Photo Blog Essay

From: Kasie
In my photo essay, I choose to focus on the way media has dramatically skewed the beauty standard and how it is affecting young girls today. What has fascinated me the most is how early little girls learn what is considered beautiful in society and what it takes to uphold that beauty standard. In my photo, you see a young girl, Kaia, age seven. She has enjoyed getting her hair and make up done and now poses in front of the mirror. She is surrounded by objects that are all considered to be part of this beauty standard, tanning lotion, hairspray, nail polish, makeup - as if all of these things are needed to make someone beautiful. For many little girls today, being beautiful is about being able to look older and more like their mothers or older siblings. This is exposed to them further through the media, particularly in today's child pageant shows such as "Little Miss Perfect" which shows these "little miss perfects" using spray tanning, fake nails, highlights, and even "flippers" that cover the teeth to make them look straight as what is required for obtaining the standard for being a perfect little girl. Further, you see her posing in seductive ways with her hands on her hips and her feet off balance which is an image that we see models in almost everyday. Young girls see models and superstars as some of the most beautiful women and in return will almost instinctively imitate their poses to look like them. In the background you can see many children's toys which suggests that many young girls leave childhood toys, in this case, literally behind them at a younger age because they are in such a hurry to grow up and fulfill this beauty standard that they are so often exposed to. I find it also important to mention things you could not see on camera, such as how much more she tended to look as herself throughout the day and how excited she was to help me with this project. It is interesting that she would look at herself so much more, suggesting that she thought she was more beautiful because she was all "done up". Overall you can see how dramatically older she looks and in turn she has emulated poses that are not what a seven year old would emulate otherwise. The beauty standard created by the media has not only affected young teenagers and they way they see themselves but very young girls as well.