Thursday, October 26, 2017

Beauty Norms

From: Cassidy


The creative elements in this photo such as saturation, contrast, and angle help to convey the subheading I chose, which was the “girl culture” segment of module 5. For example, when it comes to saturation in the photo, it adds dramatization to the meaning and brings emphasis to the girl’s legs drawing your attention to them. Being drawn to the legs then draws your eyes to the scale she’s stepping on. The contrast in this photo add a more dark and ominous emotion to the photo. This almost allows the viewer to experience what it is like for young girls dealing with not being the “normal” weight she thinks she should be. The angle of this photo also helps because its showing the viewer looking down at the scale as if you are in her shoes. This could also bring about the meaning of society looking down upon girls and always worrying about their weight and body type. This is expressed throughout the “Girl Culture” subtopic in module 5. This particular subtopic references many female body norms and how it effects young girls and their self-esteem and social lives. One of the examples in the “Girl Culture” picture essay was a 13-year-old girl from Minnesota named Lisa and in her interview, she states “People make fun of me all the time because I’m over weight. It’s just something you try to hide from, I guess. You don’t want other people to see.” (Lauren Greenfield, Girl Culture slide 7). In the picture I have chosen, I believe it express’s the beauty standards of today, it shows not only a young girl looking down to see her weight but it portrays the way society tends to look down upon girls and even people above a size 2. When young girls are influenced at such a young age by so many different things telling them to be a certain size to fit in it effects not only their self-esteem but also their mental health. This can cause mental health disorders such as body dysmorphia, depression, and DHS or Deliberate Self-Harm. It can cause bullying and a person to believe they are alone and don’t “fit in” to the social norm of female bodies throughout life.

Work cited:
Lauren Greenfield, zonezero.com, zone zero, 2001

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