Magazine

December 3, 2012

What is beauty?

Caution: The

media does

not portray

REALITY

$ Beauty is Priceless

The media’s

portrayal of

women’s

beauty

The Beauty Myth

Page 3

A note from the Editor: Kaitlin Brunetti

With media being so predominant within our society, images

are available to us daily and are unavoidable. These images

are often unrealistic and unattainable, thus making us

self-conscious of our bodies and materialistic items. With

images of luxury homes, cars, glamorous clothes, and

outrageous body images, we often see ourselves wanting this

unattainable lifestyle. The media portrays beauty as being

thin, white and flawless. This produces a very unrealistic

image in society. With magazine covers splattered with ways

to be thin, amazing age correcting makeup and celebrity

gossip, many people find it hard to turn away. The media

turns women into objects with an image that is unrealistic.

This photo essay will examine how the media uses women to

Women’s Beauty

call it “beauty”.

promote beauty, thinness, glamour, and looks, thus

influencing our perceptions. Young women are looking at

these images wanting to achieve them, and viewing these

stereotypes as TRUTH. These stereotypes affect our culture

and influence the youth. I will demonstrate the lies behind

the media. Often, television is listed as the main source

of information for today's youth (Holtzman, p. 74). This

affects the view of ourselves and what we think we should

look like. With the media surrounding us, we automatically

gravitate towards it, like second nature. Unconsciously it

allows us to believe women are nothing but objects for

men’s desire. When we see women on television, they are

often young, beautiful and flawless, unless it is for a

specific reason. While the men on television are also

supposed to be good looking, it is more of a priority that

the women be young and good-looking. In fact, the cut-off

age for female portrayal is age forty; for men it is ten

years higher, at age fifty (Holtzman, p. 75). Men are

usually the dominance and women are the followers. Even in

magazines with the “Celebs without makeup!” section, it

portrays this idea that beauty is materialistic. So readers

remember that you are beautiful and you don’t ever need to

compare yourself to any model or celebrity. Those dimples

you hate are indents of beauty, and those crinkles by your

eyes means you love to smile. Live by my motto that beauty

is priceless.

Warning: All women

portrayed in this

magazine are beautiful,

just like you.

Women’s Beauty

The Beauty myth supports all of my

arguments outlined in this

magazine. Naomi Wolf discusses how

the physical appearance of women in

society became very strict, and how

appearance is more important than

beauty. Beauty is a norm within

society, yet it is unattainable.

Wolf states in her book that

“[Women have] the choice to do

whatever we want with our faces and

bodies without being punished”.

Women are forced to conform based

on the daily media.

The Beauty Myth:

I will

demonstrate

how the media

does not show

true beauty

and the

consequences

it has on

women.

Aging is a “must not” when

it comes to the media.

Wrinkles, age spots and

crow’s feet don’t exist in

the world of advertising.

Advertising and makeup

companies take advantage

of the new idea of “anti-

aging”- where their

products erase time and

make you young again. This

supports the idea of being

unrealistic within society.

Everyone is eventually going

to age and a cream is not

going to stop that.

Erase

Those

Wrinkles

This supports the idea of Laura Mulvey’s idea “to be looked-at-ness” in her

piece "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema". Makeup essentially makes

women more appealing to the eye. You often hear women say they can’t

leave the house without makeup on, thus supporting Mulvey’s idea. In the

media, they get women’s best angles, ensuring they have long legs or a tall

neck. Of course editing comes into play; however it all occurs for one main

reason- the appeal of women’s appearance. Instead of erasing those

wrinkles, we should erase the stereotype in society of “true beauty”. This

photo represents the idea that with the help of man-made products;

women can erase those ugly lines right off their face, in one swift motion.

This photo represents

the same idea on the

next page and how

technology can change

any photograph. This

photo is quite believable

to the naked eye, but

when we see the original

photo, we see this is not

the case. This goes back

to the idea of the beauty

myth and “to be looked-

at-ness” showing this is

how women think they

need to look like.

Continue on to next page.

Dove Commercial: The Evolution of Beauty

Beauty is just a click

away, thanks to

technology.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omBfg3UwkYM

Dove campaigned in 2010 about how the media can edit pictures. This commercial shows an average women being transformed into a supermodel. It then shows her photo being edited just like the magazines. This shows that the media does not represent what is true. With technology today, any image can be made into what we think classifies as “good”. With these images surrounding us, we start to believe them. In the video, they show her neck being lengthened, her face made narrow and her eyebrows raised. This resembles the look of Barbie in our society. Barbie is an unrealistic figure with a small waist, and large bust, emphasising that this is what society is attempting to make women look like. With the media, television, and toy industry,

“Girls are inundated at a younger and younger age that proper femininity includes being beautiful and thin” (Cocarla, Girlhood, September 24). Girls and women are looking at these unrealistic images and seeing them as attainable. Men treat women as objects, because that is what the media portrays them to be. The video attached shows the time lapse of the editing taking place. At the click of a button, all of her flaws just disappear. It is unfortunate this does not exist in real life. Many women view these ads and think their beauty is attainable. In reality, women in the media (and men) are just everyday people like you and me, but with photo editing software behind them.

Before

After

Of Women as

Power Figures

Movies in the media rarely

portray women as power figures, and

when they do, they are usually cold-

hearted, focusing on their careers with

no time for a romance. They often

usually don’t care about their

appearance either, thus sending a

negative message to powerful women

in society. It tells them in order to be

successful; you must sacrifice family

and friendships. This photo shows that

successful women can sometimes scare

men, because they do not always look

like other women in society. There are

often no role models within society for

young women aspiring to be something

great to look up to. This supports the

idea that women are seen as simply

objects for men’s desire, and when

they are successful, they are usually

invisible to men. This representation is

similar to the portrayal of women of

power in the media (Sarah Palin and

Hillary Clinton). Power and beauty

can’t possibly exist together and these

women often experience

discrimination. In the film The

Proposal, Margaret Tate (played by

Sandra Bullock) is often called a witch

on her broom that everyone is scared

of- thus, showing the portrayal of

success and women in the media.

There are many successful women that

are beautiful, but we need to ask

ourselves what beauty truly is.

This image is from an ad for Levi Jeans. All the women look the same except for a little

variance in shade of skin tone and sizes of certain body parts. If the media portrayed

actual culture variance, many people would feel more comfortable in their own skin.

This ad represents the dominance of white in society and thinness. This emphasizes the

themes of “fat phobia” in society and race in our culture. Within the media, larger

women are hardly portrayed unless for a reason, or being critiqued. When was the last

time you saw a 200 pound women walking down the runway? Never. Popular

representations of fatness in the media are either for comedic purposes or for the thrill

of losing weight and body shaming women (Cocarla, The Beauty Myth, October 15). This

photo represents the narrow-mindedness of society and body variance. It shows that in

order to be “hot” you must look like the women in the photos. If hotness truly comes in

all shapes and sizes, why is it that we don’t see it more often within the media?

Children in the media are starting to be portrayed in a very negative and condescending way. With children having access to television, the internet, magazines and other forms of media, they start to make connections about their body and appearance to what they see in society. The photo on the left represents the idea that she wants to be thin, thus must watch her weight. It can also represent that she thinks there is an ideal body size in society. The image on the right represents the show Toddlers and Tiaras. The children in the show are highly sexualized and act like young women. The image demonstrates all the “extras” it takes to perform in a beauty pageant. Should beauty pageants not demonstrate true beauty? Within society “Girls are inundated at a younger and younger age that proper femininity

includes being beautiful and thin” (Cocarla, Girlhood, September 24). Society must teach children and young women what the true definition of beauty is, and that what the media portrays is a false representation. There are studies that support the finding that people who watch fifteen hours or more of television weekly are likely to believe what they see on television as reality (Gerbner in Holtzman, p. 74). This suggests that children’s exposure to the media truly does influence them. Even a young girl watching Toddlers and Tiaras may start to think that is what she needs to look like, in order to be accepted by society. They may think that beauty leads to money (rewards in the competition) and people being envious of them because of their beauty. In all scenarios, beauty defines who they are.

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The article, “Putting on Sexiness”

discusses how some clothing for young

children reflect images of adult clothing

and having sexual elements to them, thus

objectifying young pre-teen girls. Their

definition of sexualizing clothing was

“clothing that revealed or emphasized a

sexualized body part, had characteristics

associated with sexiness, and/or had

sexually suggestive writing.” (Goodin, 1)

With their studies findings, 29% of

clothing researched in stores had sexual

elements to it. Not surprisingly,

Abercrombie Kids had the highest

amount. (Goodin, 1) This shows that

even marketers are taking adult items,

and making it have a childish element to

it, in order to sell. There is clothing for

children that is revealing, and too tight

that should be reconsidered for selling to

children/youth. With shows like Toddlers

and Tiaras, clothing like this is seen as

acceptable, thus marketing towards

youth. If children are shopping with

parents, and see this type of clothing on

a regular basis, they will see it as being

acceptable. Children are surrounded by

television shows, magazines, and radio,

thus making it difficult to set boundaries.

With the objectification of women in

society, it is only a matter of time until it

happens to children. Outfits for children

are starting to look very similar to adults

clothing as illustrated in the pictures on

the right.

The saying “be happy with what

God gave you”, seems to have

disappeared within society.

Cosmetic surgeries seem to have

become a norm within society with

many conforming. With money and

a good doctor, people who are not

happy with their appearance can go

under the knife for a few hours and

come out with a new appearance

instantly. With ads being

everywhere about how easy it is,

people feel that beauty is that much

closer. People feel that nose and

bust will give them the confidence

they have always wanted.

Statistically, “11.7 million cosmetic

surgical and nonsurgical procedures

were performed in the United

States” (Cocarla, The Beauty Myth,

October 10) demonstrating an

increase in these procedures.

The article, Body Dissatisfaction: Among Middle-aged and Older Women supports the idea

that cosmetic surgery has become popular over the years in order to help women deal

with their self-esteem. With the evident persuasiveness of the media, it promotes

“images that glorify youthfulness, messages that tie self-worth to thinness, and products

that promise youth and beauty forever.” (Marshall) Women feel that their self-esteem is

related to their personal appearance. Aging women especially are aware of these ads and

images because the image of youth is so popular within our culture. Thus, disliking your

body has almost become a norm, “women are confronted with the impossible task of

trying to defy the natural process of aging through a variety of means, including fashion,

cosmetics, selective surgeries, and personal food choices.” (Marshall) This shows that

women are always at war with their aging bodies.

Just Fix Your Flaws.

It is evident that media is all around us,

whether in television, magazines, radio or

the web. Ideas about femininity within

society have a powerful influence over

people’s views of women and how

women view themselves. The fact that the

media is so accessible to us on a regular

basis; we do not comprehend how much

of an influence it has on women and

young girls. The photos presented show

the idea that the unrealistic portrayal of

women in the media do indeed affect our

self-esteem, and portray women as

objects of men. With the Beauty Myth as

an overall idea, with other theories such

as Lara Mulvey’s to be looked-at-ness,

and articles such as body dissatisfaction

emphasize that the media presents

women who are usually white, tall and

thin. This has become quite popular

within society, influencing how women

perceive themselves in society. Through

history, women have usually been seen as

the “weaker” sex, but I have

demonstrated that this is still evident

today. Women are simply objects to men.

With women conforming to society, it can

have many harmful consequences. Many

diet in order to stay thin leading to many

problems in the future, and cosmetic

surgeries are expensive and life altering.

Women in society should be a true

reflection of who they are, thus society

should not put such high expectations on

women and provide them with unrealistic

images. Beauty is so much more than

appearance; it is who you are as a person.

In Relation to Pop Culture

Works Cited:

Canning, Andrea . Are Some Halloween Kid Costumes Too Risque or Too Gory?. 2011. ABC News

Web. 3 Dec 2012.

Cocarla , Sasha . "Girlhood: Coming of Age in Popular Culture." Girls, Women and Popular Culture.

Wilfrid Laurier University. Brantford , Ontario . 24 September 2012. Lecture.

Cocarla , Sasha . "The Beauty Myth, Fatness, and Body Size Ideals, Part II." Girls, Women and Popular

Culture . Wilfrid Laurier University. Brantford, Ontario. 15 October 2012. Lecture.

Collins , Jada. Toddlers and Tiaras: Sexualizing Children. 2011. Total Life Web. 2 Dec 2012.

Devlin, Kate . Children as young as 10 feel pressure to have a 'perfect' body. 2012. The Telegraph Web.

3 Dec 2012.

Dove - "For Real Beauty". 2010. Choosn Winning Design Web. 2 Dec 2012.

Goodin, Samantha M., et al. ""Putting on" Sexiness: A Content Analysis of the Presence of Sexualizing

Characteristics in Girls' Clothing." Sex Roles 65.1-2 (2011): 1-12. Social Services Abstracts;

Sociological Abstracts. Web. 3 Dec. 2012.

Hochwarter, Vanessa. Photoshop me! 2012. Blog. Model Management Web. 2 Dec 2012.

Holtzman, L. (2000). Media messages. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

Marshall, Catherine, Christina Lengyel, and Alphonsus Utioh. "Body Dissatisfaction: Among Middle-

Aged and Older Women." Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research 73.2 (2012): e241-

7. CBCA Complete; ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source. Web. 2 Dec. 2012.

Ms., J. Silhouette. 2011. Definitely Filipino BlogWeb. 2 Dec 2012.

Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”. Screen, 16:3, Autumn 1975: 6-18.

Southern, Nathan. The Proposal. 2009. allmedia Web. 2 Dec 2012.

The Eraser has arrived. 2011. Beauty Talk Web. 2 Dec 2012.