Full lips, long eye lashes, big cheekbones, defined jaw line, long legs, and a flat stomach are just some of the requirements to being beautiful today. One thing that I have learned is most people, normal people do not look like these models. We assume that these models are normal because they are the only women we see in magazines and advertisements today. In an article, “The Media Lies,” it states, “Hollywood movies rarely feature women over 40, and the older women we do see represented in the media, from movie stars to news anchors and even politicians, look much younger, thanks to plastic surgery. As a result, those who chose to age naturally, without the aid of plastic surgery, are sometimes seen as ‘letting ourselves go.’”
I am sad to say that I have been surrounded by so much of this artificial way of living, which I would assume one would be letting themselves go if they aged naturally. As I grow old I intend to keep myself looking young, I mean realistically, who wants to look old? No one looks old these days anyways, so we follow the crowd by purchasing anti-wrinkle cream and hair dye to stay “youthful.”
According to the same article, “Before mass media existed, our ideas of beauty were limited to our own communities. Until the advent of photography in 1839, people were not exposed to real life images of faces and bodies. Most people did not even own mirrors.” I honestly could not imagine a world where there were no standards, and no craze for plastic surgery, and extreme diets. There would be no cosmetic or fashion industry. As drastic as this may sound, the entire world would be different without it. It has become such an important part of everyone’s lives whether we like it or not.
As I was browsing through a Cosmopolitan magazine the other day I browsed through the different types of diets, diet pills, creams to remove wrinkles and cellulite, and stick skinny models, nothing was unusual. After actually thinking about what is being advertised throughout the entire magazine, I realized how wrong this all really was. Sexy, skinny, and perfect features are the three things that are featured throughout the entire magazine. Either it was being sold, or gave you a pretty big hint that it was the only way to be. Today, “Every part of the female body is picked apart and scrutinized, with most articles telling us outright which products we should by to fix-or at least camouflage- our numerous flaws.” (The Media Lies)
Being exposed to all of these advertisements and movies has caused a great deal of trouble and pain to young women and even young men. Here are some eye opening statistics posted on About.com by Nikki Katz.
• Approximately 7 million girls and women struggle with eating disorders
• Approximately 1 million boys and men struggle with eating disorders
• The average American woman is 5’4 tall and weighs 140 pounds
• The average American model is 5’11 tall and weighs 117 pounds
• Most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women
• 42% of elementary school students between 1st and 3rd grades want to be thinner
• 80% of children who are ten years old are afraid of being fat
• 25% of men and 45% of women are on a diet on any given day
• 80% of women are dissatisfied with their appearance
• 51% of 9 and 10 year old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet
• 35% of “normal dieters” progress to pathological dieting. Of those 25% will progress to partial or full syndrome eating disorders
• 91% of women recently surveyed on a college campus had attempted to control their weight through dieting, 22% dieted “often” or “always”
• Americans spend over $40 billion on dieting and diet related products each year
• 95% of all dieters will regain their lost weight within 1-5 years.
All of these body image issues we have today are mostly because of how the media portrays something that is not usual and hard to obtain as beautiful. We should all stop and ask ourselves what is beauty?
For me, beauty can come in so many completely different ways. It is not just an extremely tall, pencil-skinny girl. It is so much more than that. Have we all forgotten about inner beauty? Have we all forgotten that every single individual is different? One body type should not be a standard for the entire population.
Mike Lehane, a clinical nurse leader states, “There is no good reason why we should, as a society, accept the promotion of unhealthy images that glamorize eating disorders.” He is right, there is no reason why we should let these industries tell us how we should look. We need to take a stand.
About-face is an organization that is against medias image of women. Their ultimate goal it to “imbue girls and women with the power to free themselves from the burden of body-image problems so they will be capable of fulfilling their varied and wondrous potentials.” This organization travels around San Francisco and holds workshops for young women and men to help them resist the pressure the media puts on them.
The organization has multiple lists of “offenders” which is a list of different advertisements that are exactly what we need to acknowledge is a bad influence on all of us. Here are some of the ads that really stood out to me, shocking that these are out there for us to read in magazines, look up to see on billboards, and watch on T.V.
I really admire what this organization is doing. Because it is small and based mainly in San Francisco, they have 10 things that you can do to help, volunteer listings, and many references such as books to assist young women and men even over the internet.
As mentioned earlier, About-face has created a list of 10 things that you can do to help this problem.
1. Stop talking about your weight (especially in front of younger girls)
2. Make a list of women you admire
3. Question motives of the fashion industry
4. Stop weighing yourself
5. Concentrate on things you do well
6. Get physical for fun
7. Value your dollars
8. Voice your opinion
9. Be a role model
10. Break the barrier
To check out more details of the 10 tips you can visit http://www.about-face.org/mc/empower/
The skin care company Dove also has a campaign. Their mission is to “make more women feel beautiful everyday by widening stereotypical views of beauty.” Like the small organization About-Face, Dove has online help that includes quizzes and games, as well as holding workshops. Whenever a Dove purchase is made a portion of the money goes to The Self-Esteem Fund as well as support for the workshops.
According to Dove, “Only 2% of women around the world describe themselves as beautiful.” This is exactly why Dove uses real women and no models for all their advertising. The message needs to be spread that these images we see every day are not natural or healthy bodies.
This is a Dove commercial depicting what young girls go through and see every day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei6JvK0W60I
As a young women who loves the fashion industry and a child of two very athletic parents, the pressure was always on. With my parents advising me to stay active and go for a run, or flipping through hundreds of magazines that suggest I stay a size 2, I would force myself to diet if I felt like I was gaining weight. As years went on, I like to say I became more aware. For one, my parents just wanted me to stay healthy and active, they only wanted what was best. As for the fashion industry, I learned that everyone is different, so I don’t have the body of a model. Eating healthy, exercise, and self-confidence was the key to success. There will always be girls more beautiful than me, and I have to accept what I have been given. A motto I like to repeat to myself is, if you cannot love yourself, how can you expect others to love you.
The tall, gorgeous, African American model, Tyra Banks has my respect. Although I am not her biggest fan, a recent interview on body image has showed that even a model can be self-conscious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObvDqe4TbUs
We must disregard what the fashion and cosmetics industry want us to look like. We must keep in mind that plastic surgery and dieting is not the answer to our insecurities. Most importantly, we must keep in mind that we all are beautiful in different ways. The decision on whether or not something is beautiful is always in your hands. The media has forced us to have a skewed image about what we should look like, which is why today’s society has become so image obsessed.
Works Cited
http://www.about-face.org
http://www.sciencedirect.com
http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org
http://www.youtube.com>
http://0-web.ebscohost.com.enterprise.sacredheart.edu
http://www.dove.us/
