Reality Tv Affects Young Women

Reality television also characterizes women as being poorly behaved. Reality television shows often broadcast women as drama filled, vapid, self-loathing and negative humans. The negativity that is shown to women on reality television supports the objectification of women and women viewers participating in poor behavior. Only twenty-four percent of what women say about themselves on reality television is positive (“Reality TV”). In all shows across reality television only twenty-one point four percent of talk directed towards females was positive. This included females talking to other females, males talking to females, and females talking about themselves (Parents Television Council). A woman constantly being negatively talked about helps to the unfortunate objectification of women. Women are shown on reality television as money hungry, drama filled, and below men. Swantek describes this phenomenon by stating “the common distortion of gender roles remains years behind that of actual society and demonstrates that despite immense progress for women, an overall acceptance of gender equality is still lagging behind.” On most reality television shows, one woman is angled as the antagonist, she often creates drama and is angled as narcissistic. An example of this would be Katherine from Southern Charm. Right off the bat, Katherine is portrayed as a young gold digger when she starts to date an older man who has money. Katherine gets in fights with several others on the show and

In the study by the Girl Scouts Institute over 1000 girls ages 11-17 said that they regularly watched reality TV and “accept and expect a higher level of drama, aggression, and bullying in their own lives as well” compared to girls who didn’t watch

Cunningham and Elavias articles have similar perspectives when it comes to an unfavorable view in the public eye. Also “In London a British parliment member had two billboards removed, she took them down because she said they provided such a false, and unrealistic expectations of what women should and could look like, that it was damaging” (Cunningham 216). Media is holding this new generation to an “unrealistic standard” that is leading to emotional, mental and physical issues. Elavia on the other hand gives us her interpretation these reality stars face. Elavia writes, “Networks have no boundaries, they only care about their ratings regardless if it creates a bad image of reality stars” (222). Viewers go on to say “Producers manipulate the show in order to get high ratings”(Elavia

Some of the most popular television shows in today’s society are The Biggest Looser, Jersey Shore, and Big Brother. These programs and many others are classified as reality television. Reality television’s main purpose is to attempt to portray ordinary people in unscripted situations. Recently, however, many of these shows have achieved in creating the complete opposite, and have earned an immense amount of criticism as a result. Reality television programs are detrimental to society because they influence bad behavior among teenagers, do not produce authentic real life situations, and they humiliate many of the characters.

Among the risky messages that reality television conveys is the importance of body image over ability and the complete obsolescence of education. The hit show ‘Beauty and the Geek’, is promoting the fact that it is ok if you are a ‘dumb’ blonde, because you can go onto their show and become rich and famous overnight. In fact to enter the show you need to be a high school drop out with an intellectual level lower than eighty. This promotes the uselessness of education, which would create for a really unknowledgeable group of teenagers. Reality television sends out the message to its viewers that the key to success relies solely on your image, and very little on your ability. On many shows like ‘American Idol’ and ‘Masterchef’, the contestant who proves to be the most competent loses out to another contender who has a trendier image. No one ever has the true full package that the reality shows claim to have, it is all just an illusion of reality. How can we let the media get away with

Reality television is a huge part of our television viewing culture and the line between right and wrong is not always clear to many of the viewers. The fact is, the extreme behaviors displayed are not "real" or normal in the world that exists outside of reality TV. Many reality shows depict women idealizing beauty and thinness, giving the impression that a woman 's value is based

In the media, reality TV stars like Snooki and Kim Kardashian are on the rise. Most channels on television have at least one reality show, from following housewives to remodeling homes of real life families. However, there are some reality programs that display bad examples, especially for young audiences that are keeping up with each episode. On MTV people see girls being drunk in public, addicts doing drugs, and young girls raising babies at young ages; these are situations seen on reality TV shows. Jeremy W. Peters’ “When Reality TV Gets Too Real” and James Poniewozik’s “Why Reality TV is Good for us” inform readers about what the general public can view on television and how it affects the minds of children. Reality TV shows such as

Today while watching a movie or television show on cable, there were four to five minute breaks of commercials. Most of these commercials consisted of new reality shows. If they were not new, then it was the dates for when they old shows would make a comeback and start another season. Reality television has been in our lives since the 1940s. Although, the shows that were on years ago were much less vulgar than they seem to be now. It appears reality television continues to go down the wrong road. It is seen in many popular reality shows where the characters are almost getting praised for the bad behavior that they show on camera. This is important to know because it is has become a very popular thing for many people to watch, especially young teens. This gives the people in the shows the opportunity to be a role model for teens who might be looking elsewhere other than parents or peers for someone to look up to. It has also been shown that more teens would be interested in signing up to be on a reality show for the chance to gain fame by just about living their life. Reality television has done more harm than good to our society. For the most part, the shows today are showing more things that effects our teens in a more negative way. This left me with the question on does reality television really affect us? There are positives and negative effects on its viewers as well as the effect is has had on the culture of today’s society.

According to Lori Gottlieb, cultural critic and family therapist tells us that “Teens are naturally curious about other people’s lives and want to know how their own lives compare,” I agree with this statement from personal experience. When I was a pre-teen my thoughts always circled around “ when will this end, I tired of it, and do other girls have to go through what I go through on a day to day basis” and resulting in curiousity of others lives and if they were going through the same thing I was at the time. There are also some points where reality can help girls for example inside the article “What Reality TV Teaches Teen Girls” by Meredith Melnick states that “ 65% say such shows introduce new ideas and perspectives, 62% say the shows have raised their awareness of social issues and causes” honestly I agree with this cause it could help adults understand anothers situation, but it can also help the young children by putting themselves in anothers situation and change their perception on veiwing life . I have done this many times and each time it was for the better. I also grew up in a situation where my mothers family were very close minded while my dads family were very open minded and no matter the situation they will listen to both sides of a story and tries to understand and analyze their

What once started as every day, regular people appearing on television shows have now morphed into celebrities and want to be celebrities competing for attention and doing almost anything to receive it on primetime television. The genre of television, which was once jumpstarted by the appeal of relatable people, who could be the viewers’ next door neighbors, being featured has since disappeared and been replaced by a monstrosity that does not accurately portray reality and often stereotypes people (Huff). One specific group that has been targeted by what reality television has morphed into is women. The new version of reality television is specifically adequate at encouraging gender culture, the set of behaviors or practices associated with masculinity and femininity (Huff). Reality television enforces gender roles and negatively impacts feminism in today’s society. Reality television sexualizes women, portrays them as dependent on and less superior to men, and exemplifies them as dramatic, catty, and often only as homemakers. The portrayal and stereotyping of women on reality television is demoralizing and can be described as “the contemporary backlash against feminism” (“Reality TV”). These false and demeaning stereotypes are prevailed in all types of reality television shows, making their impact extensive, considering Americans spend one-third of their spare time watching television and of that time sixty-seven percent is spent watching reality television (“Reality

According to Medical Procedure News, reality TV is one of the leading contributors to the increase in cosmetic surgeries with more than 9.2 million surgeries being conducted in connection to reality TV. However, Keeping Up with the Kardashians is only one of the hundreds of shows causing some people within the American public to change the person they are into the person society wants them to be. Because of the false sexual appeal and happiness presented in shows such as America’s Next Top Model or Extreme Makeover, eating disorders have tripled in teenage girls ages thirteen to nineteen since the rise of reality TV in the early 2000s. In a survey run by Psychology Today, it found that most viewers claim to watch reality TV shows to have a topic of conversation to present to their coworkers or friends the following

It seems that younger females are more apt to believe that most everything they see in the media is realistic and attainable, and they try to mimic what they see on TV or read in magazines. They also tend to watch TV shows like One Tree Hill, Laguna Beach, and Gilmore Girls. Why do our young females look to these fictional characters for real life answers? Do they see these characters as role models? One has to wonder if they believe that if they mimic how these characters look and act they will belong and then they, too, can have the same outcome the characters do. How many times have you walked down the street and seen an 8- or 9-year-old girl wearing something that might be more appropriate if worn by an adult? Females between the ages of 9-12 read fashion and beauty magazines, and their exposure to these "ideal" images coincides with a period in their lives where self-regard and self-efficacy is in decline. This is the same time period where body image is tied to self-esteem and it becomes quite fragile due to physical changes of puberty. This is also the same time frame where the tendency for social comparison is at its peak. Girls thus find themselves in a subculture of dieting, due to the messages given by the media.

One study has shown good responses to a reality program relating to cosmetic surgery. Results indicated that the participants viewed the program positively and endorsed the importance of physical attractiveness. They also believed the psychological benefits and entertainment value it can bring to the reality TV show (Charlotte N, 2012). This proves that physical appearance does

1. Most girls will do whatever it takes to be skinny and look like the stars that weigh 100 pounds "...the media influence on the cultural phenomenon of dieting and the perfect body. “Commercials and reality TV shows make you feel bad about yourself so you buy into the fad," Cohn said. The diet industry earns $50 billion each year on diet pills, and $8.4 billion is spent every year on cosmetic surgery. Women -- and men, Cohn stressed -- want to be thin, because large men and women are ridiculed" (Demmel). Eating disorders continues to be problem among young girls because of their role models. Girls on reality TV shows have that 'perfect' body and girls what to be everything like them.

There is no doubt that when it comes to American youth television is one of the biggest influences by far. Many parents would love to say that their child does not watch that much TV but in reality they are spending a lot of time watching television or using media in some way. “The study by the Kaiser Family foundation shows that children ages 2-8 spend an average of 5 ½ hours a day “consuming media” kids 8 and older spend even more time in front of the tube nearly 6 ¾ hours a day” (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005 ). Astonishingly, more time is being spent with media then doing homework, studying or even spending time with family. A child’s retention of what