From: Alex
In
society today, we are surrounded by over sexualized pictures of females
everywhere. The mass media has manipulated females through all ages for
decades. Displayed around every corner are unrealistic photographs of
woman, damaging adolescent’s self-esteem. Making them believe natural beauty isn’t beautiful. In
my photograph I decided to take a picture of a young girl. Around her
body are dotted lines, symbolizing what she wishes she looks like in
order to be redeemed “beautiful”. The outrageous beauty standards in America encourage mental and physical pain in females. Adolescent girls are taught to be kind-hearted, submissive and always “beautiful”. But young girls have no idea what real beauty is because of the misrepresentation displayed in the media.
“Girl culture” is a perfect example. One image displays a showgirl named Anne-Margaret in her dressing room at a hotel. In the corner of her mirror she has photographs of models she admires for inspiration. She also has a note in the corner saying, “I approve of myself”. This image is a perfect example of how the media has such a huge effect on woman’s self-esteem.
We are constantly comparing ourselves to unrealistic images of woman
with “natural” beauty and constantly looking for approval, whether it’s from other woman, men or ourselves.
“The
‘two cultures’ of childhood” is also another perfect example. It
explains how children quickly develop gender schemas during adolescence.
“gender schemas become part of self-identity, influencing children’s
preferences, attitudes, and behavior as they strive to act in socially
appropriate “masculine” or “feminine” ways.”. Watching my mother get up
early every morning to do her makeup just to “look socially acceptable”
allowed me to have a misrepresentation of beauty. That true natural
beauty is not beautiful and not socially acceptable.
Why do we allow the media to have such a negative effect on us mentally and physically?
Why do we need acceptance from others to accept ourselves? We as a society need to reclaim our views on beauty so young women can grow up with a positive outlook on themselves.
Work cited-
6 comments:
From: Emily
I think that this picture accurately depicts how many women in society respond to their insecurities and the ideal image of women in the media. Many women around the world develop eating disorders in order to look like women in magazines and feel accepted in society. This photograph represents how science and medicine is now standing behind and backing up the media’s excessive and impossible standards and making a profit from it along with women’s insecurities. Women everyday spend thousands of dollars on cosmetic surgery in order to conform to what the media tells us is beautiful. I think the white background that the photo has portrays purity and innocence and, therefore, shows how young of an age these standards are instilled into young girls’ minds. Everyday younger and younger girls are wanting to wear makeup and are becoming insecure over things that are natural like freckles or skin discolorations. The media should be embracing natural beauty and natural bodies and not telling young girls that they need to change what they do not have or that they need to cover up any imperfections. The media takes natural imperfections and makes us ashamed of them to the point where some girls will not leave the house without makeup on or else they feel ugly or ashamed. Unfortunately, each new generation is becoming more and more concerned with their flaws and are going to more excessive, extreme ways to get rid of their flaws and/or insecurities over learning to love their natural appearance and bodies. We should be teaching our children, family, and friends to accept their flaws and to not be ashamed of them.
This photo speaks very much for itself. You captured exactly what Laura green was trying to go for is her photo essay. The small details you used such as not using the models face, and focusing on a specific body part shows how much people are focused in on certain unrealistic beauty standards, and expectations in America. The lines carved out around her stomach showed us that, that is what beauty standards expect of women, and if they don’t conform to such beauty standards they turn to such things like plastic surgery, or shaming themselves for not being “perfect.”
This photo very clearly depicts the issue of impossible expectations and over-sexualization of young girls and women. I can pick up 3 creative elements that stand out to me including centering, framing, and color. The girl is centered directly in the middle of the photo so the focus is put very heavily on her, which I think accurately represents how society is so heavily focused on women’s bodies. The framing is interesting in this photo because the top of her face is cut off, but you can see her cheeks and lips which looks upset. I think that’s very important because when a young girl is standing in the mirror and looking at themselves, they should be happy but they often have the same face of dissatisfaction. The last creative element that stood out to me was the plain white background. Most of the time, we see white as purity and innocence but in this case I feel like it can also represent the emptiness that she and the rest of society feels when they cannot reach the expectations they have set for women.
While writing this comment and looking at the photo, I really wanted to comment on the overwhelming amount of lace on her undergarments. I feel like there is a sexualized component to lace undergarments because they’re supposed to be sexy pieces. However, when they are placed on young women, it should make us uncomfortable! It shouldn’t be okay to be unphased to see her in lacy underwear.
From: Maiyah K
I'm choosing to comment on this post because I can relate so heavily to this topic. Beauty standards for women in today's society is what I call dangerous, meaning us women are expected to go beyond the standard manicure and pedicure just to feel "accepted" even if that means causing ourselves discomfort. A lot of women with unnatural bodies get more positive attention which causes women with natural bodies to feel like they need to alter themselves. This picture speaks volumes on that. This girl feels that where the markings on her body are is what she needs to "fix" in order to be viewed as beautiful. The media controls a lot of what kids see. You don't really see a lot of people praising natural bodies anymore, which means there's less of them shown these days. I totally agree that young girls really don't know what real beauty looks like. Although you can't see the girl's face completely, the part that is shown doesn't look happy, it looks a little unsure. Immediately after viewing this picture, Lauren Greenfield's "Girl Culture" popped in my head, this picture definitely resembles some of the topics covered in her photo essay. This picture as a whole how shows how the media can alter one's thinking and influence one's decision making.
From: Jenna
Having the girl’s body centered in this photo with the marker outline of how she wishes her body looked describes perfectly how women struggle with trying to have the ideal body. The picture also shows the unrealistic expectations of what her body image is expected to look like in our society today. Women are consistently reminded throughout the day by social media, movies, tv commercials, and popular women magazines that we should dress a certain way, our make-up should look a certain way, and our bodies should also be perfect (i.e., by being skinny).
In reality photos are being edited to make people appear thin and their skin to look flawless. Take those tools away and, behind it all, you will see an imperfect woman that struggles with the same things all women struggle with. We are all human and no one person is perfect or has the perfect ideal body. Something I have learned as I have become older and wiser is that understanding the society norms for women are unrealistic expectations. No one should be hurting their bodies trying to be the “perfect” person society thinks they need to be. Once you can understand that, you will be able to look in the mirror and start to love yourself and all your imperfections, because they make you, you! I love the person I am today, even if I have grey hairs, wrinkles, and sun spots. I also enjoy make-up free days because I prefer looking more natural than adding on layers of make-up covering up the imperfections I have come to love about myself.
From: Sama Akere
I chose this picture because it illustrates how the clear majority of world or let me say our culture expect a woman to be like. The markings on her body clearly tells us how the media too on the other hand has exaggerate female bodies. It demands a lady to have bigger breast, smaller waist, smaller thighs and arms. This pressure on women is the most contributing factor to illnesses and eating disorders experienced by women. It is also a way of lowering their self-esteem. Not only from the media, but also the beauty industries explain those markings as a perfect female body. All this pressure on women on how they are supposed to look like cause them to be uncomfortable with their bodies and is a driving force of plastic surgeries. On my own opinion I think that women should not always believe the should change because of the change they were taught or the change the society/culture teaches them, but they should understand that leaving a good life is much more about accepting than attaining.
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