From: Sierra
adolescent girls. Media heavily emphasizes the importance of appearance for girls. Many of the images used in modeling magazines and in acting or animated characters on T.V. over exaggerate the female body with the main focus being the tiny, dainty, and fragile nature of feminine beauty. This leads to girls striving to achieve those same unrealistic, edited looks through harmful means including excessive physical activity and even developing eating disorders leaving them undernourished and exhausted. In Girl Culture by Lauren Greenfield, we hear the story of many girls one of which being the story of Erin (22) talking about her eating addiction which started at the age of 12. She talks about her small size being part of her personality and identity which she fears losing despite her severe lack of nutrition to the point where she barely has enough energy to stand and walk. In the interview, she talks about how as time went on it got harder and harder for her to break away from the eating disorders and that she wishes she stopped when she was younger and could. This goes to show that even with the knowledge of how harmful an eating disorder is and the experience of how difficult life is when you don't have the strength to take care of yourself, the urge to fit those beauty standards is even stronger in our society. As we learn from The “Two Cultures” Of Childhood (Rudman et al.) these images of what a woman should look and act like are implanted and enforced at such a young age. The “Two Cultures” of Childhood claims children begin picking up on gendered differences as young as 3 years old
In my photo, I used the creative techniques of lines, on the mirror to draw attention to the face where you can see first the exhaustion and second that leads to the next technique I used, which was the gaze. We can see her staring into the mirror desperately examining her body rather than seeing herself shes simply sees the body she is confined to and how it measures up. Lastly, I used the angle and placement to symbolize that the image in the mirror is the main focus while the actual person is cut off, showing how the actual person is not deemed important or is overshadowed by the physical appearance.
Works Cited
Greenfield, Lauren. “GIRL CULTURE.” Girl Culture - Lauren Greenfield, Zone Zero, 2001, http://v1.zonezero.com/exposiciones/fotografos/girlcult/greenfield18.html.
Rudman, Laurie A., et al. “The Two Cultures of Childhood,” The Psychology of Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations. The Gilford Press, 2015, 59-63
2 comments:
From Maddie
I think this photo is excellent, the focus of the camera seems to be on the stomach, which is a great way to demonstrate how society hyper-focuses on one aspect of young girls and makes it into an unattainable standard. I don't know if the makeup in the back was intentional, but it certainly adds to the photo, pointing out how beauty companies often contribute to the issue.
From Ryann:
Hey Sierra,
To start, I really enjoy the depth of the photo you have submitted. The lines drawing attention as you stated were a smart move. I also enjoy how you used the technique of background. I am unsure if it was intentional, but the background of your photo is simple except for the additional mirror on the bottom and what looks to be make-up. This idea also ties into what you were saying about the pressure placed females to be perfect and to look a certain way. Similarly, to what we had seen in “Girl Culture,” the way she is posing in the picture even just in her legs is not what we do naturally. Girls grow up seeing all these photos of “perfection” and imitate them thinking that is what they are supposed to do. Powerful photo and well done.
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