For these reasons, the connection between media and body image is very important because low body image will lead to eating disorders and potentially death. Many women are very sensitive about the way they look, which makes them depend on media products more. The media culture sends mixed messages about what is sexy, which causes women to face similar unrealistic expectations when exposed to media images. Some mes... ... middle of paper ... ...hat is unrealistic and unattainable for a majority of women in society. Models shown in all forms of popular media are often under what is considered healthy body weight, which sends a powerful message that women must sacrifice their health to be considered attractive by societal standards.
Therefore they strive to improve their figure to meet societies standards. However, the standards that society has set (for example, supermodel Kate Moss) are out of reach for most women. Often times, teenage girls compare their body size to those of popular actresses and supermodels such as Jennifer Aniston and Elizabeth Hurley. With examples such as these, is society sending out the wrong message? Vast amounts of people consider these women too thin.
Thin women are timid to turn into this other that is not widely accepted. To this extent, society and our culture have constructed a monster. Every thin female will admit at least one time in their lives they have been concerned about “getting fat” or “gaining extra weight”. When a thin female detects this, they are apprehensive one is becoming the monstrous other that is the larger female. As mentioned above, the thin female is what society and our culture commends as the definition of beautiful.
The idea of “self improvement” gets so exaggerated, it causes women to believe that they always have to do more, or go a step further to be beautiful. Thus, women are ruin their own self esteem and body image. The unattainable image of women that society allows to be true is causing women to go to these unhealthy degrees. For example the famous Barbie doll, with her “tiny waist and big bosom” (Cloud 79). Girls are basically told from the beginning that in order to be “successful like Barbie” you need to have a small waist, a big chest, skinny legs, and little, perfect “heel-fitted feet.” Images like this allow for women to participate in harmful acts, such as plastic surgery, anorexia, and bulimia, in order to become what they “should be.” Women are so concerned with having that perfect figure, they are no longer able to see themselves for who they truly are, which in some cases isn 't as bad as they make it to be.
In “Barbie Doll” the speaker is aware of the events taking place in the young girls’ life; however, the speaker does not know how the young girl feels about the events that are taking place. I believe Piercy did this so that the reader could feel for themselves how the young girl was feeling. The poem is told much like a fairy tale; it is told in a very matter of fact way. It is obvious that Piercy uses Barbie to symbolize what society thinks that woman should aspire to be if they are going to be “the perfect woman”. Barbie, with her unrealistic body type: busty, thin waist, thin thighs, long legs, blonde and blue eyed, is reflective of our cultures idea of being feminine.
Many girls dream to become Miss U.S.A or Miss World. It seems to give the idea that you have to be beautiful and be up to the judges expectations of how a beauty queen should act and looks like. They have a negative effect on the people in today’s society especially the younger female population. The females can develop insecurity problems and low confidence due to the fact they did not win a competition and not feel “beautiful” as the title of a “Beauty” Pageant. Children female beauty pageants such as the televised show “Toddlers and Tiaras,” have a bad influence on young girls.
The impossible-to-achieve standard of beauty causes pressure, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorders in women. Women can be pressured when it comes to the ideal image of beauty. Many women, especially in the media thinks they have control of their bodies and think that they are expressing themselves, when really they are not. Mary Kosut informs, “Younger generations of women have been socialized to embrace a more sexualized appearance as a form of empowerment . .
Advertising has negative impact on society based on body image because the media shows body image that is unrealistic and impossible to obtain. Many women look up to these images and try to achieve the same body. Some excise excessively and starve their bodies. Since the bodies seen in ads are almost impossible to have, it could lead to depression and hating oneself for their own body. The media are filled with beautiful women with slender bodies and face caked with makeup.
Not only is Barbie tall, skinny, and beautiful, she has all the luxurious accessories to match her perfect life. To go along with her perfect life she is accompanied with the perfect boyfriend, family and dream house.At a young age girls are also being influenced by this doll, what they should look like, and what kind of life they sgould lead. Young girls strive to achieve this look which is life threatening to obtain. Regardless to the changes they made to Barbie, she is still far from real. Little girls that are mature enough don’t strive to look like Barbie because she’s just a plastic doll.
Beauty pageants negatively affect women’s ov... ... middle of paper ... ...y standards, further resulting in negative impacts on their self-esteem and confidence. Furthermore, this limited perspective of beauty causes women to be blinded and not realize that there is not one specific look of beautiful, but many. In a sense, women are taught to think that beautiful is being thin, having silky hair, toned legs, big breast, blemish and acne-free skin, and so on. However, in order to reach these beauty standards set by society, a woman can overwork her body in order to lose weight by dieting, or not eating to be “thin”, which also puts her health at risk and acts as an additional issue. Women who fail to reach these beauty standards set by society, may feel as though it is their fault and end up feeling even more insecure and bad about their body image, when in fact, the beauty standards were unrealistic and unattainable from the beginning.