Preview

It Is Only Shallow People Who Judge By Appearance Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1744 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
It Is Only Shallow People Who Judge By Appearance Analysis
Oscar Wilde portrayed in his writing that: “It is only shallow people who judge by appearance. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible” (qtd in Davis 1). All humans have all been made uniquely. Which is why we all don't have the appearance. But currently, the idea of having a “picture perfect” shape and look is one of the problems women and men alike deal with. Some want to get thinner, some want the ideal thickness everyone has skewed views of what the define beautiful to be. The want and sometimes need for someone to be like someone else is getting greater for so many reason not all that be completely explained. This is due to the fact that people are different and think differently about what they want to look like. …show more content…
Apparently to Richard Rodriguez, there are problems because the persons, who care for us like a family, are usually the ones who explain to us that we have something to be ashamed of (441). Delia, a college senior expresses in her Am I Thin Enough Yet?:“ I always wanted to be the thinnest, the prettiest. ‘Cause I thought, if I look like this, then I am going to have so many boyfriends, and guys are going to be so in love with me, and I will be taken care of for the rest of my life” (qtd in Sharlene 7). In another view, Bell Hooks thinks that all these problems take their origin in the historical supremacy of the white race toward the black in particular (446). These are only a few examples of the probable reasons why people decide to change their look. People change the way they look in order to feel attractive and appreciated. They believe that this issue can help in a search for happiness one might feel they are missing out …show more content…
White people also feel complexes about the way they look. “Statistics reveal that, in general, the rate of obesity among black women is greater than among white women. Research indicates that black women are less concerned with being thin than white women” (Sharlene 110). In this society, being thin is everything; as Sharlene Hesse-Biber states: “Thin is sacred. Thin is beautiful and healthy; thin will make you happy. If you are female, thin will get you a husband…Fat is profane. To be fat is to be ugly, weak and slovenly…” (11). The media have a great influence on the way people behave in the occidental culture. Indeed, advertisements bringing people for getting thinner are now commonplace commercials. Moreover, the most beautiful woman in the world is chosen according to some criteria: thin, slain, and tall…“Not fat like me, or short. So I am not beautiful…But wait a minute, I do want to be beautiful too!”’ A person thinking like this is likely to end up with eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia (Gordon 80). These two diseases are now reaching the highest rates around the world. However, if we think carefully about it, the medias are not directly responsible for all these changes in the look. Indeed, TV displays a lot of pictures. They are as good as bad. If we agree that the TV does not “literally” bring someone to kill because he watched a murder, how can it “literally” bring someone to change his look,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the article Distorted Images: Western Cultures are Exporting Their Dangerous Obsession with Thinness, author Susan McClelland addresses the negative effect that western culture, especially western media, has had upon women in other parts of the world and how it relates to body image, thinness, racial features and even skin color. She interviewed several women who felt pressure to change their appearance to fit into the portrayed standards of Americanized beauty; white and thin. Experts say “cultures that used to regard bulk as a sign of wealth and success are now succumbing to a narrow western standard of beauty” (pg. 431) There is an increase of eating disorders in areas that have never had that problem until recently.…

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The idea of perfection has been planted in our heads that we have to be slim and slender to be noticed. It’s almost as if we are brainwashed into believing if were not thin, then were not beautiful, even though beauty has always come from within. From this idea of perfection, we use all our energy to become flawless and it isn’t possible. We gain back our energy from food and we cover up our disappointment by eating and so, if anything, the media creates us as a monster. For every body in this world, twenty-four hours, just isn’t enough to work, eat, sleep and become that one person we’ve always longed to…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Studies by the journal of Qualitative Sociology found that racial beliefs and stereotypes of mainstream media shape how people think about identities and ethnicities that fall outside of the American hegemonic norm. Hegemony is a word that describes mainstream ideologies that have been normalized. In the United States, for example, the hegemonic beauty standard is a Eurocentric one, one that values thinness, White, straight hair, and thin noses (Smith, Choueiti, and Pieper 16). People’s perception about what is pretty or beautiful does not exist in a vacuum. It has been informed by the time period they are born in and by the culture around. By transmitting selective images and ideas of female beauty, television not only teaches women to accept certain beliefs or values, but that they have to fit into a certain hegemonic body type to be seen as beautiful (Pyke and Dang…

    • 1432 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the article “The Globalization of Eating Disorders” Susan Bordo argues that the introduction of western media in foreign countries causes reported cases of eating disorders to skyrocket. According to Bordo: In 1998, just three years after the [western television] station began broadcasting, 11 percent of girls [in Fiji] reported vomiting to control weight, and 62 percent of the girls surveyed reported dieting during the previous months. (19) I agree with Bordo’s argument. Western media that glorifies hyper-masculinity and skinny body types puts pressure on viewers to diet, exercise, and in some cases starve themselves simply to be considered beautiful.…

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    What do you see when you look in the mirror? Are you pleased, or do you immediately come up with an endless list of insecurities? As a child one of my favorite memories was laying around the house with my older sister on rainy days. We would leave the windows open so we could hear the rain coming down on the tin roof over our patio, while watching reruns of our favorite tv show “America's Next Top Model”. I always thought that these women were gorgeous and I would catch myself constantly comparing their looks to my own. I wanted to be just like them until I realized the unrealistic expectations that they had to live up to. A sizeable butt and breasts, but not too large; they have got to be proportional. A skinny waist, impeccable hair, blemish free face although even with clear skin you are expected to cake on makeup because no one is actually pretty without mile long eyelashes, the perfect smoky eye, and exemplary contouring. Society has idolized these things as “beautiful” and shamed the girls that do not meet these standards; however, society should be making everyone feel confident in their bodies. Girls need to know that it is okay not to have an “hourglass figure” so they don’t…

    • 621 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another type of media is a magazine. What seems to be the most popular and influential thing about magazines in today’s society is who is on the cover. The most common type of person that is seen on the cover of a magazine today is a young, skinny, white woman. With the amount of diversity that is in the United States, when a young girl sees a woman on the cover of a magazine that does not look like her, she is made to feel as though she needs to look like her in order to be considered beautiful. This causes a lot of insecurities with skin color, gender, and body size. This is also what plays a role in what influences young girls to develop eating disorders. They feel as though even if they cannot change their skin color, or gender, they can…

    • 845 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In an article written by Colleen Thompson and Dr. Lauren Muhlheim, it is emphasized that more than just a few individuals in society struggle with the same issue of not being able to fit the ‘ideal figure’: “In North America, men and women are given the message at a very young age that in order to be happy and successful, they must be thin and fit... Thousands of teenage girls are starving themselves trying to attain what the fashion industry considers to be the “ideal” figure.” An individual person with an eating disorder could be singled out and their specific case could be thought has a person problem but with applied sociological imagination, society would realize that it's the obsession for the fair skin and thin body, creating a widespread public issue, that has indirectly affected thousands of boys and girls in the United States alone. Cultural structures such as the media are not the only structures in society that have an influence on what constitutes the idea body size and figure. The sociological approach to what can be considered as the “ideal figure” is respected because it can explain how social and cultural values affect the individual's attitudes towards eating. Furthermore, a sociological approach is useful for understanding eating behavior because it can explain why eating disorders appear in…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Several studies have shown that there are many ways in which a woman’s body image, eating patterns, and self-esteem is negatively affecting what audiences see and hear from the media. In 1996, an article titled, “Body Image: A Cognitive Self-Schema Construct, by Altabe and Thompson, indicates that “social endorsements” are inherent in how the media is portraying the “ideal body.” This has created a sense in women to examine the image of their body to determine if they need to radically alter their eating habits in order to offset that undesirable body. This, in turn, may have led to eating disorder. Also, Heinberg and Thompson (1995) indicated that females who were exposed to appearance-related media were less satisfied with their body shape than females who were exposed to non-appearance related…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is an obvious correlation between the media and the mass’ distorted views on body image and what beauty really is. This much is clear. Because everybody looks at celebrities, and judges how they look whether they are skinny girl or a ridiculously buff guy, and compare it to how other people and they look this has been going on for a quite some time. But the more important question is does the media’s depiction of the ideal lean/muscular body lead to the increased use of radically unhealthy tactics in order to change body image by the general public? It is common knowledge that everybody strives to improve his or her body image because appearance is important; it is simply part of human nature to want to look better. But when striving…

    • 1101 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Many things can affect one’s body perception such as peers and family but most importantly the influences within the media can have the biggest affect on how one sees themselves. In some ways people can control the social factors that negatively affect their body perception. However, the mass media is every where and can be hard to avoid. Past research indicates that by the time a girl turns 6 she is already dissatisfied with her body image (Hayes & Tantleff,2010). The social standards of today emphasizes the need for women to be thin and blemish free, setting a physical expectation of beauty that is beyond impossible to reach ( Tiggemann, 2003). It is said that media is the most influential…

    • 1894 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Society has complained about it and they have many concerns. Some black oriented television shows may serve a protective function of higher body satisfaction. Young men seem to be more negatively influenced by the the media than adolescent boys are affected.Now in society the media has took over teens widely spreaded to have a different mind function they’re basically in the fantasy world. Anorexia nervosa, body dysmorphia,bulimia nervosa and muscle dysmorphia are other factors of the body image. In conclusion the topic body image & the media is clearly explaining how the media has took over and impacted our society today. How many people are trying to look exactly like supermodels and celebrities. I think people should try being themselves because everyone is beautiful they way that they’re made to be and nothing shouldn't change their mindset among how they look at all. Self esteem also really plays a big part in how people are unhappy with their body. My point of view media has damaged individuals ,society as a whole and it’s an unhealthy promotion to many people in society today. There are many complaints to the way the media is impacting many people in modern day.Eating disorders, anxiety,…

    • 928 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Body Image and Media

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The idea of the ‘perfect’ body is pasted everywhere in the media. Whether it’s on the catwalk, in Hollywood, or in glossy magazines, the message is clear: skinny is sexy, or if you’re a guy, six packs are definitely in. With these sorts of media messages bombarded at us every single day, it is pretty hard to be happy with our bodies and have high self-esteem, unless, you already have the body that the media and the fashion industry thinks is ideal. And so what is ‘ideal’? Well, for women it’s thin, long legs, relatively tall, flawless skin. For men it’s muscular, tall, and just look ‘manly’ in general.…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The media tries to persuade us so we know what type of body to strive for. They always seem to show us what the “perfect body” is on television, movies, newspapers and everywhere we look. Today, The news reporters are even commenting on the way our politicians look. All people come in different shapes and sizes and we are all attractive in different ways.…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Everyone has a different view of what is beautiful. Why then can we not transfer that to how we view ourselves? Why can we not be happy with how we look? The simple answer is the media. They show images to millions of people of what they think beauty is. Those images affect society and they view themselves about how they look. Most of these images are unrealistic, and send unhealthy expectations to women on how they should look. This causes body images to be skewed. Which in turn causes women to spend more money to make themselves look like what they think is normal. In severe cases it can cause eating disorders.…

    • 1299 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stretch Marks Speech

    • 1138 Words
    • 5 Pages

    It is common knowledge that as a society we tend to look to celebrities, the popular kids in school, those picture perfect fashion bloggers, gorgeous co-workers, as measuring sticks as to what we should look like. There is no one on this planet that is genetically blessed to…

    • 1138 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays