Mass media has a huge influence on girls. Girls see what the "ideal body" is every day in the thousands of billboards, T.V, the internet, the images and messages in magazines, and other mass media. There is countless media of thin female models and actresses who look beautiful and appear to be happy, so many girls view them as role models. In this picture a girl is in front of a mirror standing on a scale weighting herself. She is also holding a measuring tape which she is using to measure her waist size. On the mirror there are cut out images from magazines of a woman in lingerie showing off her body. There is a women lifting small weights and another showing some exercise techniques. Most importantly there is an image of a woman measuring her waist just like what the girl is doing.
4 comments:
This picture greatly depicts the role of gender socialization in females. From a young age, girls are taught from the media what is generally accepted as beautiful as well as what body image girls should strive to maintain. This picture spoke out in direct reflection of the everyday stressors females deal with to fit into their gender. The fact that there are pictures of models and desirable bodies on her mirror show what standards this female holds herself to. Being that the pictures are posted on her mirror shows with symbolism that this is what she wants for herself, this is what she wants her reflection to resemble. The measuring tape is also very symbolic in showing in showing how this female is trying to constantly regulate how she measures up to the female idols hanging from her mirror. It is a personal statement, not necessarily saying “How fat am I?”, but “How do I measure up to those idolized women?”. The point of view that the picture was taken from is very intriguing. From the angle the picture was taken from one would wonder why this female is concerned with her image because she appears thin. This is a valid representation on how socializing agents such as the media, influence females to believe they have to be perfect. Females are taught by the media if they do not look like the girls in television or in the magazines, they are not beautiful. At any cost to this female’s self-esteem she is striving to “measure up” to the females that she was told were beautiful.
This picture is very real. I’m sure many girls have felt they need to measure themselves and make sure they fit the image of how girls should look. From the time girls are first born to the time they die they are taught they need to look good. When they are babies the parents dress them in cute outfits and put little bows in there hair. They are taught to always dress cute and do their hair and look good. Even on this girls mirror she has pictures of slim models and she probably feels thats how she is suppose to look. This girl could possibly be measuring herself to see if she is the size of models in magazines and on tv. This picture is even taken so the girl is standing sideways so you can see how much her stomach would stick out.
This picture shows a very real problem. Girls see girls in magazines in their lingerie with their perfect bodies and they believe that is how they have to look. Girls in society today strive to be perfect and thin. When in reality if we were all skinny and looked exactly the same, we wouldn’t be different. Girls stress over what the scales say, and how big their waistline is. They go through great measures to try and look like the girls in the magazine. Girls do crazy diets, try diet pills, and get quick fixes and loose a couple pounds. But the thing about loosing weight is you have to make it a lifestyle, you cant loose weight and go right back to the way you ate before you lost the weight, because you will just gain it right back. Girls don’t realize how hard the girls in magazines work out, and don’t eat. With these fad diets it causes a yo-yo effect with your weight, which can be more harmful to your mental, emotional, and physical health than idolizing the pictures of the models.
This is true. The media does have a lot to do with girls trying to be a certain size; a small waste, bigger breast and so forth. This puts stress not just on young girls, but also boys all around the world. The "perfect" body is shown on television, in magazines and in other things as well. The media has an affect on girls as young as toddlers. They watch there moms or older sisters play the role of someone with the "perfect" body. They then mimic the actions of what they see. There are things in the picture that symbolize the "Ideal Body". The pictures on the mirror represent how thin she's "suppose" to be. The measuring tape represents how thin she would like to be. Her looking in the mirror represents how the media expects her to look. She is definately trying to pertray what the media expects.
Post a Comment