From an early little girls are taught by society that their looks matter.
Think of the three year old who is constantly praised for
being "so cute". More and more kids are spending long hours in front of the television where the media continuously bombards us with messages like how to lose weight, being thin and beautiful, what type of clothes make you look thinner, and so on. The media rarely shows average females who represent our reality instead we see supermodels who appear to be getting thinner and thinner. For instance, overweight females are almost never shown and if they are, they're typically portrayed as lazy, and the ones without friends while thin women are the successful, popular, sexy and powerful ones. How can we
tell girls and young women that it is what's inside that counts, when the
media continuously contradicts this message?
Furthermore, popular magazines have been repeatedly accused of using anorexic models who weight about 25 percent less than the average women and maintain body weights that are 20 percent below what is considered healthy. What message does this send to young women and girls? Do you think the media plays a role in the development of eating disorders? If so, why?
Also, some of these models undergo plastic surgery to create the 'perfect body', and many photos are air brushed before being printed. The images that the media tries to sell and advertise as normal are NOT normal and the body types that are constantly shown are unattainable for most people but because we are continuously shown these images we start to believe it is. What affects do these images have on children especially tittle girls who don't necessarily understand or know that the images presented to them are fake?
Finally, I would like to know what solutions you would pose to counteract the media's negative influence?
Overall, the media always portrays messages that are not always true. Keeping a "Barbie figure" is impossible. With the lady in the picture above, she looks very disgusting in my eyes. She is too skinny. How is it possible for women to maintain that same body while eating healthy? It is impossible, she barely eats.
ReplyDeleteThere are models that are not super skinny but are well known. An example of this would be Tyra Banks. She is known by the show of America's Top Model. Even though the girls on that show are white women and skinny, she was the one extraordinary black woman who isn’t skinny who won.
The solutions that I think the media should do are to portray more ordinary people. Make commercials in normal streets and see normal people.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSBtWbAhNnk is a video about celebrities retouching.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Abdul. I think movies, shows, and music videos influence people more than advertisements. And those forms of media have less anorexia females. If I look at a small television network like The CW; they have shows like Vampire Diaries, Nikita, Supernatural, Secret Circle, American Next Top Model, Ringer, 9O21O, Hart of Dixie, Gossip Girl, Remodelled, and One Tree Hill. Only 9O21O main cast seems anorexia and a Gossip Girl star commented how he would like to give them BigMacs. Most of their shows (not reality) have girls with curves. This is a problem, but I think we are taking the right steps to correct it. For example, “Since 2002, Dove has been collaborating with Girl Scouts of the USA to promote self-esteem and leadership programming among tween and teenage girls. The uniquely ME! and It's Your Story – Tell It! programs have reached almost 1 million girls in the United States and abroad through council programs, troops, groups, events, and print and online resources.” (taken from http://www.girlscouts.org/who_we_are/our_partners/corporations_foundations/dove.asp)