The Causes
The Media's tactics used to portray the "perfect" woman to all women in America, and the world, are the causes of the negative effects on women. These causes have been used in the media for decades to do exactly what happens to women, negatively effect them, to make whatever the media is "selling" detrimental to all women.
The media's impossible portrayal of the perfect woman is achieved through multiple ways...
Photoshop and Image Alteration
Look at any advertisement, commercial, photograph, or where ever a celebrity is pictured, and it has been, most certainly, altered. Pictures of celebrities on covers of magazines or issued in an article are all altered in some way. Most pictures have gone through extreme alterations, with up to 30 rounds of altering(Chill Out Point). It's no wonder why women are always trying and failing to look like what the media portrays, it's impossible. Women can never look like celebrities, but don't fret, because neither can celebrities themselves!
Just look at these before and after photoshop pictures of celebrities:
Pictures of celebrities and models are so intensely altered, but women seem to forget that. Women try to look like the celebrities and models they see in magazines and pictures, but the celebrities and models themselves don't even look like that. The impossible standards that the media has set, causes women to fail at their attempts to be "perfect" before they even start. The result? Women keep trying. They buy more into the media, and thus, the vicious cycle continues.
Commercials and Advertisements
Every commercial advertising to women features the same thing: a young, thin, and drop dead beautiful women. And that featured women is always selling you something: Make-up, anti-aging cream, or any other product the media is selling to women. The pressure from commercials and advertisements make women feel the need to look younger, thinner, prettier, and thus, make women buy more into the media and its products. The ingenious part, is women don't even notice. More than 95% of advertising is effecting one's unconscious, which means women don't even realize just how effected they are by the media. The amount of exposure to advertising is massive. "Over $180 billion are now spent on advertising in the U.S. and the average person sees over 3,000 ads daily."(Dove Campaign for Real Beauty). "The number of hours of television watched by the average North American child at 5000 hours, including 80,000 advertisements, before kindergarten age" (Portrayal of Women in the Popular Media). The constant exposure of advertising to women, without women knowing just how influential it is, causes women's perception of beauty and how a women should look to be molded by the media.
Unnatural Portrayals
The media's "perfect woman" portrayal is that of a tall, thin women, with long legs and a beautiful face. However that body is, for most women, impossible to obtain. In fact, only "5% of women have the genetic body of a model", meaning only 5% of women can actually have the body the media portrays to women as "perfect" (Dove Campaign for Real Beauty). And, "the average woman model weighs up to 25% less than the typical woman and maintains a weight at about 15 to 20 percent below what is considered healthy for her age and height" (Something Fishy). In the fashion industry "agencies are looking for is about a 25″ waist and a 34-35″ hip" (Wiseman).The 95% of women who want the body the media portrays still try to obtain the "perfect" body, but will always fail. The portrayal of women in the media is unnatural because only a pathetically small percent of women even have the genetics of obtaining the media's perfect body(and even they will most likely fail and/or be unhealthy because of it), yet all women are shown and pressured to obtain a body they can't have.
It's not just high-fashion, runway models who portray unnatural bodies of women, celebrities do too. Kate Moss, Cameron Diaz, Julia Roberts, Diana Ross, Niki Taylor, and Elle Macpherson all have BMIs at or under 17.5, which meets the criteria of the American Psychological Association's for anorexia nervosa. "Supermodels Kate Moss, Niki Taylor and Elle Macpherson have BMIs under 17 and exist at 'third world starvation BMI criteria.'"(Caring Online). "One-quarter of models and centerfolds met the American Psychological Association's weight criteria for anorexia nervosa -- a BMI of 17.5 or below. Virtually all the centerfolds were underweight, and so were three-quarters of the models" (Caring Online).
Barbie's popularity with girls:
Barbie's Body:
Parents like Peggy are sure their child is effected by the stereotypical Disney and fear that their young girls will grow up to be depend on men, value the appearance and beauty of themselves and others, and take away the wrong messages from Disney. Disney sends both good and bad messages to young girls, and those bad messages can be cause for future problems in girls lives.
Sources:
1. "Portrayal of Women in the Popular Media ." Global Status of Women. World Savvy Monitor, 2012. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://worldsavvy.org/monitor/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=602&Itemid=1049>.
2. "Dove Campaign for Real Beauty." Dove. Dove, 2012. Web. 1 Apr. 2012.
Look at any advertisement, commercial, photograph, or where ever a celebrity is pictured, and it has been, most certainly, altered. Pictures of celebrities on covers of magazines or issued in an article are all altered in some way. Most pictures have gone through extreme alterations, with up to 30 rounds of altering(Chill Out Point). It's no wonder why women are always trying and failing to look like what the media portrays, it's impossible. Women can never look like celebrities, but don't fret, because neither can celebrities themselves!
Just look at these before and after photoshop pictures of celebrities:
"Celebrities Before and After Photoshop." Chill Out Point. N.p., 2010. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. <http://www.chilloutpoint.com/misc/celebrities-before-and-after-photoshop.html>.
"Celebrities Before and After Photoshop." Chill Out Point. N.p., 2010. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. <http://www.chilloutpoint.com/misc/celebrities-before-and-after-photoshop.html>.
"Celebrities Before and After Photoshop." Chill Out Point. N.p., 2010. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. <http://www.chilloutpoint.com/misc/celebrities-before-and-after-photoshop.html>.
"Celebrities Before and After Photoshop." Chill Out Point. N.p., 2010. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. <http://www.chilloutpoint.com/misc/celebrities-before-and-after-photoshop.html>.
Pictures of celebrities and models are so intensely altered, but women seem to forget that. Women try to look like the celebrities and models they see in magazines and pictures, but the celebrities and models themselves don't even look like that. The impossible standards that the media has set, causes women to fail at their attempts to be "perfect" before they even start. The result? Women keep trying. They buy more into the media, and thus, the vicious cycle continues.
Commercials and Advertisements
Every commercial advertising to women features the same thing: a young, thin, and drop dead beautiful women. And that featured women is always selling you something: Make-up, anti-aging cream, or any other product the media is selling to women. The pressure from commercials and advertisements make women feel the need to look younger, thinner, prettier, and thus, make women buy more into the media and its products. The ingenious part, is women don't even notice. More than 95% of advertising is effecting one's unconscious, which means women don't even realize just how effected they are by the media. The amount of exposure to advertising is massive. "Over $180 billion are now spent on advertising in the U.S. and the average person sees over 3,000 ads daily."(Dove Campaign for Real Beauty). "The number of hours of television watched by the average North American child at 5000 hours, including 80,000 advertisements, before kindergarten age" (Portrayal of Women in the Popular Media). The constant exposure of advertising to women, without women knowing just how influential it is, causes women's perception of beauty and how a women should look to be molded by the media.
Unnatural Portrayals
The media's "perfect woman" portrayal is that of a tall, thin women, with long legs and a beautiful face. However that body is, for most women, impossible to obtain. In fact, only "5% of women have the genetic body of a model", meaning only 5% of women can actually have the body the media portrays to women as "perfect" (Dove Campaign for Real Beauty). And, "the average woman model weighs up to 25% less than the typical woman and maintains a weight at about 15 to 20 percent below what is considered healthy for her age and height" (Something Fishy). In the fashion industry "agencies are looking for is about a 25″ waist and a 34-35″ hip" (Wiseman).The 95% of women who want the body the media portrays still try to obtain the "perfect" body, but will always fail. The portrayal of women in the media is unnatural because only a pathetically small percent of women even have the genetics of obtaining the media's perfect body(and even they will most likely fail and/or be unhealthy because of it), yet all women are shown and pressured to obtain a body they can't have.
Wiseman, Elizabeth. "Model Thin." How to be a Model Blog. Elizabeth Wiseman,
2012. Web. 6 Apr. 2012. <http://www.howtobeamodelblog.com/2010/12/
model-thin/>.
2012. Web. 6 Apr. 2012. <http://www.howtobeamodelblog.com/2010/12/
model-thin/>.
It's not just high-fashion, runway models who portray unnatural bodies of women, celebrities do too. Kate Moss, Cameron Diaz, Julia Roberts, Diana Ross, Niki Taylor, and Elle Macpherson all have BMIs at or under 17.5, which meets the criteria of the American Psychological Association's for anorexia nervosa. "Supermodels Kate Moss, Niki Taylor and Elle Macpherson have BMIs under 17 and exist at 'third world starvation BMI criteria.'"(Caring Online). "One-quarter of models and centerfolds met the American Psychological Association's weight criteria for anorexia nervosa -- a BMI of 17.5 or below. Virtually all the centerfolds were underweight, and so were three-quarters of the models" (Caring Online).
Barbie
A classic young girl's toy, what could be the harm in girl's beloved Barbie? The answer; quite a bit.
Here is how Barbie would look if she were in life size form according to her doll dimensions..."Barbie-type dolls have often been blamed on playing a role in the development of body-image problems and Eating Disorders. Not only do these dolls have fictionally proportioned, small body sizes, but they lean towards escalating the belief that materialistic possessions, beauty and thinness equate happiness....it helps to perpetuate an ideal of materialism, beauty, and being thin as important elements to happiness in one's life. At an age where children are very impressionable and seek to be like the role models around them, it's important to emphasize that they are pretend"(Something Fishy).
Slayen, Galia. "The Scary Reality of a Real-Life Barbie Doll." The Huffington
Post College. The Huffington Post, 8 Apr. 2011. Web. 1 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/galia-slayen/the-scary-reality-of-a-re_b_845239.html>.
Barbie's popularity with girls:
- There are two Barbie dolls sold every second in the world.
- The target market for Barbie doll sales is young girls ages 3-12 years of age.
- A girl usually has her first Barbie by age 3, and collects a total of seven dolls during her childhood.
- Over a billion dollars worth of Barbie dolls and accessories were sold in 1993, making this doll big business and one of the top 10 toys sold (Slayen).
Barbie's Body:
- If Barbie were an actual women, she would be 5'9" tall, have a 39" bust, an 18" waist, 33" hips and a size 3 shoe.
- At 5'9" tall and weighing 110 lbs, Barbie would have a BMI of 16.24 and fit the weight criteria for anorexia.
To compare to the previously mentioned desired dimensions of models, the "perfect" waist is 25", where as, Barbie has a waist of only 18". That is a 7" difference and is very influential when models with a waist of 25" are already 25% under weight, now, imagine how under weight Barbie would be. Though most young girls don't read too much into the appearance of their Barbie dolls and her dimensions, it does mold their perspectives on beauty and can shape how young girls think they should appear. Obviously, young girls basing how they should appear off of Barbie is worrying because her dimensions are physically impossible to achieve.
Disney
Another classic time of a young child's youth, but is Disney sending young girls the wrong messages? Some would say, "No." but other parents, like Peggy Orenstein, the author of Cinderella Ate my Daughter, would say, "Yes!".
There’s no denying that the leading ladies aren’t exactly how they used to be. While birds are dressing Cinderella, Mulan is dressing herself in her father’s battle armor. Instead of singing about meeting her prince “once upon a dream” like Princess Aurora, Tiana dreams of opening her own restaurant. “Tangled’s” Rapunzel has been noted for her spunk and hair-whipping (O'Connor).But do any of these princess upgrades matter when the stories’ all-is-resolved “happily ever after” always includes marriage? When the princess phenomenon’s suggestions of what it means to be feminine are scaring some parents while comforting others? When the princesses, no matter how smart and empowered or helpless and delicate they may be in the movies, will have their legacies live on in play makeup sets, talking vanities, princess costumes and accessories that make few allusions to the characters’ strengths and admirable qualities? Parents are called upon to think about and decide how much of a princess they are OK with their own daughter being, for with princess movies come princess play and dress-up (O'Connor).
121 girls, ages 3-6, were asked to pick the "real princess" from a photo collection of girls in ballerina costumes, 50 percent of the girls chose the thinnest ballerina (O'Connor).
Rock, Amanda. "Who Are the Disney Princesses?" Guide to the Disney Princesses.
The New York Times Company, 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2012. <http:///
preschoolers.about.com/od/technologyentertainment/ss/
Guide-To-The-Disney-Princesses.htm>.
Parents like Peggy are sure their child is effected by the stereotypical Disney and fear that their young girls will grow up to be depend on men, value the appearance and beauty of themselves and others, and take away the wrong messages from Disney. Disney sends both good and bad messages to young girls, and those bad messages can be cause for future problems in girls lives.
Conclusions
There are many causes of the negative effects on women through the media. The portrayal of women in the media has a vast amount of mediums, making many causes of problems for women. What now needs to be done is acting on a solution to these causes and effects.
Sources:
1. "Portrayal of Women in the Popular Media ." Global Status of Women. World Savvy Monitor, 2012. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://worldsavvy.org/monitor/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=602&Itemid=1049>.
2. "Dove Campaign for Real Beauty." Dove. Dove, 2012. Web. 1 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.dove.us/Social-Mission/campaign-for-real-beauty.aspx>.
3. "The Media." Something Fishy: Website on Eating Disorders. Something Fishy
Website on Eating Disorders, 2007. Web. 31 Mar. 2012.
<http://www.something-fishy.org/cultural/themedia.php>.
4. "Celebrities Before and After Photoshop." Chill Out Point. N.p., 2010. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. <http://www.chilloutpoint.com/misc/celebrities-before-and-after-photoshop.html>
5. Wiseman, Elizabeth. "Model Thin." How to be a Model Blog. Elizabeth Wiseman,
4. "Celebrities Before and After Photoshop." Chill Out Point. N.p., 2010. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. <http://www.chilloutpoint.com/misc/celebrities-before-and-after-photoshop.html>
5. Wiseman, Elizabeth. "Model Thin." How to be a Model Blog. Elizabeth Wiseman,
2012. Web. 6 Apr. 2012. <http://www.howtobeamodelblog.com/2010/12/
model-thin/>.
6. Slayen, Galia. "The Scary Reality of a Real-Life Barbie Doll." The Huffington
Post College. The Huffington Post, 8 Apr. 2011. Web. 1 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/galia-slayen/the-scary-reality-of-a-re_b_845239.html>.
7. "Eating Disorders." Caring Online. Caring Online, 2010. Web. 6 Apr. 2012.
7. "Eating Disorders." Caring Online. Caring Online, 2010. Web. 6 Apr. 2012.
<http://test.caringonline.com/eatdis/news/news22.htm>.
8. O'Connor, Lydia. "The Princess Effect: Are Girls Too 'Tangled' In Disney's
8. O'Connor, Lydia. "The Princess Effect: Are Girls Too 'Tangled' In Disney's
Fantasy?" Annenberg Digital News. USC Annenberg, 2012. Web. 1 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.neontommy.com/news/2011/01/
princess-effect-are-girls-too-tangled-disneys-fantasy>.
9. Rock, Amanda. "Who Are the Disney Princesses?" Guide to the Disney Princesses.
The New York Times Company, 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2012. <http:///
preschoolers.about.com/od/technologyentertainment/ss/
Guide-To-The-Disney-Princesses.htm>.
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