There are a number of women who have eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia trying to look like Miss USA when really it just might not be their body type. Women who starve themselves and call themselves fat on a regular basis. Well they would have nothing to compare themselves to if we as a society weren’t constantly flashing slim women on TV or in magazines. I wonder if there was a Mr. America pageant if men would start to doubt their body types and conform to what is socially accepted for a mans body. All in all I was shocked when I read this and think it is very sad that on national television there is a body type this is accepted.
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.
Who decides what is beautiful and what is not. I feel that the media has a lot to do with how women, in the United States anyway. With all the magazines showing thin, almost anorexic women on magazine covers young women feel that that is what they should look like. So then these young women starve themselves and/or binge and purge themselves. Some even die because of trying to fix a certain mold of what is beautiful.
1. Identify several stereotypes that Marge Piercy draws on in this poem. Why is girl-child- one word- an appropriate term? One of the stereotypes that Piercy draws on in this poem is their obsession with their body, with their need to appear skinny. She does this in order to show how the obsession that the girlchild has with her own body was one of the largest factors in the suicide.
The film starred Marilyn Monroe as the blonde and Jane Russell as her wise brunette friend. The Encyclopedia of Hair describes Monroe's role as that of "a fragile woman who relied rather on her looks rather than on intelligence - what some people refer to as 'dumb blond'. At the same time, in the film she demonstrates a certain amount of wit regarding her life position expressed in her hit "Diamonds are the girl's best friend". And when her fiancé's father (who initially disliked her but eventually was impressed) asked her why she pretends to be dumb, she answers that men prefer this way.” (Wikipedia) Marilyn Monroe was one of the most famous Celebrities to use her looks to get what she wants. She was not afraid to flaunt herself at men and the media.
Magazines such as Dolly, Cleo, Girlfriend and Cosmo all exhibit impossible ideas of ‘perfect’ in which teenagers perceive as the only acceptable image in this society. Teenage girls in this day and age are all exposed to sexualised concepts of women, and that thin and hot is the only desirable image for teenage girls. Many people don’t realize the impact celebrities and models in the media have on adolescents, they can manipulate the way they display themselves to others. These magazines send a confusing and misleading message to readers. Half the articles in these magazines tell you that you are beautiful no matter what body shape, then they go on to show images of size six super models; portraying them as the idealistic teenage girl.
Although women of today are no longer considered by the 1950s stereotype of what women ‘should be’ society continues to define and restrict their rolls by judging them – in many ways even more severely that they did before. In many areas of society a woman’s worth is not judged on her talents but rather on her appearance. The media have a key role to play in this warped perception of what matter. Magazines and newspapers play a big part in society is `dehumanizing by failing to show respects for the dignity of women and making them and men equal. In 2001 the Daily Star wrote an article on how the fifteen year old singer, Charlotte Church, was becoming a woman and becoming more mature by saying "She's a big girl now... looking chest swell".
The powerful words in magazines are usually next to pictures of thin, beautiful models and celebrities. Studies by the Body Image and Advertising Association found that over 50% of advertisements in teen girl magazines and 56% of television commercials aimed at female viewers used beauty as a product appeal. Every young girl in the world obsesses over her physical appearance. The beauty ideals have changed over time. For example, by the 1950s, many adolescent girls considered Marilyn Monroe the ideal of beauty.
Also, when I looked to the TV, I noticed how thin many actresses my age were, and I just didn’t understand why I couldn’t be that skinny. Like any other teenage girl in America, I also loved to read fashion magazines, and I would see these gorgeous models that were so thin and pretty and try to exercise and be like them. Our American society does not realize how much of an influence the media has on teens; and as a country we need to address this issue for what it is: The self esteem of our next
Many Indian people think this kind of advertising is racist. It discriminates people on the basis of the skin color. It is ridiculers to think the girls with dark skin are always the losers and the girls with light skin would have a brighter future. It degrades women openly. Meanwhile, these advertisements would also mislead the young customers, because the message that advertising sends to the girls is the main qualification for a woman to get a better job or to have a brighter future is the way she looks.