Comparing 'Under Your Skin And The Birthmark'

Even though media vaunts an iridescent image of what every girl should look like, the simple fact is just, it is impossible. It is because the pictures in the media are not true—they all have gone through lots of Photoshop. Only 5 percent of women have the body type seen in almost all advertisements. Besides, most of fashion models are thinner than 98 percent of American women. However, women still continue to do whatever they can in order to fit into that idea of ‘perfection’. Eating disorders have harassed who want to feel like they are ‘beautiful’, for years. Women are willing to do anything even though it can cause harm to their own self due to low self-esteem. Do you want your sister, friends or girl friends always feel depressed and doing harm to themselves, as they feel dissatisfied about their

In the book Girl Culture by Lauren Greenfield, demonstrates plenty of pictures of how society wants women to be. Furthermore, plenty of the pictures show women exposing their bodies. With the media promoting these pictures, women will constantly be worried about their appearance. Without doubt, these images put out by the media will affect women greatly in both society, and the work environment.

“We all know that appearance matters, but the price of prejudice can be steeper than we often assume” (Washington1.) Published originally in the Washington Post on May 23,2010 by Deborah L. Rhode. Rhode the Professor of law and legal director at Stanford University in her essay “Why Looks Are The Last Bastion Of Discrimination,” argues that an individual's physical appearance is one of the few qualities of their personal identity that other people are legally within their rights to discriminate against. Rhode states her thesis clearly explaining the forthcoming reasons she will offer to uphold her position. Rhode believes that discriminating against individuals based on their appearance is wrong, and is often overlooked in many environments such as the workforce. Many think it is crucial that discrimination on looks is banned in workplaces, schools, and most other organizations.

Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. At least, that’s what is taught to believe at an early age. Elline Lipkin, however, holds fast to the understanding that as true as that saying may be, there are outside forces that are intent on readjusting our vision to “true beauty”: the kind that can be bought off the shelves. In her article, “Girls’ Bodies, Girls’ Selves: Body Image, Identity, and Sexuality”, Lipkin employs several different external resources to help demonstrate her belief that young girls’ (“Before they even abandon their teddy bears…“ (Para 2)) definition of their own appearance is polluted and distorted by the vastly massive world that is the American media. Besides pulling from other articles and fact sheets, she also effectively utilizes a clearly logical train of thought, an operative tone, and countless examples of emotional appeal.

“Judging by the Cover,” is an essay written in 2003 by Bonny Gainley who is a consultant, speaker, and author. It originally appeared in an opinion column in a Colorado newspaper. Although non-discriminatory, she believes that people project messages about themselves with their appearance. This essay seems to be intended for recent graduates and young job seekers. The main point that she tries to explain to the reader is that even though our family and friends may accept us for who we are, employers may not.

In Susan Bordo’s article entitled, “Never Just Pictures,” Bordo explores the driving forces behind the ever-intensifying, pervasive, and obsessive behaviors related to perceptions of and adherence to “acceptable” dictates regarding body image. Bordo’s insightful observations, examples, historical development, and logic shed light on how these dictates developed and from where they currently emanate, including the self-appointed societal, cultural, philosophical, and psychological “gatekeepers” of beauty in today’s society.

In the book, “Adios, Barbie: Young Women Write About Body Image and Identity” written by, Ophira Edute explains about how young girls of all ages are influenced and wants to compete to be the impossible perfect “Barbie” size. In addition to the author, she also wrote another story in a hardcover, “Body Outlaws - Young Women Write About Body Image and Identity”, this talks about how women cannot accept themselves in a culture where they are obsessed of being “perfect”. In the novel, “Looking Good: College Women and Body Image” author by, Margaret A. Lowe uses the concepts of gender, race, and class as she explores the origins of body image. In the literature, “I Am Becoming the Woman I’ve Wanted” edited by Sandra Haldeman Martz, portrays how the physical aspects of being a female affect women’s experiences. One must not be afraid to show their true colors, but instead one must accept their true

It’s difficult to envision a world where idealized female imagery is not plastered everywhere, but our present circumstance is a relatively new occurrence. Before the mass media existed, our ideas of beauty were restricted to our own communities. Until the introduction of photography in 1839, people were not exposed to real-life images of faces and bodies. Most people did not even own mirrors. Today, however, we are more obsessed with our appearance than ever before. But the concern about appearance is quite normal and understandable given society’s standards. According to Jane Kilborne, “Every period of history has had its own standards of what is and is not beautiful, and every contemporary society has its own distinctive concept of the

As you’re walking down a street you may notice a young group of girls or women walking and they see a huge billboard of a beautiful model. They might stop and stare at her and then discuss about her perfect her body is. Not knowing in the next five minutes they’ll be comparing their bodies to the model and feeling bad about themselves wishing that they had her body. Not to mention, that the photo may be photoshopped to make it seem as her body is perfect, or she had plastic surgery to fit the idea of having the perfect body. The fact that the media thinks they’re encouraging young girls and women to embrace their beauty, they’re influencing them that they have to have a perfect body in order to get attention. The media has put a lot of pressure on young girls and women to look perfect and second guess their bodies, when plastic surgery is never the answer to build their self-esteem up.

Self-esteem plays a big part of body image. People have to feel good about themselves and be comfortable in their own skin to be happy. In today's world, it feels almost impossible to be happy, this generation is all about the media which makes having self-esteem 10x harder. Millions of pictures are posted of expectations of how women should look. In an article written by Pavica Sheldon, she states that ”The average American woman is 5’4 and 140 pounds, whereas the average female model portrayed in the media is 5’11 and 120 pounds”. Women are placed into a box telling them they have to look a certain way and if they don't they're simply not good enough. Besides being put into a category women numerously get called nasty names like slut or whore if they show too much. Piggy and fatty if they're overweight. Or “stick” if she's too skinny. Nothing is ever good enough is what it feels like. For example, Kylie Jenner, if you grew up watching “Keeping up with the Kardashians” you know how she looked before all the plastic surgery she got done, she now looks completely different. An account wrote, “What are they giving Kylie?” and someone quoted the tweet and said plastic. So even if women try to fix their imperfections they still get shamed down for it by calling them fake.

When you look around at people working, do you see anyone who looks different? The way their body looks, they're clothes, their hair maybe? Sometimes people with tattoos or piercings are looked down on like they're bad people, especially in the workplace. How unfair is that? If someone has lots of ink they're seen as unprofessional. This can be a problem when someone with lots of ink wants to apply for a job or position. It just adds to more trouble to tell someone they have to completely cover it all up or take out all piercings because of customer's opinions! Managers and employers should be less strict and small-minded when it comes to body art.

When it comes to attractiveness, many people who are perceived to be more good-looking have more “socially desirable features in addition to being considered more efficient” in the work force (Desrumaux et al., 2009). The study continues in which Desrumaux et al. explain to us on how gender effects the decisions that the job recruiters face. In the working world previous studies have shown us that men’s attractiveness does increase their chances of being hired for all sorts of jobs (Heilman & Saruwatari) however when it comes to female jobs there might be a bias. Desrumaux et al. (2009) catorgoize certain jobs by gender. A male job is classified as “a position in which the employee is in a managerial or heavy labor typed job” (p. 34). The career paths that fit women were classified for being any type of job that was non-managerial. Certainly, this was not the case because after Desrumaux et al. (2009) concluded their study the findings that they received were shocking. They found that “attractive applicants received higher hireability ratings than did unattractive ones” (p. 37). The job recruiters that were selected for the study gave more positive ratings for “male sex-typed jobs than for female sex-typed jobs” (Desrumaux et al., 2009). However, it was concluded that “the applicant’s gender had no effect” on the recruiters judgment for hire (Desrumaux et al., 2009). Overall, the study concluded that it is true

As younger generations enter the workforce, tattoos, piercings and unconventional hair colors are causing a paradigm shift regarding what comprises a professional look. Employers continue to look down upon people with tattoos, colored hair or body piercings, and this represents discriminatory hiring practices. There is a social disconnect regarding how certain body modifications are alright, but not others. People should not be kept from employment because of their personal body modifications. A famous person once said, “don’t judge a book by its cover”.

Society follows a norm that requires a general agreement between groups in order to function as a whole. Human beings are social “group animals” (Lessing 1) and need each other to survive with the intention to get along or fit in. These desires to conform “influence our idea about ourselves” (Lessing 1) and people lose a sense of their inner self based on these insecurities. The false concept of ideal beauty of body image is displayed in the media and it pressures young women and men to accept this particular notion of beauty. The role of the media comes into play because it pressures individuals to give in, since they appeal to our need, which is to be accepted. Although, people oppose to media pressuring individuals to conform, it is clear

With the media being a very popular way of communication and self expression in today’s culture, it influences the way of younger generations to be more involved in today’s technology, and to allow them to influence the world by the press of a button. But one of the topics that is very controversial is that in today’s society is the high expectations of what they think a girl has to look like, from girls not having stretch marks or scars, to magazines and photographers using photoshop to convince readers that the model looks like that. With all of these being factors that there is pressure is high for many girls around the world, this has to resolved.