Media And Body Image
It’s not surprising that in our media-driven culture, our views of what women should look like are warped.19 Real women with pubic hair and breasts that aren’t perfect round orbs begin to seem unnatural compared to the altered images we see in the media
It’s hard to imagine a world where idealized female imagery is not plastered everywhere, but our current situation is a relatively new phenomenon. Before the 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
Most of the women we see in the media are young and white. Hollywood movies rarely feature women over forty, 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 of us who choose to age naturally, without the aid of plastic surgery, are sometimes seen as "letting ourselves go http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/excerpt.asp?id=2 …show more content…
Throughout history, humans have regarded the beauty of the human body as important
Over the last few hundred years, women have tended to be under pressure to look nice, have tiny waistlines, and curvaceous bodies - often, the target ideal body was an unnatural one. During some periods, they had to endure much more pain to "look good" than they do
It’s hard to imagine a world where idealized female imagery is not plastered everywhere, but our current situation is a relatively new phenomenon. Before the 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
Most of the women we see in the media are young and white. Hollywood movies rarely feature women over forty, 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 of us who choose to age naturally, without the aid of plastic surgery, are sometimes seen as "letting ourselves go http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/excerpt.asp?id=2 …show more content…
Throughout history, humans have regarded the beauty of the human body as important
Over the last few hundred years, women have tended to be under pressure to look nice, have tiny waistlines, and curvaceous bodies - often, the target ideal body was an unnatural one. During some periods, they had to endure much more pain to "look good" than they do