Who's More Beautiful?

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From: Vincent

I took pictures of the bathroom countertops of both my younger cousins’ Mark, 15 and Paris, 17 to demonstrate how our media influences each gender today. In the top picture is Paris’ sink; some type of beauty product covers almost every inch of the countertop. Girls are given unrealistic standards to meet created by popular beauty icons in the media. Yet, these icons have access to professional make up artists and photo retouching. As a result, teenage girls feel they must wear these products advertised on television because “beautiful” women wear them; therefore she can meet the standards set by her role models. “Beautiful” women role models are portrayed in the media as having full luscious lips and smooth, even toned, blemish free faces. In addition, television and social media icons have exaggerated the importance of maintaining well-groomed and clean nails, and there is a giant bottle of nail setting spray on her countertop. One of the items taking up the most space on the sink is her make up bag; you can see lip-coloring accessories are on top almost coming out of the bag as well as the foundation and eye shadow. Notice that these accessories can be found with very little effort, it is almost as if they are bursting out of the bag with enthusiasm knowing they are going to be applied to their owner. The clutter of the beauty accessories also demonstrates how girls are becoming less and less worried about being clean and organized, but are more fixed on meeting beauty needs. The bottle of hand soap, tooth paste, and toothbrushes contained in a toothbrush holder show that she still places an importance on hygiene, but the disorganization of all the cosmetics in her bathroom environment show cleanliness is not as important as her personal beauty. Make up is not cheap, and judging by how full her make up bag is and how many more grooming products are on the counter, the media has convinced her that money is no object when it comes to being “beautiful”. In the bottom picture Mark’s sink is similar to Paris’ in lack of space on the countertop. The media is no longer portraying the “cool” male icons just as rugged, gritty, tough guys with dirt under their nails. Nowadays, the “cool” role models for boys are fashionable guys with a riskier fashion sense while maintaining a level of manly bravado; this new generation of boys are picking this change up and adapting to it. In turn, there has been a wave of young boys with dynamic new hairstyles even involving ranges of color depending on the style. Popular male media icons have made their hair a major center point of their fashion sense. Boys are being impacted by this portrayal of an ideal man in the media as they begin buying and using almost as many hair care products as females. Today’s view on men’s style differs from that of older generations of male culture, as one would have been seen as an outsider or less masculine for putting such time and consideration into their appearance, where as now it is cool, accepted, and even expected. Popular male role models portrayed in the media have boys using just as much, if not more, products than what girls apply in make-up, in cleansers, and hair products. Around Mark’s sink you can see different types of hair creams and even a special type of brush to style his hair. This style hairbrush is one of the very first items that catches your eye on the sink. Due to the brush’s position, towards the front along with the amount of space it covers, you can tell it is used in his everyday routine. More often, young boys’ sinks are beginning to look similar to this because of how the media’s image has changed of the ideal man, depicted through athletes, television characters, and commercials. On his sink you can also see supplement vitamins towards the front on the opposite side parallel to the brush, going back to the idea that even though boys are being introduced to being more “stylish”, the “big tough look” is also still an area of concern for boys in order to fulfill the image of an ideal male. Even though the dental floss is in the back of the sink, it is in a big plastic bag making it noticeable and the size of the bag shows it has importance. Though there are more features required in order to achieve the portrayal of today’s ideal man, one of the fundamental elements of a sexually attractive male remains an ear-to-ear pearly white smile. The media’s unrealistic standard of beauty requirements in order to gain the attention of the opposite sex is causing younger children to spend more time on their appearance in order to feel accepted. However, less time is being spent on their basic necessities such as focusing on school and the importance of keeping a clean, organized environment. The media gives children of both genders a false idea that one can get through life on looks alone.