Hyper Femininity In The Media Essay

A major modern problem with the media is the sublimation of, and reaffirmation of, stereotypical female gender roles. “The media treats women like shit” (Cho). Which is a serious issue because of Marshall McLuhan’s famous words, “The Medium is the Message” (Warwick). The medium up for discussion is the media, which can be fundamentally defined as the most significant “single source of information that people have today (Katz). Therefore, in order to understand “what’s going on in our society” (Katz) it is “absolutely imperative to “understand media” (Katz). Media and technology are “shaping our politics, our national discourse and most of all, they’re shaping our children’s brains, lives and emotions” (Steyer). Caroline Heldman, PhD, and

There has been a growing trend of hypersexualization of women over the span of all forms of media. The women within these images are made to look perfectly flawless. They are extremely thin without a trace of fat or cellulite to be found. The people who consume this media are exposed to the idea that the women they are observing are models for true physical beauty. These standards are accompanied by an alternate message from the media that pushes the idea that women’s value comes from their beauty. While some women may understand that the messages about the ideal woman are unrealistic and false, it is found that adolescent girls are vulnerable to the media’s strategies due to their lack of media literacy as well as the search for their own identity during this developmental stage in their lives. The exposure to these standards of beauty can have several negative effects on the girls such as lower self-esteem, higher body dissatisfaction, depression, and eating disorders. SPARK and 4 Every Girl are two of a growing number of campaigns that are working to fight against the sexualized images of women in the media and the negative effects it can have on the viewers.

As of recently, the media has been flooded with positive interpretations of beauty standards all over the world. According to various sources, beauty ideals, in women especially, are socially constructed in order to judge a person’s value based on physical attractiveness; therefore, it is highly encouraged that people pay attention to their looks and take care of themselves, in order for others to create a positive first impression of one’s character. It is no secret that beauty standards vary from one culture to the next and it is difficult to establish a universal principle of what is considered beautiful. Many countries’ ideals contrast one another and, as a result, allow for stereotypes to emerge. This is the case between American

“People learn more from media than any other single source of information” (Missrepresentation). This quote exemplifies how society learns and creates their standards about people, places, and things. All sources and mediums of media impact billions of lives every day. The media holds this power over society and it’s time to change that; especially when it comes to the media’s view of women. Women are constantly being misrepresented. This misrepresentation of women in the media is negatively impacting America by corrupting both the youth and adults. This is occurring because of the hyper-sexualization of women, wrongly portraying women in leadership positions, and creating stereotypes of women in movies and television.

Beauty standards are an extremely critical issue facing young women today across the country. Beauty standards are changing the way we perceive ourselves. Beauty standards change the way we dress, our make-up, our hair, and our size. We think about what others will think based on how we look. In the morning, while getting dressed, we may say to ourselves, “What will they think?” or “Is this shirt too tight? Too loose?” We wonder if our hair is the right color, or if our teeth are white enough, and the largest standard of all, if we are skinny enough. In a short clip, “Beauty Standards Around the World,” created by Buzzfeed (2014) shows how each country defines beauty. Buzzfeed uses the rhetorical appeals of pathos and logos to effectively convince the viewers that society is manipulating women’s perception of beauty. A young girl sent out a photo with no make-up on and her hair pulled back to photo shop experts around the world. The results were upsetting.

Cultural beliefs and patterns regarding appearance have played a key role in reflecting the effects of beauty standards in Asian-American society. Through recent decades, it has transformed to become a key component to consider when understanding how body image fluctuates from country to country. In east Asian-Americans’ case, they are

a revolution of traditional values that results in the objectification and devaluing of society’s women. Due to this traditional revolution, fine lines between social classes are drawn, and the

Media portrays femininity on a daily, in our lives. Femininity are the qualities that traditionally associate with females. In movies femininity are strongly showed. People of all ages are exposed to the expectations of femininity which affects our views on female. In the media such as movies like “Cinderella”

Beauty is defined in American culture by the dominate ideology of white middle class males. Hegemonic ideology is promoted by online media outlets with femininity communicated as a way to serve the sexual desire of men (pp. 449). The pressure on women to look and behave certain ways is deeply imbedded in our everyday life. I will use two online media stories; the PBS online video, Merchants of Cool, and Yahoo Style as the basis of this essay.

Many females who live in the twenty first century now often take for granted of their rights and freedoms that permit them to pursue their own interests and desires. However, this starkly contrasts with how women were treated in the past due to their submissive, powerless position that prohibited them from being able to truly embrace their own identity. This is particularly illustrated with female immigrants into which constrictive gender roles created a constraint upon each person’s freedom, resulting in feelings of unhomeliness in a completely different environment. However, while some women decide to passively accept the strict boundaries that society has imposed upon them, others will rebel against this confinement and confront against

Introduction Sexism is everywhere. It's in the way you work, the things you see and even the words you speak. Sexism is everywhere. Sexism in the media There are positives in the media for both men and women, for starters, all the female led box office hits, such as American Beauty, Boys Don't

One thousand years go by and an abundant amount of people still view women in a stereotypical type of way. On the opposing view, if women did not overstretch the slightest of things, this wouldn’t be such an enormous issue. Women may be overreacting to what the media has to say about them. It is not affecting everybody but a vast majority of successful women from continuing to moving forward said Marianne Schnall. Important to realize, women are capable of doing jobs men can do. Such jobs as being an engineer, physician, mechanic, lawyer and even top notch business women! Up to the present time there is an ongoing public debate on women suffering from double standards. If it makes a female feel threatened or belittled than it may be

Exoticism in Carl’s Jr. (See figure 1) Hegemonic forms of femininity are discussed in this paper to illustrate the effects of ideal female beauty has on women. Emphasized femininity includes having a thin waist, clear skin, idea, firm buttocks, perky breasts, white teeth, coloured eyes and the list goes on. It is important to recognize the desirability exoticism holds within the public and the mass media. The term ‘exotic’ refers of foreign origin or character, introduced from abroad (Johnston, 2010). Exoticism is an admired concept because it is not something people are used to seeing; therefore, they are often amused and more attention is paid towards it. Therefore, advertisers use this to their advantage to grasp a large number of consumers to accept the products they aim to

Introduction In American culture, the idea of being a beautiful woman is of the utmost importance. Naomi Wolf (2002) stated that “beauty is a currency system like the gold standard” (p. 12) and in today’s narcissistic society her beliefs couldn’t be truer. Advertisers seeking sales and revenue continuously bombard women with ads featuring beautiful women selling cosmetics and other skincare products thereby increasing the pressure put on women to look their best. It is estimated that women in the U.S. will spend 12 to 15 thousand dollars a year on beauty services (Newsom, 2011.) and over 62 billion dollars on cosmetics annually in 2016 (IBISWorld, 2016). According to Thompson (n.d.), cosmetic companies design ads to change women’s attitudes towards products. This encourages them to buy more and as a result influences their attitudes and makes them feel disgruntled with their appearance. It also teaches them that their values lie in their bodies and forces women to measure themselves against an impossible beauty standard. Continuous exposure to stereotypical images and themes surrounding beauty, directly influence the way women perceive themselves and their peers. One study found that “Mass media is especially harmful to women because it constructs negative perceptions of women and reinforces them on a daily basis (Chapman, 2011).”

The Portrayal of Women in the Media Redbook magazine are devoted to selling products ranging from shoes to shampoo. The entire magazine only has only 210 pages. Approximately 6-8 min of every half hour television show is produced by ad agencies. Americans are bombarded with advertisements. We see them everyday in many different forms and through different mediums. Advertisers study America’s population through a systematic breakdown and analysis of our likes and dislikes in relation to our differences. These differences include gender, sexual orientation, economic status, location, race, ethnicity, and more. Advertisers have substantial knowledge of what appeals to each of these demographics and how these demographics will respond to