Body Image
A Real Woman
Dictonary.com defines a female as: “Female [fee-mayl]- (n.): a person bearing two X chromosomes in the cell nuclei and normally having a vagina, a uterus and ovaries, and developing at puberty a relatively rounded body and enlarged breasts and retaining a beardless face; a girl or woman.” Mass media generates the picture perfect image of a woman. The “perfect” woman is a generalized fantasy derived from media and how society shaped the media. But what aspects exactly make a female a woman? The fashion industry might say it the exterior build or the way we look. Feminist might say a woman is shown through the spirit of her interior or her heart. Women should set aside their needs to look beautiful on the outside and look at what’s truly beautiful in the inside.
` So many women these days are constantly obsessed about their looks. Women are heavily focused on the way they look due to the endorsements by television ads, billboard ads, magazines, models, or celebrities that look “perfect”. But how did this negative outlook on body image start? It all started with a magazine and its sleek advertisement. They first printed in the 1940s and 1950s. Its roots were derived from magazines like, Vanity Fair and Vogue from the 1920s. These magazines began to publish ads and articles of fashion while portraying women as these high class skinny flawless human beings. It is said that the average woman is 5’4” and 140 lbs. while the average model is 5’11” and 120lbs. Statistics like this stop to make me wonder, how does one female reach being so “perfect” and that skinny? Just twenty years ago models weighed 8% less than the average women, these days models weigh 23% less than the average women. “As the years went by, the woman in the magazine became less realistic and more idealistic.” (Wilson, 2009) The fashion industry perceives skinny as beautiful. Just recently, Vogue promised to not “knowingly” use girls younger than 16 years of age. But they broke their
Dictonary.com defines a female as: “Female [fee-mayl]- (n.): a person bearing two X chromosomes in the cell nuclei and normally having a vagina, a uterus and ovaries, and developing at puberty a relatively rounded body and enlarged breasts and retaining a beardless face; a girl or woman.” Mass media generates the picture perfect image of a woman. The “perfect” woman is a generalized fantasy derived from media and how society shaped the media. But what aspects exactly make a female a woman? The fashion industry might say it the exterior build or the way we look. Feminist might say a woman is shown through the spirit of her interior or her heart. Women should set aside their needs to look beautiful on the outside and look at what’s truly beautiful in the inside.
` So many women these days are constantly obsessed about their looks. Women are heavily focused on the way they look due to the endorsements by television ads, billboard ads, magazines, models, or celebrities that look “perfect”. But how did this negative outlook on body image start? It all started with a magazine and its sleek advertisement. They first printed in the 1940s and 1950s. Its roots were derived from magazines like, Vanity Fair and Vogue from the 1920s. These magazines began to publish ads and articles of fashion while portraying women as these high class skinny flawless human beings. It is said that the average woman is 5’4” and 140 lbs. while the average model is 5’11” and 120lbs. Statistics like this stop to make me wonder, how does one female reach being so “perfect” and that skinny? Just twenty years ago models weighed 8% less than the average women, these days models weigh 23% less than the average women. “As the years went by, the woman in the magazine became less realistic and more idealistic.” (Wilson, 2009) The fashion industry perceives skinny as beautiful. Just recently, Vogue promised to not “knowingly” use girls younger than 16 years of age. But they broke their
Cited: "11 Facts About Body Image." Do Something. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. Duquaine, Jill M. "Women Objectified: Gender, Violence, and Mass Media." Feminist Collections 20.2 (1999): 10. Print. Givhan, Robin. “Fashion’s Full Figured Failure.” Newsweek 160.170 (2012): 7. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Nov. 2012 Keith, Misty Myers, Philip N., and Frank A. Biocca. "The Elastic Body Image: The Effect of Television Advertising and Programming on Body Image Distortions in Young Women." Journal of Communication 42.3 (1992): 108-33. Print. Ossola, Alexandra. "The Media 's Effect on Women 's Body Image." Hamilton College. N.p., 1 Sept. 2010. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. <http://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/the-medias-effect-on-womens-body-image>. Our Bodies Ourselves. "Women, Websites and Body Image." A New Edition for a New Era - Our Bodies Ourselves. Our Bodies Ourselves, Jan. 2005. Web. 09 Nov. 2012. <http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/companion.asp?id=1>. Pawlik-Kienlen, Laurie. "Dove Campaign for Real Beauty." Suite101.com. N.p., 16 Nov. 2007. Web. 08 Nov. 2012. <http://suite101.com/article/dove-campaign-for-real-beauty-a35712>. Wilson, Kathleen. "Negative Effects of Media on Women." Yahoo! Contributor Network. Kathleen Wilson, 02 Dec. 2009. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. <http://voices.yahoo.com/negative-effects-media-women-4989414.html?cat=5>.