I chose to represent the concept of “girl culture” through my photo. The concept of “girl culture” caught my attention the most because I am a girl who has to conform to the pressure of being a girl every day. Many of my friends also deal with this pressure while many of them suffer a great deal from this pressure to dress, talk, and act like a girl. This pressure can cause many issues within girls’ self-esteem and confidence which if extremely disappointing. My goal through this image is to represent and bring to light the pitfalls of “girl culture”.
I would like to talk about information I have gathered from Lauren Greenfield’s photo essay, Girl Culture. The photo essay perfectly described the pressures of what girls all over the world go through daily to keep up with their “perfect” image. Lisa who is 13 years old describes “There is so much peer pressure… with the fact that everybody has to look the same” (GIRL CULTURE). The fact that a thirteen-year-old girl has to worry about looking like everyone else to fit in is astonishing to me. I feel that at thirteen children should still be trying to figure out who they are themselves without the pressure of what other people think. A person’s identity can be extremely distorted if especially at a young age they are feeling pressure to fit in with everyone else around them. I feel this pressure within girls is to have a great fashion sense, wear make-up, have nice looking hair, have toned and tan bodies etc.
As one can see in my image, I include staple pieces of what girls are expected to wear to have the “perfect” image. The biggest item that sticks out to me is the dress. The dress has a low v-cut perfect for showing off cleavage and is extremely short. The color is also pink, what other color represents a girl better than pink as children are raised to believe that girls like pink and boys like blue. The next items I chose to show off are various make-up products. Everyday girls put on makeup to look good even though they may hate wearing makeup due to the fact it can cause effects such as acne and just feel downright gross on one’s face at times. As well as the fact that girls want people to accept them for looking the way they do naturally. The last item that was important to me was the high heels. High heels are extremely uncomfortable for girls to wear as well as terrible for one’s foot. I crossed the high heels to represent how terrible high heels are and girls should not be expected to wear them to look good if they do not feel comfortable wearing them. Nevertheless, girls wear high heels all of the time to uphold their image as being a proper female. The pain of beauty girls are willing to face every day amazes me and just shows how disturbing “girl culture” really can be.
Works Cited
GIRL CULTURE - Lauren Greenfield, v1.zonezero.com/exposiciones/fotografos/girlcult/greenfield06.html#.
3 comments:
from: chinalyn
I agree, as a girl I also experience so much pressure to conform to the society’s expectation so that I won’t be labelled as deviant or be called lesbian if I don’t dress or act like a girl. Sometimes it’s not even the society that pressure me the most it is myself. I tried so hard to conform to what they called ideal girl to society in order to fit in. I like how you represent “girl culture” from your photo. From what I can infer, you use the technique of color in your dress because pink has been known to society as feminine color. While you use the dress itself as a symbol, the way the dress was cut it relays a message to the girls that they should have a curvy body because the dress was cut that way. The high heels for me represents the society’s expectations in girl’s height, it means that an ideal girl is not too short and in order to conform they have to wear high heels to obtain the desirable height. And the makeup represent acceptance, it gives a message to all girls that if they wear make-up, they will be more attractive and therefore be accepted in society. I think that you really portrayed the struggle of “girl culture” really well in your photo.
I completely agree with your analysis. As a women I often feel the need to conform to society's absurd beauty norms. I like how you used the dress and makeup to symbolize Americas strict beauty norms. I also liked how you used a low cut, short dress to symbolize the issue of how men sexualize women for their own pleasure. I can also see how you used the color pink to show how society labels pink as feminine and women are supposed to dress as such. I really enjoyed your image and how you chose to show your perspective on "girl culture".
I can relate to your analysis a lot. When deciding what photo to do for my own photo blog assignment I was torn between two different ideas. The idea I didn't go with was related to your assignment. The need to conform to social norms for women is overwhelming. Being a single mother I feel the need to make sure I look as if I have it all together even when I don't. I must dress the part which you expressed with the baby pink low cut dress, to show how we must appeal to the male eye and using the color to show how we must be soft and sweet. I really like how you didn't have to use an actual female subject to portray "girl culture". Your photo really portrays the hardship of "girl culture". The constant need to come across as perfect is very hard for women and the way society pressures women is very difficult and i feel as though you got that point across perfectly.
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