None of my pictures or page #'s were able to post. The format is way off. I fixed it all for this post, but it didn't show up, it just looked all screwed up. So try to look past the formating, I'll show the rest in class. I haven't figured out how to publish my paper (blog/website/print/email all doesn't work)
Media V. Women
(I need a better title)
Jodi Duby
English Composition II
Rising numbers of anorexia and other eating disorders are just one example of results from pressure put on women, from prepubescent all the way to later adulthood. Television shows such as “Sex in the City”, “Grey’s Anatomy”, “The Bachelor”, and just about any romantic comedy movie gives women the impression life, relationships, and our bodies have to be a certain way in order to be happy and accepted. (Rohter)
What comes to to mind when you hear the word attractive?...
We have McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Taco Bell, then we have liposuction, plastic surgery, and breast implants. I met a 24 year old woman who just had breast implants. Her and five of her friends and their friends all had implants within three months of each other! It’s 5 to 6,000 dollars for a good doctor and better quality implants. Already this woman is complaining of pain from bra straps digging in to her shoulders, back pain, and having a hard time finding bras that don’t hurt or look like “granny bra’s”. Maybe she should have gotten these adjustable implants (not real)! A woman (24) with beautiful curly brown hair wants “easier to work with” straighter blond hair and so spends anywhere from 120 to 180 dollars every two months to get her hair relaxed and colored. Where as her friend has straight hair and spends the money to get it permed so she can have her friends curls.
Media has a negative impact on the way women view themselves and there need to be some changes made. People may be unaware of this. Prime time TV has a target audience. The script writers know how to write a show that will reach and entice people. I want to discuss three negative effects that really demonstrate how important it is that the media depict women in a more realistic way.
First of all, young girls even as early as first grade have had enough images pass by their eyes to formulate a distorted view of what they are supposed to look like. This is an ad from Target for girls underwear. These are size 6 PADDED BRAS!! That is the size the average first grader wears!
The idealized 35-45 year old feminine figure of Barbie dolls are... well...
“We're sick of fat, plastic Barbies. Everyone wants Bratz.”
Fat Barbies... hmm... I remember wondering when my body would start looking like hers!
June 20, 1991
dear diary,
i'm 9! mom got me some bratz dolls for my birthday, jenny gave me a bratz sleeping bag, sarah gave me a hannah montana purse, and mom doesn't know, but there's makeup inside! sarah said if we get to school early we can put it on. mom said she's gonna get me some clothes too. sarah said she got a padded bra and i want one too. she is so pretty. i said i was full and didn’t have any cake. sarah said that’s how people get fat. i don’t want to get fat.
Bratz dolls are a younger more sexualized doll with unrealistically proportioned bodies and facial features, airbrushed makeup and skin, perfect plastic hair, short skirts, small shirts, a slender figure, and tiny waist, and all the accessories. Fergie has her own Bratz doll fashioned and named after her. Fergie also sings this:
What you gon’ do with all that junk?
All that junk inside that trunk?
I’ma get, get, get, get you drunk,
Get you love drunk off my hump.
What you gon’ do with all that ass?
All that ass inside them jeans?
I’ma make, make, make, make you scream
Make you scream, make you scream.
They say I’m really sexy,
The boys they wanna sex me.
They always standing next to me,
Always dancing next to me,
Tryin’ a feel my hump, hump.
Lookin’ at my lump, lump.
U can look but you can’t touch it.
There are still the whole series of Barbie movies and they keep making them because they are making money. Fairytopia, Mermaidia, the Princess and the Pauper, with all the characters displaying the same typical Barbie figure, with exception of the occasional more portly, less attractive king and queen who are represented as evil. An interesting message to send.
Although sexual content in the media can affect any age group, adolescents may be particularly vulnerable. Adolescents may be exposed to sexual content in the media during a developmental period when gender roles, sexual attitudes, and sexual behaviors are being shaped. This group may be particularly at risk because the cognitive skills that allow them to critically analyze messages from the media and to make decisions based on possible future outcomes are not fully developed. (Gruber)
Posted by IamMoose:
Someone once 'proved' - presumably jokingly - that given her dimensions (miniscule waist, large chest) if Barbie were a real woman she would not in fact be able to stand upright...
Posted by Lucybird:
Yep I've heard that before, and Bratz of course wouldn't be able to hold their heads up... wouldn't they make great models ?!”
Posted by Bonta Kun:
Well since Twiggy was renowned for her skinniness I think the doll's proprtions could be pretty realistic for her! I heard, but I've never checked if its true, that she and a lot of models in the 60s would deliberately have worms so they could eat lots and stay skinny. Kind of gross!
A mother who has been influenced by the media’s message that women should look perfect and thin can easily pass that message on or reinforce it in her daughter’s already impressionable mind. Designer clothes, makeup, high heels and manicures at the age of 3 or 4 may seem cute and fun to have your daughter trying to act so grown up, but instead of playing and being carefree, she is trying to be like her mother, like the women she sees on the billboards, on television, in advertisements and movies. Around the age of 6 young girls have pretty concrete ideas about what they think they should look like. Girls have reported that the media models the right look, how to become popular and attract boys. They relate to the teens on television, movies, and the internet as examples of how to behave for example, in sexual situations (Gruber). It is important to start talking to them about these influences and about what really matters before the media has completely imposed their standards of beauty. The media should start helping mothers rather than standing as the opposition. Watch “Onslaught”.
September 8, 1996
Dear Diary,
Sarah and I are at different schools now. I think she might be throwing up after meals too. We don’t talk about it. Actually we haven’t really talked since we started 6th grade. She had a boyfriend and I started exercising a lot. We both lost a lot of weight and now I have a boyfriend. We started having sex a couple months ago. He’s had sex before and says it’s not a big deal. Its on tv all the time. He said Sarah and Jamie have sex too. Mom thinks I’m getting skinnier cause I’m getting taller and that I should “fill out soon, but I’m already fat. The fat girls at school get made fun of. Not me!
Second, I want to discuss the impact these implied expectations have on women’s body image. Let’s start with eating disorders. To state the obvious, we are all naturally insecure at some level and the media communicates that we have good reason to be. Even as young as 7 or 8, young girls start some form of dieting. Eating disorders start as early as 7 to 12 years old. This obsession with an unattainable beauty consumes a girls life, effecting self-esteem and in turn effecting her choices in activities and life goals. Bulimia starts with one time of anxiety over what was just eaten, what it will do to her body. It consumes until the decision is made to get it out. Throw it up. It starts to happen maybe once a week, then more and more until a binge/purge method is a typical meal habit.
Anorexia is commonly found in young women who are motivated, have a lot of self discipline, and are ‘most likely to succeed’. Fasting, eating very little to sustain themselves, and obsessing over exercise are characteristics of anorexia. Overeating is yet another disorder where food is used as a comfort (think of that feeling after a thanksgiving meal where you feel relaxed and tired, even peaceful) and even seen as a friend. (Harrison)
Now for the very thin, especially thin because of diet, breast size is usually one of the first things lost, so we have a surgery for that. For those who eat too much (or are still not as thin as desired after dieting and starving), we have liposuction. For those who have aged we have a whole slew of surgeries and creams to help firm skin, reduce wrinkle appearance, along with some nip and tuck surgeries, botox injections, and even tattoo makeup. There is a whole market out there to help women edit their bodies to imitate what is done on computer to images before we see them. Check out Evolution. We know the media uses airbrush and photoshop, but we are at the same time convinced we can look like that with some work.
"Tweens Spend $500 Million a Year on Beauty Products"-says New York magazine
Along with this image we as women are after, comes a good deal of spending, from surgeries, to trying to keep up with constant changes in the clothing trends. Now we’re in debt. This distorted self image sends women all over looking for things to make us feel better, a diet, a magazine, a surgery, new makeup, new hairstyle, new clothes, and of course, a beau.
June 28, 1999
Dear Diary,
I had an abortion this morning. Jeff broke up with me when I told him I was pregnant 2 months ago. I hate my life. Mom’s making me see a doctor really often. I don’t care. They just don’t get me.
Finally, I’ll address the unhealthy effects of the media as they play out in the relationships of women with a poor self image. Girls have reported that the media models the right look, how to become popular and attract boys. They relate to the teens on television, movies, and the internet as examples of how to behave for example, in sexual situations. Women seeking approval, validation, acceptance, and love, are quickly attached and drawn to physical affection. If someone wants to be with you physically, it communicates that you are indeed desirable, accepted, and loved. Young women (and women in general) can quickly turn to sex as something that makes them feel better. Physical closeness is closely tied to emotional closeness, so women can find some safety in this. Add Grey’s Anatomy or Sex in the City, and a woman is open to sleeping with other people who appeal to her emotionally. You connect with someone, you sleep with them. Even if you are in a relationship, and even if they are. If there is insecurity because of poor self image, a woman is insecure in a relationship. She doubts herself, she doubts another person really can accept her. She doubts a man’s faithfulness because she sees other women as more desirable and beautiful. Studies show that adolescent girls who are sexually active watch more TV with more sexual content, whereas abstinent adolescents watched much less. The younger girls are introduced to TV with sexual content. TV is seen as a means of learning the rules, rituals, and skills of romance and relationships. (Gruber)
July 22, 2008
Dear diary,
I’m still here. Still going to counseling. Doc says if I can keep my weight where it’s at now I don’t have to keep coming in so often. We have different ideas of a “healthy” weight, but I don’t want to get so sick again either. My hair looks gross from it. Mom seems happier with me getting better, everyone does. I guess I do to. It’s so hard. I still feel fat. It’s hard to look in the mirror and smile at what I see. Doc said it’ll be a hard fight, being happy with myself and not going back to old habits. Jen came with me to my last appointment and she’s keeping me accountable now. Okay, well on with life I guess...
I have come a long way. I grew up in a home influenced by the media in most of the ways I described. I would say by God’s grace is the only reason I’ve passed through it, worked through it and today feel like I have a pretty healthy self image. I see exactly what is going on with the media and am passionate about helping young women see it too, and find a place where they are satisfied with themselves. I recommend parents or youth workers to read Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher and I have other great resources to recommend if you would like to contact me. But the media also needs to do something to help change this unhealthy model of a healthy or normal woman. When selecting models, actresses, and spokes people, they need to use real people. They need to present a broader range of size, age, ethnicity, and “beauty”. One step in the right direction has been made by Dove. There are different commercials showing things such as the process of a woman, starting from plain jane with skin blemishes and dark circles, to a billboard beauty. They have a website with information and tools for parents, mentors, and girls, to combat the negative messages being sent by the media, and they are raising money to spread awareness and help change this unhealthy trend. Until the media has anything constructive to offer though, I think I’ll just keep my television set off.
Bibliography
Dove. Advertisement. Onslaught 12 July 2008
Rohter, Larry. “In the Land of Bold Beauty, a Trusted Mirror Cracks.” The New York Times 14 Jan. 2007
Harrison, K., and J. Cantor. “The Relationship between Media Consumption and Eating Disorders.” Journal of Communication. 47.1 (1997): 40-68
Dove. Advertisement. Evolution 12 July 2008
Pipher, Mary. Reviving Ophelia. New York: G. P. Putnam’s sons, 1994.
Cosmopolitan.com 12 July 2008. Hearst Communications, Inc.
Eldredge, John and Stasi. Captivating. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Inc., 2005.
Dillow, Linda, Lorraine, Pintus. Intimate Issues. Colorado Springs: Waterbrook Press, 1999.
(names changed to “protect the innocent”), Personal Interviews. 22 July, 2008
Questionnaire
Gruber, Enid, Joel, Grube. “Adolescent sexuality and the media.” Western Journal of Medicine v.172.3 (March 2000): 210-214. PubMed Central. 21 July, 2003 <http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov>
