From: Emma
Growing up as a girl you are faced with endless standards of beauty, so much so that it often feels as if you can only see what’s “wrong” when you look in the mirror. These standards of beauty are ingrained in girls' heads from childhood with something as seemingly innocent as a Barbie doll and never cease to plague our minds through social media, magazines, and television even as adults. The subtopic that I chose to focus on for my photo is the consequences of unrealistic beauty standards on adolescent girls. This photo speaks to that subtopic as it embodies the feeling that unrealistic beauty standards give to young girls.
In class we read, The Two Cultures of Childhood which discusses gender schemas that are formed during childhood based on the social environment in which children are raised. In the text it says, “The miniaturized human figures girls play with typically include baby dolls or feminine icons such as Barbie. Barbie and her legion of imitators represent feminine ideals…” (Rudman, 61) When one of the first feminine ideals young girls with moldable minds are exposed to on a regular basis is a human-like doll with impossible bodily proportions, long shiny hair, and perfect makeup, whether they realize it or not a standard is being formed in their head. This unrealistic beauty standard is then thrown in their faces repeatedly for the rest of their adolescence, whether it be another type of feminized toy, a Disney princess with an impossibly small waist, or a magazine they pick up at a doctor’s office. When society is constantly pushing this narrative of the “ideal body” and exposing young girls to such an unattainable standard 24/7 it begins to affect the way they see themselves.
I chose to use my bathroom mirror as the focal point because the predominantly white space contrasts sharply with the red lipstick on the mirror, symbolizing the innocence disrupted by imposed beauty ideals. The messy background of a cluttered counter filled with makeup reflects not only the ways girls attempt to meet unattainable standards but also the mental clutter (negative thoughts and insecurities) that arise from constant exposure to the "ideal body," represented in my photo by bikini models displayed on the laptop screen. My model covers her eyes for multiple reasons. First, by taking away her sense of sight it represents the impaired self-perception that often accompanies body dysmorphia, a condition exacerbated by beauty standards. Second, it suggests a desire to hide from not only the images on the laptop and the cruel words scrawled across the mirror but also the overwhelming pressure to conform to an impossible ideal
In Lauren Greenfield’s photo essay, “Girl Culture” that we studied in class a thirteen year old girl, Lisa, said, “There is so much peer pressure. I mean, not with drugs or cigarettes or anything, but with the fact that everybody has to look the same.” This is the effect of a society that is relentless in its critiques of the female body, young girls feel as though if they don’t look the way women in magazines, or their favorite television show look then they are somehow unworthy. In the interview conducted for the photo essay Lisa goes on to say, “...you have to live with it. All the time. I mean, you think about it when you fix your hair, when you look in the mirror. It’s always what other people think.” Lisa says here herself that she thinks about the way she’s “supposed” to look, according to society, every time that she looks in the mirror, my photo is just an outward reflection of those plaguing internal thoughts.
Works Cited
- Greenfield, Lauren. Girl Culture Introduction by Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Melcher Media, Inc., 2002.
- Rudman, Laurie A., et al. “The Two Cultures of Childhood” The Social Psychology of Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations. The Guilford Press, 2015, 59-63.
2 comments:
This is a very artful representation of how it feels to be a teenage girl. We are taught from a very young age that part of being a girl or woman is matching what other people think you should look like, that beauty is integral to our value as girls and women. This is something that always felt very prevalent to me when I was a teenager, not only in my own head but the way my friends would talk about themselves, too. The beauty products sprawled out over the counter next to the laptop with models on the screen reflect an effort to reach that standard well. I also like the use of negative words on the mirror to symbolize what a girl or woman might think when she looks at herself. The model covering her eyes is a great use of the senses to depict a girl who is overwhelmed by beauty standards and hiding from that overwhelm or even hiding from herself. I can also see this reflecting the model’s inability to perceive herself correctly because of how society and the media make her think she should look. This is a relatively common problem among young women and one that significantly impacts mental health. Something else I find very interesting about your photo is that I can see inside the mirror being a symbol of the beauty “box” we try to conform to, and see the words on that mirror as the box showing us exactly what we need to change about ourselves to fit in. This photo excellently exemplifies the mental strain that comes with growing up as a girl and picking up on the feminine bodies that are shown to us over time.
From: Brooke Belange
Emma, I think this is a great topic and addresses a very widespread issue within women and how we are bound to feel this way from an early age with things like barbie dolls. As a 19 year old girl I relate to your essay very strongly and interpret these messages very clearly. One of my favorite creative elements that you included in your photo was the laptop with bikini models in the background. I think this really represents how often women and young girls compare themselves to these unrealistic beauty influencers and models and the mental struggles that come with it. I myself constantly compare myself to thin girls I see on social media including influencers on Tik Tok and models and I don’t think this toxicity is addressed enough. Many young girls in today's society struggle with body dysmorphia and body image because of the amount of media we are exposed to which is why I also love that the girl in the photo was covering her eyes to represent a blindness to what she really looks like. This kind of reminds of The Two Cultures of Childhood as Rudman's point was that gender schemas are deeply formed in early childhood through toys such as Barbie who is supposed to represent femininity. Including makeup cluttered in the background was also a great representation of the “mental clutter” that us girls face when thinking about how to look better or closer to the beauty standard of thin, blonde, and tan. The fact that the image was also centered around the mirror with words such as “slut” and “fat” in red lipstick is a very powerful message showing the loss of innocence you mentioned as well as how early beauty standards take an effect on girls' lives and disrupt girls' self images. Great job!
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