This is a common thought felt by most female teenagers as celebrities are idolised and praised for the glamorous lifestyle they lead. Who wouldn’t want that? In reality it is not at all glamorous. Ode to live a simple life, how we wish we could relive our youth with the knowledge we have now, the ability to not compare ourselves to others. “Dear Diary” by MikelWJ is a powerful song that so perfectly outlines the tormented life of a teenager.
Likewise, teen girls often use exaggerated sexuality to resist outside control of their lives. Young women are being taught to flaunt their sexuality even if they don’t understand it, and they are told their body is their best asset. The girls take the fantasized models that they have seen in ads and overstate what they see because the models make their self esteem go down and teen girls want to be like those powerful models. The constant ads containing the sexualized female depictions perpetuate the
More women entered the work force, but they were still expected to be good mothers and wives. As a result, some women chose alcohol as a coping method because it was easily accessible and socially acceptable. Alcohol has become increasingly accessible to women, through restaurants, supermarkets, and wine bars. Marketing strategies for alcohol portray images of attractive women having fun and experiencing increased freedom and confidence. Also, the alcohol industry knows that the best way to create lifetime heavy drinkers is to start them early.
“Girls see a double standard in covering women’s sports. When male athletes receive media attention, such coverage is primarily focused on their skills and performance. When female athletes receive media attention, the media is much more likely to focus on their physical attractiveness or non-sport-related activities” (Daniels, 2009, Pg 405). Sexualization is defined as occurring when a person's value comes only from her or his sexual appeal or behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics, and when a person is sexually objectified, e.g., made into a thing for another's sexual use (APA, 2011). By sexualizing women athletes, the media has given younger generations a false sense of reality.
In “Male Body Image in America,” Luciano argues that men are becoming more feminine because of their looks “We are clearly witnessing the evolution of an obsession with body image, especially among middle class me, and a corresponding male appropriation of, in the words of feminist.” She argues that men are not men, because they are starting to care more about their looks just as women do With that in mind, what would women find appealing or even worth buying in a advertisement for weight-loss? Does this product burn just fat? The advertisement shows a customer before and after picture that has used Hydroxycut. To the right or her photo is her testimonial “I would choose Hydroxycut over and other weight loss product on the market today, I’ve experienced the result. Now I feel beautiful and fabulous!” This statement leads me to think if she has ever tried any other weight loss supplement.
A Peek into the Unachievable Gossip Girl is a popular and widely watched show by a younger teen audience that craves to get a look into the lives of the rich and elite of New York private school girls. The main female characters in the show are given many characteristics that set the basis of how girls need to act and dress in order to be successful in getting the man they desire. The main goal of the show is to sometimes subtly and sometimes pretty obviously show that women should base their lives around those of the men that they are with or want to be with. The ideology seen in Gossip Girl is that women are not as dominant and successful as men and they need to constantly strive to be thin, flawless, long legged, rich, big chested and know how to use their sex appeal to get what they want in life. That is the definition of what beauty is in the show.
It is considered that it is not only the men who have rights to possess many women, to enjoy one night stands and to attain satisfaction from fleeting physical encounter things, but women also can do. “It is a common pattern that the more physically attractive or outgoing a woman is, the more she is accustomed to being hit on by men, the easier it is for her to find companionship and the easier it is for her to enjoy the physical aspects of sex without always attaching emotional significance to it.” (Women's Rights) According to Sex and the City, Carrie, the female protagonist, involvement with twenty-five-year-old artist Barkley, similarly balks at the romantic cliches he expects her to crave. One night Barkley disappeared with another woman and he calls her in order to anticipate a scene of recriminations: “I didn’t sleep with her. I didn’t even kiss her,” Barkley siad. “I don’t care.
The media has a very powerful effect on virtually all areas of society, particularly young girls. Our society places high value on beauty and body image. Attractive people are “viewed as being happier, more successful, smarter, more interesting, warmer, more poised, and more sociable” (Hesse-Biber, 59). Magazines, movies, and commercials, among other outlets, have spoon-fed girls with the idea that they can only be beautiful if they have long legs, great hair, and curves in all the right places. 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.
For as long as we can remember, men have always seemed to have more power and rights than women. However, because of this many women have tried to find ways to become more known and independent. For example, Frida Kahlo was an artist who appeared to try very hard to be manly but near the end of her life becomes in touch with her feminine side. A story by John Steinbeck called “The Chrysanthemums” talks about a women called Elisa who also is very masculine, but she lets society get the best of her and doesn’t try her hardest to stand up for herself. Both of these women have similarities, for instance, they both don’t have any children, they wish to be seen equally to men, and they feel somewhat imprisoned within themselves.
What do modern adverts tell us about women? It tells us that looking good is the most important thing for a woman and that men are superior to them. Girls from a very young age are exposed to adverts depicting underdressed women surrounded by half-dressed men in erotic and sexual positions. Adverts are usually highly airbrushed and photoshopped, and the models usually conform to the so-called “ideal image of beauty”, skinny, with a fair skin tone and heavily made up. The images of women presented in adverts represent absolute flawlessness, which can never be achieved, but is just a construction of the actual model and not the model herself.