In today’s world, media heavily affects the way we perceive ourselves. The ideal body image that most people perceive nowadays is no longer based on an average but based on how media and society promotes it and that is a body that is highly unattainable for most women. Media promotes size 0 as the ideal body image causing many women judge themselves based on the beauty industry’s standards. Mass media defines the ideal body image by promoting it through the various platforms such as magazines, advertisements, and television and that is extremely immature. One example to prove my point is that the girls on magazine covers are mostly photo shopped to perfection.
In the 1960’s a new model emerged that did not have to worry about exercising or dieting just to keep up with the thin models. She set a whole new standard to what was considered to be a skinny model. She weighed 89 pounds and stood at 5’6. This weight could not be achieved by most models and it started a dreadful trend where if they were not this thin they were considered to be fat (Media’s Portrayal of Women, 2010). Today, the advertising world promotes products to young girls using thin models influencing them that being thin is the only way to be.
Fashion industries and the media have the power of impact and models are the symbols of what women should look like in our Western world society. Because of this, women are pressured to become the almost unreachable goal of being a beautiful twig. Ashley Newman was one of three girls chosen to be recruited as an Elite Fashion Model. Wow! An Elite Fashion Model was a major deal.
Adolescents and Body Image Recently, the world witnessed a surge of criticism on fat-shaming, with many plus-sized women coming out to flaunt their bodies and starting “Love Your Body” campaigns. Size zero went from an ideal body size to something women started looking at as unnecessarily and disgustingly unattainable. Marilyn Monroe became the new ‘ideal’ of a woman. Today, more women want to be like her. More runway designers are showcasing plus-size models in their shows and designing clothes for bigger-sized women.
According to modern day society, girls should walk and talk pretty, have perfect skin, and cake on makeup; they should watch their weight and keep up with the newest trends in fashion. The mass media depicts unrealistic images of beauty, which have led many adolescent girls to attempt to become these unattainable figures. Girls go to extreme measures to imitate society’s impractical beliefs of beauty. The pressure that society puts on women to be thin is unhealthy, which links to the increasing rate of eating disorders and psychological problems among young women. There have been plenty of studies linked to the negative impacts of body image caused by the media.
Is it fair that the female body image appear as thin? Why aren’t all shapes and sizes displayed on the media? A current social standard for the ideal female thinness is almost impossible to achieve by healthy standards. Diets and exercise can help but they take longer and many girls will become impatient. Often times after viewing the media one’s self esteem is lowered.
Hatsune Miku is being constructed as a gendered performer through the fan base of mainly otakus. Because many “otakus” seem to like teenage girls wearing little to no clothes, we can see Hatsune Miku take this form. Her image is of a teenage girl that wears short skirts and in different fan art images we can see her even more underdressed than usual. Hatsune Miku can be modified because she herself is just an image. The fans are able to compose and remix their own music and sync it with the vocaloid.
Thinner women tend to be more of the load, attention hungry, very emotional type everything is said dramatically. Thick women can be load but because of their curves they don’t need to be, stronger skinned usually due to being confident in themselves. Yes, every women has an attitude, wither it be good or bad, but the way those attitudes collide with one another is where the war come into play. Skinny women have attitudes with other women because they feel that every woman wants to be skinny. Which in reality most women with weight are comfortable with it.
It's disturbing to think that girls like you and me are doing this to their bodies simply because of what is portrayed in magazines like vogue and fashion catalogues. Media targeting teenage girls, like you and me, are emphasising the ideal of thinness as beauty. The media and fashion industry in my viewpoint are pushing a dangerously thin image that young girls may try to emulate. The promotion of the thin, sexy ideal in our culture has created a situation where the majority of girls and women don't like their bodies. This then leads
All the time the media makes girls think that in order to feel beautiful, popular, or desirable they have to look like these women seen on TV or in magazines. As you may know, celebrities are the perfect way to get people to conform to something. Everybody always wants to be noticed for having, doing, or wearing the same thing a famous person has. Take K. Michelle and Adrianna Lima for example, K. Michelle is a singer who some people might say has the perfect body. In the black community having a big butt and a tiny waist along with a good weave makes a girl, the kind of girl that boys dream about and want their girlfriends to look like.