My little sister has never been the type to get dolled up for anything. Shes always been more along the lines of a natural beauty, and she never really seemed to care about the way she looked. I asked her to get out all of the make-up that she felt that was necessary to make you look pretty. They are all shown on the bathroom sink. I also asked her to pull out a magazine that represented the looks that she was going for, so she pulled out a teen vogue magazine. The page is opened to a picture of Hayden Panettiere in a very showy outfit. She is wearing a very short skirt and a tank top. She chose this picture because Hayden is in some disney movies, so she recognized her. I think that my sister relates Hayden to being with disney, and that she looks up to her because of that, so she feels that the way that Hayden is dressed and is posing is no big deal. Notice she is wearing white to show her innocence. She is only in the sixth grade, and she is trying to stray from the innocence and become more mature. Girls at such early ages are now feeling that they need to look more mature to be pretty. My sister only recently considered her looks as anything after starting middle school. I think the reason for this would be to fit in with the others. Shes always just blended in with the crowd, and now shes stepping out. The transformation of my younger sisters appearance from elementary school to middle school have shown a great deal of trying to be something that shes not. Girls in middle school are trying to act older than they really are because they want to grow out of the innocent stage, and be more sexy and mature like older people. They dont think that the way that normal girls their age fit in, and thats because of their insecurities. In elementary school, the children are just making friends and not worried about looks, but looks start coming into play in middle school when boys are occupying the girls attention. The media has taught them that boys will only like them for their looks, so the girls try to impress the boys. Society tends to make girls think that looks are everything, when they can only get you so far. The media shows that girls can only be pretty if they are all dolled up and have make up on, so obvioulsy young girls are going to want to fit into this category.
9 comments:
In this photo, I'm amazed how early the media can influence gender roles. This young girl is obviously acting much older than how we would expect. I like how she has chosen to wear a skimpy top much like the idol she is admiring in the magazine. The fact that she has the page open to this idol in the magazine shows she clearly wants to be like her. But why is this girl using red lipstick? Does she want to stand out of the crowd in middle school? Does she want people to recognize her? The eye shadow she is wearing is a dark color, making her appear sexier and older, not younger. I like how the back part of the sink is in disarray. The makeup all askew, the toothbrushes falling over. It makes me think she's in a disorderly time in her life, she's not sure how she should be living at this moment. And finally the models in the magazine. They are thin, overly attractive and wear revealing clothes. Not mention they have these sexual looking faces on that say "come and get me". They automatically want girls to be like them. This is a young girl stuck in between the child age and the adult age and she's trying to fit in the way media wants her too.
The girl in this photo looks so young, and its amazing how the media influence young girls today. She is trying to look like she is older than she is, and she is putting on make-up which she shouldn't be putting so much on. this young girl is seeing all the media and trying to be like the girls in the magazines and movies. she is trying to fix in like all the other young girls and women are today.
It is quite amazing how much the media affects young girls. Magazines, commercials, billboards ect. affect the minds of young children all around. In this picture however it is shown that the magazine picture of the model is what is affecting this young girl's mind to think that she needs to wear certain clothes, fix her hair a certain way, and wear makeup when there is no reason that she needs to. It is very sad to see that girls this young are dissastisfied with how they look and feel like they need to do everything they can to look like the models in magazines just to fit in and look pretty. This picture was taken at a angle where the camera was not looking down at the young girl nor looking up at her which makes me think that this girl is just merely there just somewhere in the middle of life. She is not at the bottom of the chain such as getting teased but she is not the popular girl in school that everyone wants to be friends with to be cool. This girl may be just in the middle somewhere. Also, the dark eyes and the ruby lips make her look as if she wants to stand out. She wants to be noticed and be popular. In addition to that, I notice that the makeup, toothbrushes, and hair straightener are all just laying around over the sink in no order which signifies that maybe the change from elementary school to middle school was a rough transition. Maybe there is a little chaos and confusion in her life. However with this confusion the last thing she needs to try and replicate this model in the magazine because this young girl probably does not understand how much reconstruction and reforming they do to the picture to make the model look flawless and beautiful. They add and take away whatever they want to make the model look “perfect”. The media just needs to realize how much pictures and commercials really affect young children.
I really like this picture and it proves a good point. Look at where majority of the Disney "icons" are now such as Linsey Lohan, Christina Aguilra, and Britney Spears. All these girls were supposed to be positive role models for young girls, and as they get older they portray themselves in the media as over sexual and way older than what they really are. It comes as no suprise to me that girls as young as middle school are starting to wear more makeup and dress sexier because there so called "role models" that they see on shows that were meant to be clean cut are carrying themselves in this manner.
In sixth grade, thats only like 11! It seems so young to be putting this much effort into appearance. Girls this age should be out playing and being around their friends.Sadly, I see it more and more frequently and the age seems to be getting younger. Our media really influences the way girls and women feel about themselves. In this picture the girl probably wants to be like what she sees in the magazine.There really needs to be other types of role models for young girls.
i agree with this blog a lot. when i was in elementary school i wouldnt take a shower every day wouldnt do my hair everyday, i didnt where named brand clothes or wear makeup and my friends didnt care, and they didn't do those things either. When i got to middle school other girls and guys would give me dirty looks or say mean things to me for what i was wearing or how i looked so i then became more intuned with my appearnce. I would take a shower everyday do my hair and wear makeup and begged my parents to start buying me named brand clothes, so i would fit in and not worry about being teased.
In this photo I realize how much emphasis and pressure we put on today's youth to look their best and be thin perfect hair and makeup. How much time we put into this when our youth is young for such a short time we should let them enjoy their youth as long as possible
Young girls are seen in front of mirrors alot. They do not see that they are growing up way to fast. The media has a lot to do with this. Advertisements have alot to do with young girls. Showing them that if you use this make up or skin cream you will look beautiful. But this is not always the case.
The age of when it is time to use makeup is getting younger and younger. Girls now are exposed to everything on television and magazines and medai that an adult or older teen would seen. The pressure to be beautiful is so strong that being young as possible is your beauty mark in life. Girls are becoming more and more sexualized mimicking the things they see and applying what they think is beauty instead of enjoying their youthful appearances.
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