In MacDonald’s article, the point I found interesting is the role of midwives and the knowledge of delivery they impose on their clients. As most women have the notion that delivery is painful and some take it to extremity as to think of it as an illness, midwives allows their client to make decisions on how they want to birth their child, strengthen the mind and make the process as natural as possible. Likewise with Gulbas article, I found it interesting that the popularity of cosmetic surgery in Venezuela increased due to the influence of the Western world, politics and media. This attests to what most people go through nowadays as most of their decisions are influenced and affected by these three platforms. Finally, with Greenhalgh’s article, I found the …show more content…
In the case of child birthing, a scapegoat has been created through technology that discourages women from wanting to have close to a natural birth as possible with the mindset of “giving birth is hard but satisfying work that women are completely capable of performing” (MacDonald, 372). In the case of cosmetic surgery in Venezuela, the media has commercialized a certain depiction of a beautiful person and that affects the way the women view themselves as cosmetic surgery is seen to “maintain mental equilibrium and improve one’s self-esteem” (Gulbas, 197) and causes others to bully individuals that do not fit the depiction. This weighs heavily on an individual that an up-rise is now seen with men wanted to enhance their body also. Finally in the case of fat shame, the invention of BMI created by a certain group determines if you are considered skinny or fat is a “scientific uncertainty” (Greenhalgh,
In the article “Never Just Pictures,” Susan Bordo acknowledges how the cultural perception of body image of both men and women has been increasing in viciousness exponentially. The societal views of the models in advertisements, on television or in magazines, have proven themselves to be “fabulously” horrific throughout the last few decades. However, an incredible amount of commercial funding, euphemistic language, dietary support groups and other lifestyle changes are merely thought up, created and shipped out door-to-door to virtually all people who cannot simply stand being a kind soul towards others who are apparently suffering, in the medias (blind) eyes. This terrifying phenomenon is especially shocking since there have been articles
Cosmetic travelling is a massive risk on people from all around the world. Many people spend over thousands and thousands of dollars on cosmetic surgery even though there is a high chance of the clinic and the surgeon being unprofessional. These unprofessional surgeons have caused many deaths over these last years. Some deaths are caused from infections, reactions or from the product used by the surgeons.
Once upon a time, women were celebrated for their curves. Weight was a symbol of wealth and fertility in a woman. During this time, women were subjugated to being a housewife and nothing more. As time and society progressed, a woman’s prison became her body and no longer her home. Women had the freedom to vote, work, play, but could no longer be fat. This new beauty standard of thinness affects women in many ways. In “Add Cake, Subtract Self Esteem” written by Caroline Knapp, she describes her own personal experience on how this impossible standard affects women’s eating which leads to eating disorders and an unhealthy relationship with food. In “The Beauty Myth” written by Naomi Wolf, she describes the mental effects on women from a
The result of portraying this unrealistic woman lowers one’s self-esteem especially among adolescent and young females. These images make them view themselves as ugly and plain. Consequently, they desire this false perfectness and thus alter their bodies to achieve the so-called perfect figure by starving themselves, taking medication and drugs or doing cosmetic surgeries on their bodies. Unfortunately, the outcome for a woman who takes such drastic measures to achieve the immaculate body is an ill and unhealthy woman with lowered self-esteem. The question then becomes, why do we still believe in such
Did you know more than 16 billion dollars was spent on Cosmetic Surgery in 2016? (ASPS 2017) Throughout the many decades, cosmetic surgery had become widely known method to enhance an appearance. In recent years, this procedure has become prominent not only among adults but also among adolescents however, popularity does not mean it is safe and the best option. There are numerous negative effects of cosmetic surgery that people, especially adolescents should consider before undergoing such procedures. Some negative effects of cosmetic surgery are high expenses, high medical risks, promotion of unhealthy body image and adverse psychological conditions.
If every woman has the same idea of beauty, then they all have goal that they work to achieve (Ferrante, 2014, p. 28). Nonetheless, this underscores the fact that women come in a variety of shapes and sizes, which make achieving this goal difficult, if not impossible (Ferrante, 2014, pp. 201-202; Shaw & Lee, 2011, p. ?). So, while having gender ideals in a society was likely meant to promote social order, it in turn created another form of disruption. This unintended disruption, or latent dysfunction, is what can be recognized as poor body image. Not only does poor body image foster insecurity within an individual, it causes women have hostility towards each other.
It is no secret that women often change their bodies in order to meet the societal expectations that are portrayed in the media. The patriarchy and the male gaze dictate the ideal female which is depicted on television, in movies, and in magazines. Woman most often alter their weight in order to match the small slim physique of models. Weight is one of the main aspects of the female body that the patriarchy controls. Woman are taught by society that their natural body is not beautiful and that they must conform to the societal standard of a thin, size 0 woman in order to accommodate the male gaze. The patriarchy dictates this of a woman in order to maintain male dominance in society. However, these expectations have a negative effect on
Thesis: The media puts pressure on women of all ages to conform to their standards of what looks best, and this pressure results in women having a negative body image.
The increasing and widespread use of media, as well as it tremendous ability to influence its audience, has raised various concerns over the effects the media has on its viewers. One of the fields of increasing concerns is the idea that the media portrays unrealistic body images and that these portrayals have negative consequences on their viewers, especially so for women. Women have always been associated with ideals of beauty and a particular body image. The question arises as to how far the media further perpetuate these models and body images, and what are the consequences of these effects? When the media works to perpetuate such ideals of beauty and body image, the majority of the female population, who do not conform to such ideals and body type, fall prey to psychological issues resulting from body dissatisfaction such as depression, self-hate, negative moods, and emotions, particularly for the younger women. Such negative emotions, when evoked, can lead to negative consequences and actions for the affected female population, which include drastic, harmful steps such as crash diets, self-harm, or cosmetic surgery.
Bordo establishes herself as an authority figure through her extensive education in English and women’s studies. In her prolific writing career, Bordo often places emphasis on Western culture and its lasting viewpoints toward gender and the body, and in view of this, Bordo’s argument paves way to influence her audience through her credibility as an expert on women and the body images that plague them. As this authority figure, Bordo claims that the media and cultural influence have created a negative influence on humanity’s conceived standard of beauty, and as a result, have caused the spread of eating disorders.
Chronic dieting, low self-esteem, depression and, high levels of body dissatisfaction were among the major issues women face when addressing their body image (Gingras, Fitzpatrick, & McCargar, 2004). The severity of body image dissatisfaction have increased to such a dangerous state that it was added to the DSM-IV as a disorder now called body dysmorphic disorder (Suissa, 2008). One of the main reasons for the prevalence of these conditions in women was due to contemporary Western media, which serve as one of the major agent in enforcing an ultra-thin figure as the ideal for female beauty (Saraceni & Russell-Mayhew, 2007). These images and models presented by the media have become the epitome of beauty, pushing women who internalized these images to dangerous extent to attain these norms. According to evidence from previous studies, contemporary Western cultures have influenced women to an acquired normative state of discontent with their bodies, which have become the source of maladaptive eating practices, negative psychological outcomes, and, chronic health conditions associated with eating disorders (Snapp, Hensley-Choate, & Ryu, 2012). The seriousness of these body image conditions among youths and women have also led to congressional actions.
Body blame is socially constructed deviance. At this modern time body is categorized into groups. For example the fat women have more social forces that blaming her that she didn’t do enough exercise to lose weight and shape her body. Similarly, obesity is considered as an individual problem. Victims are blamed their body. The fat individuals face racism and discrimination in their work place or college because of her or his body. Society encourage that slim body is the best and sexy. According to Curra “blame and responsibility are attached differently to the too thin and too fat. Overeaters or binge eaters are looked on as weak and lazy, anorexics and bulimics are looked on as victims of social or biological forces beyond their control”
At the end of my speech, the audience will have a better understanding on how society plays a big role on women’s body image. They will also be able to identify the relationship between body image distortion and eating disorders. Finally, I will provide further understanding on the crucial factors of eating disorders, as well as the different treatments available.
Are you aware of the risks and disadvantages of cosmetic surgery? Cosmetic surgery can be very risky and dangerous if you are not aware of the outcomes. If you are thinking of going through a procedures you need to do a lot of research of what the pros and cons of the procedure you are about to undergo. Cosmetic surgeries are done all over the world and the pricing varies depending on the surgeons, and it can be very expensive. The outcome of the surgery won’t always come to what you wanted but still you have to pay the price. Not only that you have to leave with it and you will want another procedure which you’ll have to pay another amount of money. Why go through all that when? We should be happy with who we are and appreciate what you
In today’s society we let the media decide everything in our lives from what clothes we should wear, music we should listen to, and how we should look. One of the biggest problems that both men and women face is body shaming, because the media sets standards for young kids and young adults., they often times try and fit the description of “perfect” which leads these people to either be depressed because they do not look like people want them to look or harm themselves in order to achieve the desired look. The most common ways the media shames both men and women are by celebrities and how they are the “perfect” body, publishing magazines of what is the ideal man and woman, and by the people who believe being “too” fat is bad and being “too” skinny is bad.