“The construction of gender stereotyping of both males and females in the media is based on outdated and unfounded beliefs and therefore has had and continues to have a detrimental impact on society.” (Yes!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUyfD1F7k1I Women are subjected to many stereotypes in today’s society. Movies and television shows suggest that all women are airheads, whose sole purpose in life is to please men and rear children. Magazines and other advertisements push photographs of very slender, over groomed and “sexy women” into our minds. Men’s magazines write articles on how to seduce a girl into sleeping with them.
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?
ENWR-105-BX 18 November 2013 In the essay “Female Chauvinist Pigs” by Ariel Levy, the author argues that women participate in practices that are responsible for their oppression. Levy’s argument is that women participate in “raunch culture” as means of embracing sexism and exploitation toward the idea of gaining empowerment. While some woman like Sheila Nevins, feel empowered and liberated by aspects of raunch culture, other woman like Tyra Banks, co-producer of ANTM, is discussed in “Ghetto Bitches, China Dolls, and Cha Cha Divas” by Jennifer Pozner using racist stereotypes in order to gain power. The judges in the show say they try and promote inclusive beauty standards actually reinforce racial stereotypes. Women are willing to participate in practices that oppress them because they want power.
Jill Stark’s opinion article, appearing in The Age 19th Jan 2008, outlines in a concerned and direct fashion, that most stereotypes seen in glossy magazines have a negative and dangerous impact. She contends that there is a growing trend for woman to produce magazines, promoting healthy and realistic figures, empowering the female. The headline ‘Sick of impossible princesses, real girls fight back’, indicates to readers how fed up the author is with these unrealistic stereotypes. Stark informs the reader that the traditional content of glossy magazines, with “extreme dieting tips and air-brushed waifs in micro bikinis”, is being questioned by ‘real girls’ who are “fed up with images of emaciated models and a celebrity culture pushing them to be thin, sexy and silent.”. Confronted with these images, the reader is encouraged to sympathise with the author’s contention.
Peggy says that the girlie girl culture we are living in is increasing issues like eating disorders, body weight issues and unsafe sexual behaviour. The author says “According to the American Psychological Association, the girlie-girl culture’s emphasis on beauty and play-sexiness can increase girls’ vulnerability to the pitfalls that most concern parents: depression, eating disorders, distorted body image, risky sexual behavior." (Orenstein, 6). Society expects females to beautiful and always strive to stay thin, therefore Peggy is going against those stereotypical views and saying that those unreasonable expectations are resulting in self-conscious girls with eating disorders, unsafe sexual practice and depression. Further on in the book, Peggy discusses how the emphasis on girl’s beauty from the culture that we live in is greatly inspired by Disney princesses promoting the idea that girls should be “the fairest of them all”.
She is to turn her attention to lady-like hobbies. Women are merely objects of display and necessary utilization. Scout is treated as a “girl” not only by society but also by her brother because that is his opinion of females. “I was not so sure, but Jem told me I was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, that is. Why other people hated them so, and if I started behaving like one I could go off and find someone to play with” (Lee, 119).
Everyone perceives beauty in different ways, shapes, and forms. Obesity and overeating in women can be linked to sex/gender roles as well as societies expectations on what the ideal woman should be or look like. The essay entitled Fat is a Feminist Issue by author and therapist Susie Orbach; touches on an issue that many women have problems dealing with today that can be linked to a direct effect from society. Hence obesity and overeating, which is believed to be a social disease, according to Orbach. She believes that being overweight was indeed a feminist issue.
Most women these days would do anything to look pretty and attract the opposite sex. This story gives us the importance of body image to women and they get judged about it. Amber the “finger throated sickness one”. She gets teased because of her anorexic appearance. This is a mental illness common to the young woman.
Young women seem to be especially affected by our culture’s obsession with weight and beauty. America today is a girl-destroying place where young women are encouraged to sacrifice their true selves in exchange for false selves that are more culturally acceptable. “More than any other group in the population, girls and their bodies have borne
We also used the medias covers, which speak by themselves. Results, limitations According to some experts, it appears that teenage girls relate to icons such as models to build their style and personal life. The young generation’s obsession of being ultra thin results in the constant exposure to size-zero and the idea that it is the only synonym of beauty. Once this status is put into their mind, these girls have a potentially high risk of eating disorders. Recommendations The situation about eating disorders has become critical and it is primordial that the WHO establishes new rules and laws to the fashion industry.