In our society, there is a perplexing amount of influential pressure for women to attain a look that is largely impossible for the vast majority of us. Being a size 4 and perpetually 25 is the only image that is allowed on magazines like Glamour and Vanity Fair, and in most leading movie roles or anywhere on MTV. It is a travesty that being a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader or a Bacardi liquor girl pays more to slender, young women to shake some pom poms or smile with a tray of jello shots, than a lot of professionals with degrees make. The movie stars, pop stars and models that can afford plastic surgery, personal trainers and other means of attaining what is an impractical and even impossible image for most women, are doing us no justice by perpetuating it. To diet or starve oneself down to 100 lbs, put breast implants in to make up for what nature takes away in order to be "thin", and collagen in the lips to give a gaunt face some life, is ridiculous and impossible for a woman to achieve naturally, and should never have become an "ideal" standard of beauty. Magazines and clothing designers who continue to use emaciated models, may glorify them with makeup and hair professionals and designer garb, but when it comes down to it, many admit to starving themselves to be on that catwalk, while the rest of us feel fat for being a size 9. These unhealthy habits and mindsets are a direct result of the media corrupting the image of a beautiful woman. "Don't compare yourself," is what psychologists would say. Well, how can we not, when these images are plastered, literally, everywhere? Magazines, pin-ups, tv shows, movies, and even in bars where a liquor label is promoting itself with the same type of woman - its everywhere, and yet we are told not to compare ourselves? Its just as ridiculous to expect women to ignore their own culture and media, isn't it? Everyone seems to acknowledge that the standard of beauty in the media that has such perplexing influence over most women is reprehensible. So why is the media at large still getting away with it? Well, for starters, think about what you buy and who you are buying it from. I'm not suggesting a boycott of any company or product, but think about what images you are supporting with your money next time you go for that pair of designer jeans. I for one, salute companies like Cover Girl and Dove, who actively support women of any age and any size, by using realistic models to advertise their products. They let us know that its OK to be a size 12, or to have gray in your hair, and that our imperfections often add to our beauty, not detract from it. I also applaud WET, Women's Expressional Theater, (WETweb.org) whose mission is to advocate women in the theater and arts, and to applaud the efforts and achievements of those that have made a difference, regardless of whether they meet media's criteria. If we all made an effort to participate in advocating for women, for all of our sake, perhaps we would begin seeing those faces on the cover pages start to change a lot more. In order for us to change the way the media tells us what beauty is, we need to start screaming back at them to take a better look at us.
1 comment:
this is so true, I agree some thing needs to be done about this blatant disregard for the effect that this kind of advertising has on the youth of our country. Believe it or not i don't find these pencil thin models to be very attractive at all, if you look at history women that were a little more plump were deemed more desirable due to it's direct relation to there status in society, poor woman could not afford to eat were as wealthy women had plenty. just look at some classical art none of those women were thin.
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