"Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder": The Media's Effect on Body Image and Perception of Beauty
Jamie Finlay
Mrs. MacIver
ENG 3U
January, 14th 2015
May it be television, magazines, or social media, all forms of media contribute to promoting the idea that women need to look the same as the women and supermodels portrayed in advertisements, movies and television shows. This influence media has on women has a very negative effect on women's body images. Media puts unfair pressure and impossible standards on women to have perfect hair, skin and a perfect body. This standards set by media lead to low self-esteem and low self-confidence in women and girls. These expectations are very unrealistic, unattainable and unreasonable to women and girls . This demonstrates that the effects of media's ideas and portrayals of women can have a very negative effect on women and their body images. The following images and video explain how the media has negative effects on body image and opinion of one's beauty.
As you can see in this photo on theright, this young girl looks at herself in the mirror and sees a much bigger body shape than her actual body. Even though she is already very petite, she is unhappy with the way she sees herself. As you can tell by
her body language and facial
expressions, she seems displeased
and upset with the body she sees in the mirror. She does not find herself beautiful and does not like her body. Media has a very negative effect on girls and the way they see themselves. They are constantly unhappy with the way they view themselves because they don't look
exactly like the "perfect women" we see in media. This image embodies the effect media has on women and girls in their views of their body image.
In this photo, you see two pictures that are very contradictory to each other. In the top picture we see an advertisement from the Victoria's Secret "Love My Body" campaign. Looking at all 7 women in this picture, we see that they all have similar body shapes and sizes which doesn't really promote the title "Love My Body" to women who see this image. This image promotes the bodies of supermodels and not accepting your unique size and shape. This is a prime example of how media very negatively influences women and how they view themselves and that in order to love your body, you need to look like a model. On the other hand, we see the Dove "Real Beauty" campaign, this picture features 11 women who are all happy and proud of their body images and shapes. You can see in the body language of the women that they are proud to look the way they do and nothing is going to change their opinion on their body. They know they are beautiful. This campaign was a very important an attempt to encourage women to love their bodies and to own their bodies in any shape, size or age and show them that all women have different bodies and they need to love their bodies and their uniqueness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17j5QzF3kqE
The way media portrays women can have very harsh effects on the way women view themselves. Women create impossible expectations of themselves due to the distortion the media puts on a woman's body. These unnatural recreations the media makes put pressure on women in society and thus leading to nothing but low self-esteem and low self-confidence.
Victoria’s Secret: Love my Body Campaign VS. Dove: Real Beauty Campaign
https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=chr-yo_gc&ei=utf-8&ilc=12&type=242154&p=victoias+secret+love+my+body+campaign
http://www.yuppee.com/2013/05/07/prepare-a-girl-talking-about-body-image-in-the-media/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17j5QzF3kqEhttp://www.yuppee.com/2013/05/07/prepare-a-girl-talking-about-body-image-in-the-media/
I love how you've interpreted your first image. The original use of this picture was in an eating disorder campaign, however; you've used it to emphasize her insecurities. It truly grasps the idea of your topic in saying that due to media's unrealistic expectations, not only do girls feels insecure in their own skin, but their insecurities can potentially play a part in struggles with mental illnesses. Your topic is thorough and portrayed strongly. The inclusion of the video was really eye opening to see the transformation. I knew that that photoshop was used in ads but was not aware of that extent. It makes your stomach turn at that thought that a person's body can be "touched up" and "fixed" so much to a point they look like an entirely different person. In the second image, the contrast is impeccable. It's ridiculous that same company is promoting two completely opposite ideas and messages in terms of how a person should feel about their body. Overall, your ideas and perspectives on media's unrealistic and cruel expectations are inspiring. The images you have chosen to prove your argument are accurate and perfectly represented. I love it. This post immediately caught my eye the second I was the title of it.
ReplyDeleteI really like the topic you chose because it is a very large problem in todays society. I as well wrote my blog around the idea of society and social media giving women an unrealistic expectation for beauty. I really like the images you chose. They all had an element of contrast evolved with them and this helped to see the difference between how social media can influence someone's view on what beauty is. I really liked the second image you used because it's amazing to see how different two ads for a campaign that is supposed to encourage girls to love themselves can be. I also thought that the video was a great idea because it's a real eye opener to see exactly how much Photoshop plays a role in the advertisement industry. Its this idealistic standard that can lead to mental illness and eating disorders. Overall, your idea was present in all three of your points, you were able to well connect them all and fully prove your point throughout this blog post.
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