs, 2010) When women are not able to obtain their ideal body goal, many develop negative feelings and become self-conscious about their bodies. Conversely, it is not possible for someone to look like a model in ads, someone without blemishes, scars, or pours. Another study conducted in 2012 showed contemporary media and culture has defined a women’s social desirability in terms of their bodies. For females, this has often resulted in comparing themselves to bodies shown in advertisements, commercials, magazines, etc. however not all body
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how mass media influence has expanded since its inception during the 19th century. they argue the following: false perception of advertisements, shadism, and how females react to advertisements.
- Analyzes how the media promotes a dominant view of how people should perceive beauty, and what consists of perfection in beauty.
- Explains shadism is a skin tone bias that identifies groups and individuals on the basis of degree of skin pigmentation and fair complexion. women of color are considered beautiful only if they approximate the white ideal.
- Explains that dissatisfaction with body shape and weight is a common problem with most females today. the prevalence of eating disorders has increased over the last fifty years.
- Explains borzekowski, d. l., and bayer, a. m. body image and media use among adolescents.
- Cites granatino, r., & haytko. body image, confidence, and media influence: a study of middle school adolescents.
- Opines that the mass media has become a great spread influence on people, especially in females.
- Explains mccabe, ricciardelli, and rodriguez, c. r., parent, peer and media influences on body image and strategies to increase and decrease body size among adolescents.
1249 wordsRead More - Campaigning for Real Beauty: Dove® and Changing Stereotypical Body Images as Seen in the Mediaanalytical essayToday society has never been more aware of the impact the media has on what is considered to be an attractive person. Those who are most vulnerable by what they observe as the American standard of attractiveness and beauty are young females. Their quest to imitate such artificial images of beauty has challenged their health and their lives and has become the concern of many. As a result, advertisements used in the media are featuring more realistic looking people.
In this essay, the author
- Explains the impact of the media on what is considered attractive. young females are most vulnerable by what they observe as the american standard of attractiveness and beauty.
- Analyzes how female adolescents have developed an obsession with their weight and how their body should look according to what is depicted in the media.
- Explains that body image is how a person sees themselves according to the national eating disorders association.
- Explains that there are positive and negative body images, and that more and more girls have not seen their bodies as a positive image and the result is body dissatisfaction
- Explains that the pressure a young girl places on herself to have an ideal body shape has many of them experiencing body dissatisfaction, which leads to young females becoming self-conscious about their appearance.
- Explains that depression isn't the only factor involved with body dissatisfaction, as eating disorders have more than tripled in females over the past seventy years due to the media portraying the "thin ideal".
- Explains that body dissatisfaction can be caused by the media’s emphasis that being over-weight is bad and being thin is good.
- Analyzes how magazines use photoshop technology to make cover models appear thinner, taller, and have a flawless complexion—all of which is not realistic.
- Opines that teenagers want to be accepted by their peers. they copy peers they admire even if it means following a dangerous lifestyle which could include an eating disorder.
- Explains how media forms have begun to change how they represent women. "real" women now represent brands in advertisements. they are short, tall, or of medium height.
- Explains that the average teenage girl spends one hundred and eighty minutes per day of media in-take. less time spent together makes it difficult for parents to detect any destructive behaviors in their young daughters.
- Explains that young females can be influenced in a positive manner by health care providers, teachers, school officials and other professionals. media can promote healthy lifestyles by guiding young women away from destructive lifelong behaviors.
- Opines that parents can get help when they notice that the media is negatively affecting their children. prohibiting the viewing of all media would have a negative reaction from the young person.
- Explains that dove® realized the impact the media has on young females, and decided to do something about it. they conducted a study called "the real truth about beauty: a global report".
- Explains the study "the real truth about beauty: a global report" sponsored by dove. the researchers wanted to know if any of the participants had a preconceived notion of what beauty is.
- Explains that real and authentic beauty can be satisfying and empowering if the definition of real beauty is used correctly.
- Explains that the study tried to deconstruct and reconstruct the participants’ perceptions of beauty. the study clearly outlined the components of true beauty and extended the definition.
- Explains the dove® campaign for real beauty, which focuses on the real women of the world.
- Explains that dove® launched ads in 2004 and featured real women and not actors or models. the ads were made to evoke discussion, and viewers were encouraged to vote online as they liked having "real" women featured in the ads.
- Explains the dove® campaign for real beauty, which featured six women with real and average bodies.
- Describes how dove® created change, controversy, and media attention when thin spanish models were expelled from participating on spain's fashion runways.
- Explains that dove® created the third stage of its campaign, centered on women between the ages of fifty and sixty-four. the study was called beauty comes with age.
- Explains that the campaign for real beauty focused on how girls are exposed to the "thin ideal" than older women because youngsters are using different forms of media.
- Explains that dove® launched the movement for self-esteem in 2010, which provided young females with mentors from older generations to celebrate what true beauty is.
- Reports that dove® presented the largest global study report about the relationship of beauty and women. it reported that 4% of women worldwide believed that they were beautiful.
- Explains that celebrities like robyn lawley and demi lovato are positive role models for impressionable young girls.
- Explains that robyn lawley is a 'plus-size model' and is healthy for her six foot two inch body frame. she has been referred to as "pig" and "hefty" in social media because she is bigger than most models.
- Analyzes how lawley started modeling when she was sixteen. she hated her body as a teenager because she felt she wasn't thin enough. once she began modeling in the plus-size modeling world, she came to enjoy her life.
- Analyzes lawley's outspoken claim that weight is tarnished by the media, and that society has an impact on how teenagers view body image.
- Explains that demi lovato was anorexic and bulimic during the early days of her fame. the stress compounded her bipolar disorder and she started to cut herself.
- Explains how lovato learned how to control her lifestyle and left behind those who had a negative impact on her. she now knows that her health and recovery is the most important thing in life.
- Opines that demi lovato doesn't want young girls to idolize models and actresses who are sickly thin because she looked up to these models when she was young.
- Analyzes how the media can have a negative impact on the health of young people, and the message sent is felt world-wide. the paper focused on young females and dove®.
- Explains that body image and self-esteem among adolescents: testing the influence of sociocultural factors.
- Cites heubeck, e. and kovar, a. on the effects of the media on body image.
- Analyzes the impact of the media on eating disorders in children and adolescents.
- Cites van vonderen, k. e., & kinnally, w. (2012). media effects on body image: examining media exposure in the broader context of internal and other social factor.
3016 wordsRead More - “Medieval noblewomen swallowed arsenic and dabbed on bats' blood to improve their complexions; 18th-century Americans prized the warm urine of young boys to erase their freckles; Victorian ladies removed their ribs to give themselves a wasp waist.” 5 Even from medieval times, the extent to which women have gone to achieve ‘ideal beauty’ is extreme. In the 21st century, Americans spend more money on beauty related product than they do on their education, creating a 160 billion dollar a year global industry, all in the name of ‘perfection.’ 5 Intensification of body image ideals has increased through media and manipulation in the advertising industry, due to the portrayal of women, leading to the creation of a 20 billion dollar cosmetic surgery industry. Driven and fueled by sexual instinct and desire to achieve perfection, images of women in advertising will not cease to hold a huge amount of power over the everyday woman who spends her life chasing an ideal, which does not exist, often leading to psychological and physical effects which can last a lifetime.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the extent to which women have gone to achieve ‘ideal beauty’ is extreme. in the 21st century, americans spend more money on beauty related product than they do on their education.
- Explains that advertising is a form of social communication that influences and often manipulates us. the advertising industry is especially important because of its close connection with movies and magazines, and fine arts.
- Analyzes how the exemplary female prototype is seen to display youth, good looks, seductiveness, and perfection. however, due to advancements in technology, most of the women and other imagery seen is not real.
- Compares the case against advertising to that against political propaganda, religious proselytizing, and any other form of emotional blackmail. advertising attempts to achieve its ends by emotionally abusing its audiences.
- Analyzes how the manipulation of both image and people is used to play on our emotions, creating issues we never realized existed, so that they can sell products.
- Analyzes how cortese acknowledges the extreme standards and portrayal of women used in advertising to sell products in his book ‘provocateur: images of women and minorities in advertising.
- Explains that cultural ideology tells women that they will not be desirable to men unless they are physically perfect. this ultimate image can only be achieved artificially through the purchase of vast quantities of beauty products.
- Argues that the images of ideal beauty and flawlessness are false and will never be achieved. even the model on the front of the magazine does not reach this standard of unrealistic perfection.
- Analyzes how cameron russell's ted talk addresses the way image manipulation occurs in the fashion and advertising industry. she describes her image as one that is carefully constructed and prepared by stylists, makeup artists, and photographers.
- Analyzes how russell touches on the idea that she is a "pretty white women." the idea of racism in the industry is also shown in jean kilbourne's documentary.
- Explains that advertising and its portrayal of women have huge impacts in the creation of beauty and cosmetic surgery industries.
- Analyzes how the cosmetic surgery industry skyrocketed in popularity from 1997 to 2007 and shows the progression of beauty and cosmetics over time.
- Analyzes how jean kilbourne's 2010 video killing us softly analyses the effect that these images have on women and advertisings societal effects.
- Opines that female role models do little to help with the ever growing epidemic of eating disorders prevalent in western culture today.
- Explains that the media's obsession with model thinness and clothes sizing, also assists advertising in creating unrealistic expectations of girls.
- Explains chitty, s. d. a. a. b. (2011), body shape and endorser effects on brand attitude and body image.
1964 wordsRead More - The Bombardment of Barbie’s and the Branding of Beautyanalytical essay“[In] a poll done by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) of 3,000 fourth to tenth graders revealed that most girls can’t look in a mirror and say, ‘I’m pretty!’ or even ‘I’m okay!’”(Cordes 4). Social media, avenues of peer and parental influences, and role models of “beauty” cause young girls of today’s society to develop distorted views of beauty for themselves. America over time has reached a level that depicts beauty as an unrealistic and unachievable model of the “perfect beautiful girl.” According to research by Shelly Grabe, Janet Shibley Hyde—both staff of the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison—and L. Monique Ward of the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan, half of the population of females younger than twenty-four confess to being dissatisfied with the way they look (Grabe, Hyde, and Ward 460). Females of today’s society look to their culture to derive what exactly beauty is, and recently the depiction of beauty has been tainted. There is a plethora of speculated causes for this trend of negative self-perception in young females, and many of these causes eventually lead to dangerous extreme measures by girls striving to reach the “idealized level of beauty.”
In this essay, the author
- Explains that social media, peer and parental influences, and role models of "beauty" cause young girls of today's society to develop distorted views of beauty for themselves.
- Explains that peer influences such as appearance conversations and friendship cliques have a direct correlation with young girls and body image. parents encourage strict diets and enforcing dietary restraint for their children.
- Explains that the unrealistic depiction of beauty emulated in barbie dolls has detrimental effects on the foundation of body image development in young girls.
- Analyzes how pressure plays a part in the distortion of self-perception in little girls. smolak suggests that parents are influential by making derogatory remarks about their appearance in front of their children.
- Argues that society, peer, and media have sculpted a mold that claims to be the epitome of perfection for female beauty.
- Explains that runway models and pageant queens are portrayed as tall, thin, and flawless in media. dissatisfaction with one's body is linked to destructive criticism of one’s appearance.
- Describes the findings of a prospective study of sociocultural and individual psychological predictors of body image in young girls.
1743 wordsRead More - Essay On Body Imageexplanatory essayWomen and adolescent girls are exposed, daily, to the media's portrayal of perfect beauty. After being bombarded with images of beautiful women with perfect figures and porcelain skin, this has had an effect on the way women and young girls portray their own bodies. This, in return, causes a drive for thinness which, ultimately, can ignite feelings of dissatisfaction which can cause eating disorders and poor health decisions. This epidemic has captivated many women and adolescents as they go through tremendous lengths to achieve what the media has defined as beautiful. Consequently, the media, and the distorted images they parade, is causing women and adolescents to become dissatisfied with their bodies. Women and adolescents girls are spending endless time and money, desperately, to get this look that the media has portrayed to be perfect, however not only is the media using advance technology to distort the images we see, they are distorting our minds which is causing bodily dissatisfaction. And the extent that women and adolescent girls place on themselves and their bodies to attain perfection, can cause massive stress and can be a risk to health.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that women and adolescents are exposed to the media's portrayal of perfect beauty, which in turn causes a drive for thinness and dissatisfaction which can cause eating disorders and poor health decisions.
- Explains that women and adolescent girls are trying to alter their appearance to achieve the look they see in magazines and movies. the media emphasizes idealized, lean body shapes for women.
- Opines that women and adolescents girls are spending endless time and money, desperately, to achieve the unattainable look the media has engrained into their minds.
- Explains that poor eating habits have captivated many women and adolescents as they go through tremendous lengths to attain what the media has defined as beautiful.
- Explains that the media promotes thinness and perfection, causing women and adolescent girls to lose themselves in the endless battle for beauty.
1045 wordsRead More - The Media Lies: Effects of the Media on Body Imageanalytical essayWhile women have made significant advances over the past decades, the culture at large never fails to place a strong emphasis on the way women look. The new standards for beauty are ultimately causing dramatic influences on adolescent females and their body image. Anyone who is familiar with American culture knows that these new standards for beauty is proliferated through the media. No matter the source, we are constantly surrounded by all kinds of media, and we continue to construct ourselves based on the images we see through the media. The more young girls are surrounded by the “thin ideal” kind of media, the more they will continue to be dissatisfied with their bodies and themselves. Thi...
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the media has altered female adolescence's perspectives on the "perfect" body image, and how this has changed our female society.
- Argues that the media's portrayal of the "thin ideal" is causing dramatic influences on adolescent females and their body image.
- Argues that the media broadcasts the "thin ideal" in every possible way, which can shape and distort adolescent female's perceptions of beauty.
- Argues that the female norm of body image has changed drastically over the last several decades, showing that what is universally accepted as beautiful is constantly changing and will never be the permanent ideal.
- Explains how the media is detrimental to adolescent females through the use of photoshop and plastic surgery.
- Explains how the media's representation of photoshopped images of unreal ideals hurt so many adolescent girls.
- Argues that bulimia and anorexia in females are related to media depictions of idealized bodies, which is all but unavoidable. young girls need to realize their true, natural beauty.
1841 wordsRead More - Beauty and Body Imageanalytical essayLook at all the images we see with tanned, shiny, thin bodies glowing and shimmering; the women with perfect jaw lines, makeup, and whose faces that never really age for many years that have passed them, yet they stay as beautiful as ever. Does any of it make sense or sounds familiar? The results lead to many women spending thousands of money and time to make themselves a beauty queen. Toddlers, teens, and women are drawn into what the media portrays of an ideal woman: unhealthy and its body image. We are so caught up with the media and it’s “perfection” we see in it, it is self destruction.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that many women spend thousands of dollars and time to make themselves a beauty queen. toddlers, teens, and women are drawn into what the media portrays of an ideal woman.
- Opines that children and teens are being sexualized too much at a young age. they want to look good and act like women.
- Explains that the media has unfeasible standards for what children and women seek for, “normal” body weight, and how their appearance should look like.
- Explains that many women in the u.s. today have anorexia or bulimia. they starve themselves so they can stay skinny or skip meals.
- Analyzes how many people spend just for beauty and time in a day to make them perfect. many people neglect their love ones, children, jobs, and most importantly themselves.
564 wordsRead More - The Negative Effects Of Body Image In Today's Societyexplanatory essayIn today’s society individuals in the United States are bombarded with media and its advertisements. There are various forms in which you can be exposed to media including the television, radio, movies, magazines, billboards, newspapers, and even your computer. On a daily basis individuals are being exposed and consuming an average of ten hours and seventeen minutes of media and about three thousand advertisements a day. In those ten hours we are exposed to things such as the unrealistic beauty standards from cosmetic, and fashion advertisements, as well as violence from television shows and video games. Our country has created a culture that is obsessed with looks and possessions; they have created a false reality and happiness for individuals,
In this essay, the author
- Explains that americans are bombarded with media, including television, radio, movies, magazines, billboards, newspapers, and even their computer. the purpose of their research is to find how media affects our society and most importantly the individuals within this society.
- Explains that the slimming trend in the media parallels the increasing obsession with thinness in real life, so researchers studied the effects of exposure to thin-ideal media.
- Explains that thin ideal media exposure is related not only to body image disturbances but also to disordered eating.
- Explains that children and young adults are the most vulnerable class citizens to the proliferation of media messages.
- Explains that media has caused many individuals to suffer due to the "ideal body image", causing many young people to develop very harmful disorders.
1312 wordsRead More - Criticism Of Body Positive Advertisinganalytical essayThinner and thinner models are being used in combination with Photoshop, creating an impossible beauty ideal that is affecting the physical and emotional health of women in our society. The typical fashion model presented in advertisements has protruding hip bones and an androgynous body shape due to dangerously low body fat. They are slimmed and smoothed further in images by the use of Photoshop. The documentary MissRepresentation points out, “you never see a photograph in the media of a woman considered beautiful that hasn’t been digitally altered to make her absolutely inhumanely perfect”.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how thin models are being used in combination with photoshop, creating an impossible beauty ideal that is affecting the physical and emotional health of women in our society.
- Explains that the quest to be thin has shifted from eliminating excess weight to eliminating bulges, or flesh that wiggles. the ideal body is toned, bolted down, and maintains "firm bodily margins."
- Opines that the media's depiction of female bodies has a detrimental influence on women’s perception of themselves and has come under fire in recent years.
- Explains that the movement toward "body positive" advertising is a response to the damaging effect of extremely thin models and calls for models with more varied and healthy body types.
- Analyzes dove, m&s, and skinnygirl's advertising campaigns using "real women" are presented as body positive, yet still enforce traditional beauty ideals.
- Analyzes how dove's "campaign for real beauty" in 2005 is not body positive despite its claim to challenge traditional beauty standards.
- Argues that using the label "real" to describe the appearance of a limited variety of women excludes many types of bodies as real in the dove advertisement.
- Analyzes how m&s's "for every woman you are" campaign isn't an effective body positive advertisement. they claim that their clothing line is more inclusive of different body types, implying that all women can feel beautiful in their clothes.
- Analyzes how m&s's claim to using real, curvy models is problematic because it rejects naturally thin bodies as real.
- Analyzes how skinnygirl's "real woman" campaign is not body positive because it sells body-altering products and glamourizes the models' appearances.
- Compares the skinnygirl campaign to the dove campaign, which uses the labels "real" and "truthful" to describe the women in the advertisement.
- Argues that advertising for beauty products is inherently not a good place to start the body positive movement because it relies on the consumer feeling like they need to improve themselves to buy the product.
1394 wordsRead More - The Negative Effects of Mass Media and Exposure to America’s Youthargumentative essayOur world is surrounded with unlimited advertisements through mass media aimed at America’s youth with documented proof pertaining to the noticeable impact of advertisements and the effects on the health, behavior and attitudes targeted at children and adolescent. Media continues to play an extensive role from the time we open our eyes until we go to bed, and succeeds in creating a huge impact on today’s society. Impacts that result in changes in their sexual attitude, suffer from body issues, and children exposed to violence, because of Medias over-powering influence that it holds. Research has proven the negative effects that exist as advertising targets the attention of adolescents and the negative effects it brings.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that television produces certain stereotypes pitched by the mass media and becomes another factor in seriously affecting girl's health and causing body imaging issues.
- Opines that media violence isn't harmful to kids, but it's important to remove children from screens and involve them in sports, clubs, and play with adult supervision.
- Concludes that media and advertising negatively impact the innocence of our adolescent children, which can lead to future consequences in our society. parents are in control of their children's life by blocking certain channels and internet sites.
- Cites evans, john, "teen sex linked to children's tv viewing study says."
- Analyzes the negative effects of advertising on children's health, behavior, and attitudes.
916 wordsRead More