The slender, “beautiful” women are regarded as influential, successful, and erotic. This being said, it is very much so based on facts and reason, also known as logos, in the aspect that real life is often viewed this way. Throughout Elementary school up to High school, no one wanted to be best friends with “the fat kid”. As the world already knows, girls and women in general seem to stress over their physical appearance and have been especially concerned about weight for many years now. The emotional effect media has on a woman’s mindset, or ethos, could very well send her overboard into what is commonly known as an eating disorder.
Media and the Female Body Image The media has become responsible for shaping and influencing woman’s individualities and body image. Research indicates that women are negatively affected by constant exposure to models that fulfill the unrealistic media ideal of beauty. Alex Flinn of Beastly, states “Just because something is beautiful doesn´t mean it´s good.” Standards of feminine beauty are presented in all forms of media, barraging women with images that portray what is considered to be the "ideal body." Such standards of beauty are almost completely impossible for most women; a majority of the models displayed in the media are well below what is considered healthy body weight. Because the media surrounds women with such unrealistic models, women have changed the way they think.
In Amanda Fazzone’s article “Boob Tube,” she explains how TV. show heroines are empowered only because they “bask in the sex object role,” even though NOW (National Organization for Women) states that these “intelligent” and “well-rounded” women are able to “break out of the sex object role and portray authentic people.” Fazzone questions NOW’s credibility for their criterion of their idea of authentic and intelligent women. “If heroines like Felicity are empowered, it’s only because they’ve decided that what really drives female power is sex,” Fazzone states at the beginning of the article. Fazzone takes a stand against NOW asking how they choose their endorsements. NOW explains that their endorsements are intelligent, well-rounded authentic women, but Fazzone wants to know if they are really women who bask in the sex object role, and what are the shows NOW endorses are really about?
“It is not enough to say that women are being sold a lie by advertising, magazines and cinema” (Page 30-31) This is probably the most painfully obvious reason as to why women in today’s society strive themselves on looing like something that horrifically opposite to them. This contributes greatly on their health and lifestyle. Women go through so much effort to change themselves. For example: Botox, facelifts, pretty much anything that to them, they would think ‘enhances’ their appearance. On another note, it is very rarely would you see an Australian woman go to the extreme to idolize a particular celebrity and clone their appearance and lifestyle.
Females between the ages of 16 and 26 make up approximately 24 million women as of today (Population clock). This “chick” age bracket represent the group of people that popular media outlets market to that often feature women with bodies that are unattainable for the average woman. These media outlets also focus on what women can do to acquire and please men. The self-esteem of these young girls are also eroding due to the various forms of marketing and advertising tactics they employ because sexy sells. The many celebrities like Miley Cyrus and magazines who all try to portray their idea of a woman, alter and distort their perception of womanhood.
Sociocultural standards of feminine beauty are transmitted by almost all the popular media. Those media project an image that portrays what is considered as the ideal body. Most of the standards are unachievable for many women, but they do not seem to realize that a majority of the models displayed on television or in music videos are below a healthy body weight. The media send a message to women that in order to be beautiful, they must be unhealthy. For example, in music videos, most of the time girls that play a role in them are tall, white and thin.
Later that year she released the single 'Journey to the past', from the Anastasia (1997) soundtrack. In 2000, she made her film acting debut and starred as Trish O'Day in the smash hit, hip-hop, kung fu film, Romeo Must Die (2000) alongside Jet Li. The producer was so impressed by her performance she got parts in The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003). She made numerous records for the
The addressing of the media having a role in projection of a female athlete role interjects the media may not always send the best message concerning a female athlete, which is a message of femininity concerning the athlete. The interjection of the media cast typing how female athletes are always feminine no matter the sport you play; it will always have a feminine illusion of the female athlete. Society tells us that boys are the athletic ones and girls are beautiful. However, more and more women are making a living for athletic ability, most of the time because they are a beautiful athlete. Women athletes have made huge strides since Title IX but there is still room for improvement.
But the REVLON advertisement clearly conveys why their make- up collection is best. In this ad the diction used appeals to more females. The advertiser used celebrity endorsement to persuade one to purchase their product. Susan Sarandon is a well-known actress. The close up on Susan Sarandon’s face is used to show how beautiful she is because she uses REVLON.
Certain magazines, like Seventeen, talk about being body positive, but show slim models in their pages (Benowitz-Fredericks et al, 2012). How is an adolescent girl going through changes supposed to make heads or tails of what they are reading? In addition, many television networks talk about going against body ideals, but have only thin actresses on the network. Even within the music industry there are songs about being body positive, yet they come from singers who are relatively slim. Being heavier than “normal” becomes a criticism of character and leaves girls the most vulnerable.