From: Sapana
In this photo you can see a little girl
getting her hair curled, looking at a beauty magazine and putting on lipstick. She
is influenced by the magazine to start looking flawless at a young age. In
society overall, little girls are expected to learn how to be beautiful, whether
it is by looks or body image. Society has a description that girls are supposed
to be thin but still have curves, long hair, no hair on their body, nails done,
makeup on. Girls of all age go through so much just to fit into society’s
expectations and descriptions, and it is all for men. “Physical attractiveness
is important for both sexes, but it is particularly emphasized for women as a
requisite for attracting a mate” (240). The reason beauty is a beast is because
women and girls are expected to do drastic things like waxing, getting plastic
surgery, breast implants, botox injections all to impress a guy or to feel like
they need to fit into society’s assumptions. I think showing little girls that
they need to be thin and beautiful from a young age is horrible. Women in
general, specifically little girls should not be caring about little things
like body image. If they are happy, that is all that matters. If they feel
comfortable with their body weight, and not wearing makeup then flaunt it! Just
because society have these expectations I personally do not think we have to.
The only person they should be listening to is themselves. I think this picture
makes a statement by saying beauty standards are being influenced on a young
age and they should not be. A little girl should not have to be skinny, and
apply makeup to feel beautiful. Society assumes that women are going to follow
all of these absurd ideas of beauty. There should not be any standards, women
should be able to do what they desire for themselves. If men aren’t expected to
look a certain way, why should women?
3 comments:
The fact that this little girl is reading a magazine called "Seventeen" when she clearly isn't even close to being seventeen really shows how acceptable it is for little girls to want to grow up and mature. When little girls are playing house in their fake kitchen or playing with their fake dolls, they aren't really enjoying children. They are already adopting the responsibilities of a domesticated woman. Being a mother or a wife can be very stressful but we encourage young girls to play pretend this because as a society we are in total support of girls growing up quickly. Whether it is sexualisizing them from a young age, or promoting dressing older and more mature early on; society never gives little girls the chance to just be little girls and this is shown in this picture.
From: Brianna J
In this photo a few things stand out to me immediately. You see a kid, not a teenager reading the popular magazine, ‘Seventeen’. Seventeen magazine is directed towards teenagers, with information much more mature for a kid. The magazine is a hair issue which may be why she has two curling irons in her hair which shows how a young kid will conform to anything that is displayed to them. You can also notice by the height of the two individuals doing the kids hair that they are much older. The owner of the magazine must be one of the two older girls in the photo. This shows either a sense of pressure from the older siblings or relatives or a sense of needing to fit in from the child. Kids naturally pick up trends, habits, or actions from ‘grown ups’ they look up to.
What is supposed to be the main aspect of the photo which is the young girl wearing pink pants and a rainbow polka dot shirt is dark and it is hard to see much detail. This darkness, with the light seeking out from behind the young girl shows a sense of beauty taking over childhood. This young girl who should still be living like a kid is slowly becoming dark and hard to understand but living a life of glamorizing yourself and worshipping magazines seems to be becoming clearer.
From: Amanda
The main thing that stood out to is how young the girl is. She looks very young but already putting on makeup, making sure her hair gets done, and not only that she already reading a seventeen magazine. Kids her age should not be worry about all of that but embracing their natural beauty, acting, and dressing their age. But the way the society is set up these days kids are growing up faster than they should be. This is one of many ways that the media can affect us; it shows us how we should dress, speak, even how we should act. Sometimes our influences come from people who we may look up to or even just admire. When I saw that they were two older people who were fixing her hair I felt as though that may be either people whom the little girl may want to be like or even people who are just forcing her to look like someone she not. Overall, kids should not be force to grow up faster than they should they are only going to be kids for so long.
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