From Alexis:
Pretty hurts, or at least that is the lesson taught to young girls in
society. For decades women have been pressured into unrealistic beauty
standards to be considered desirable. Women are in constant competition
with each other are frequently compare themselves to other women. This
has created a culture that is obsessed with the idea of beauty. For this
photo assignment, I chose to focus on girl culture and how it has
changed since Lauren Greenfield's photo essay “Girl Culture” was
created. Through photographs, Greenfield discusses female culture and
beauty standards in The United States. Even though the essay was
published almost two decades ago, the ideas and topics discussed in Girl
Culture are still applicable today.
In 2020, the mode through which adolescent girls consume entertainment
is social media sites. Throughout the years, young girls have begun to
spend an increasing amount of time on platforms such as Instagram and
Twitter, which often perpetuate toxic beauty ideals. The age of
influencers has risen, and with it has come disastrous consequences for
the mental health of developing girls. Constant access to social media
has majorly warped how women are perceived. The unrealistic beauty
standards have negatively impacted the self-esteem, body image, and
mental health of young girls. In the Lauren Greenfields Girl Culture,
Lisa makes a good point, "There is so much pressure. I mean not with
drugs or cigarettes or anything, but with the fact that everybody has to
look the same" (Greenfield 7). From adolescence, young girls are
taught to strive for perfection and conformity. We must wear our makeup
in a certain way, dress in a way that is sexually appealing to men but
not slutty, and, most importantly, we must be skinny and beautiful. The
age of social media has caused young women to witness these beauty
ideals almost 24/7. A quick scroll through Instagram or Twitter fills
your timeline with women with perfect makeup, hair, and body advocating
for weight loss pills, plastic surgery, and other treatments or pills
that are supposed to “fix” you. It serves to send the message that young
girls as they are, are not enough. This is ironic considering that many
of their photos are heavily edited or photoshopped. The women featured
in these photos have spent time and money to achieve this so-called
natural, no-filter look. This causes young girls to spend hours and
hundreds of dollars a month for a beauty standard that is not
realistically possible. To be considered desirable in society, you must
change yourself to conform to beauty standards.
The photos on social media show the beauty standards, but do not tell
the pain or price of beauty. Women regularly go through unbelievably
painful, and often life-threatening procedures to obtain society's idea
of beauty. The color pink was chosen for the background of this photo
because of its association with femininity in society. In the photo,
half of the mannequin’s face is deliberately darkened. The only side of
her face that is illuminated is the side where there is no evidence of
work done to achieve beauty. This was done to suggest that models only
disclose the end product of their looks and not how much time, effort,
or money is put into these so-called natural looks. The darkened side
serves to represent all the behind the scenes work done to achieve
perfection. it is an important reminder that very few people can look
like how they present themselves to social media. For this reason, I
chose to use a mannequin instead of a living subject. It suggests the
unattainability and superficiality of society's beauty standards. The
perfection that is demanded by society is not possible. The only thing
able to achieve these impossible beauty standards is a lifeless doll or
mannequin.
Works Cited
Greenfield, Lauren. “Girl Culture.” GIRL CULTURE - Lauren Greenfield, 2002, v1.zonezero.com/exposiciones/fotografos/girlcult/greenfield06.html.
2 comments:
From, Sasiya
I love your picture and 100% agreed with you, what it’s like for a girl to be woman. I think this is toxin for girls. The pictures so well illustrate the struggles and concerns from the past until today of teenage girl that trying to be attractive to be beautiful by makeup, hair, body to be skinny, I saw a lot on social media like you said on twitter, Instagram, Facebook and many websites is toxin. Sometime is not real but the social media want persuade you to do it. The picture and your essay prove just how hard it is to grow up female to be. I would like to add more about the taking up space, the model not powerful in this picture because she looks small in their picture and a lot of space pink around her like she is in tape and she is at in the conner, it feels like defensive. The way you positioned the color pink is definitely know that represent for girl for beautiful and half black color represent of painful, sad that I feel like you spoke to me. I used to be like that, I was trying to be beautiful by spending a lot of money buy makeup and clothes to be attractive after a while I think people will look old not look beautiful anymore, so instead of buying makeup I spent money to pay for education. I think to be smart is more important than be beautiful.
From Jennifer,
I enjoy your picture quite a bit. I really like the way you purposefully illuminated one side of her face as to juxtapose the dark side. This allows the viewer to think about the picture at a deeper level.
I tried to interpret the meaning of the photo before reading what you wrote to see if I would find something different but the same meaning came to my mind. I thought that you left one side of the face dark as to show how women put themselves through certain procedures, diets, or very complicated makeup and hair routines to achieve their “perfect” selves. There is a joke on Twitter that shows girls doing natural makeup but their natural makeup routine is long and complex. I think this can also encompass those times where celebrities hide their plastic surgery because they don’t want to be called fake or to receive any backlash. Celebrities who don’t have any plastic surgery and are “lacking” in some areas according to their fans also receive criticism.
I also thought that it could represent the dark, hidden feelings that women keep to themselves. A lot of girls struggle with their body image and they don’t have the chance to talk about it. This can lead to the girls feeling empty and alone. Especially when they are constantly being complimented on their appearance but they never quite feel beautiful.
I love your reasoning for using a mannequin instead of a real person. I think that you using a mannequin but showing human hands in the picture can symbolize society and its conquest to change girls as much as possible to conform to its beauty standards. I also think that in the background of the photo it looks like there is a table/chair that is covered by the pink sheet to place the mannequin after it is done getting ready and it reminded me of how we put women who fit societies beauty standards (celebrities and models) on a pedestal. The ruffles in the sheet create lines that were all over the place and I thought that made the photo seem a little off-putting and uncomfortable.
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