The Media Images Of Beauty

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

In the article “A Chinese beauty story: how college women in China negotiate beauty, body image, and mass media,” the author, Meng Zhang, examines the perspective of college aged Chinese women, and how they deal with the current beauty standards and body image ideals, ways to attain it, as well as the impact the media has had over their views and life experiences. When it comes to the “ideal”, women are expected to possess both the traditional Chinese attributes, like fair skin and a slim body, as well as more Western appeals, such as big eyes and being tall. The article demonstrates that through the media’s constant attention, beauty soon became a vital role in the life of the everyday Chinese woman. With that new-found focus on beauty came

Society and the media have an enormous influence on an individual’s concept of beauty and bodily perfection. Even the “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” many people allow the media’s influence into their lives, which is a dangerous thing to allow (Vogel, 2015). According to David Newman, author of Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life, society is defined as the “population of people living in the same geographic area who share a culture and a common identity and whose members fall under the same political authority” (Newman, 2010, 18). The people within a society constantly create and add to the pressure already placed on individuals which can severely alter and harm one’s self-esteem. Self-esteem is

The beauty standard is a culturally constructed notion of physical attractiveness that has become increasingly imperative for women and men. However, this standard has become extremely perilous to men and women’s self-image. Camille Paglia, a highly educated individual who earned her PhD at Yale University and became a highly acclaimed author, explicates this conception in her essay “The Pitfalls of Plastic Surgery”. Paglia suggests that the beauty standard idealizes women to look like “sex symbols with an unattainable grandeur” (776). She continues to claim that it forces her audience of higher class women to pay large sums of money in order to alter their features ultimately conforming to a very “parochial” definition of beauty (776). Although Paglia is a highly credible source, she illogically appeals to the reader’s fears in order to persuade them. Paglia fails to give any credible outside sources which affirms her preposterous beliefs. Contrary to her inconsistencies, Daniel Akst, a social journalist and graduate from New York University provides his audience with reputable sources in order to persuade his audience. Daniel Akst believes that there needs to be a “democratization of physical beauty” in which instead of attempting to alter the beauty standard, we must first change how we view ourselves. Akst provides credible sources to establish his credibility where he observes cases studies and cultural experiments from scientists and organizations including:

Society today holds beauty as a pivotal role in our lives. Many people believe that, through a high perception of one’s own beauty, one’s self-esteem is increased with this. By perceiving yourself as beautiful or attractive, then the increased self-esteem will follow due to your own perception of yourself. However, as society progressed, people have stopped believing in this ideology and, instead, follow different practices to attain beauty. It is prevalent throughout modern society that people from all social groups alter their beauty in order to fit a set standard. This set standard is usually established by media and effects people of all social groups. For

Beauty standards in the media are one of many reasons feeding and eating disorders are a rising problem. The unrealistic body types of being extremely thin, in pop culture, are influential factors for many teens, especially teen girls. According to the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5), anorexia nervosa is a “restriction of energy intake, intense fear of gaining weight, and a disturbance in the perception of one’s body size” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Individuals diagnosed with anorexia tend to place a high value on their shape and weight, which can interfere with their daily lives. Individuals diagnosed tend to view of their body shape in a distorted representation. The motivation to become

“Never Just Pictures” by Susan Bordo, is about how today’s society is influenced by the mass medias unrealistic ideas of how they are supposed to look. In this essay, the author breaks down the images being showcased by today’s culture concerning the aesthetics of the female body. Bordo also talks about how what was considered ‘beautiful’ or ‘perfect’ before has changed. Lately, the world has been on a craze to look like the air brushed model in the picture. Bordo explains how a lot of people are becoming more obsessed with their physique, and depending on looking thin to make them happy, instead of focusing on being happy and healthy.

Also, the media lowers women's self-esteem by making them believe that if they don't have the appearance of the young woman in the advertisement, their body is not classified as beautiful. Diana Vancura in her article, “The Media Focus Too Much on Looks” not only emphasizes the idea that the media ignores women's talents, but also the idea that they only “advertise a specific body type as beautiful” constantly. Once again we see how media puts down any beauty that

Writing for the Huffington Post, Temimah Zucker presents her opinion on society’s expectation for women in America through different forms of communication and advertisement. Zucker’s article is based off of what you as a woman, think of yourself, versus what society thinks of you. Zucker believes that society’s opinions and beliefs will constantly change through the generations, but your thoughts about your own beauty will not become gray to you; “Beauty is molded by society -- by the advertising, fashion, and cosmetic industries. We live in a society of billboards and ads, Photoshop, and Botox. We are trained to believe that size two is perfect, while most healthy women in America fit into a size 12.” (1)

People across the world are constantly stalked, targeted, and bombarded. There is practically no place people can turn to and be safe. They are prey to people’s criticisms and remarks. It knows no boundaries, with no constraints and is a constant threat. Walking down the boulevard one can see the lights, images displayed, and the idea of the perfect human physique. People are a constantly target by advertisements, images, media, Hollywood and ideas that we have to do anything in our power and change the way we look to fit into the mold they have chosen on how society and people must look like. No one seems to be safe from their grasp, gender, nationality, language, and education cannot save you from those advertisement that constantly nit-pick our insecurities and make us vulnerable to accept the ideas they constantly attack us with. “…just because people talk differently does not necessarily mean they think differently” (Boroditsky 2011, 63). By having these standards of beauty people go to all ends to reach, sometimes the even fatal.

It 's not a mystery that society 's ideals of beauty have a drastic and frightening effect on women. Popular culture frequently tells society, what is supposed to recognize and accept as beauty, and even though beauty is a concept that differs on all cultures and modifies over time, society continues to set great importance on what beautiful means and the significance of achieving it; consequently, most women aspire to achieve beauty, occasionally without measuring the consequences on their emotional or physical being. Unrealistic beauty standards are causing tremendous damage to society, a growing crisis where popular culture conveys the message that external beauty is the most significant characteristic women can have. The approval of prototypes where women are presented as a beautiful object or the winner of a beauty contest by evaluating mostly their physical attractiveness creates a faulty society, causing numerous negative effects; however, some of the most apparent consequences young and adult women encounter by beauty standards, can manifest as body dissatisfaction, eating disorders that put women’s life in danger, professional disadvantage, and economic difficulty.

When presented with the question of “who is to blame for today’s beauty standards?” the simple yet obvious answer comes to mind, the media. What an abundant amount of people for reasons unknown to me, fail to realize, though, is that the media is not an all-powerful being that has a mind of its own. The media is ran by humans and watched by humans. Both having an equal share in what is publicized, one cannot survive without the other. Numerous individuals have argued that if we were all too just boycott anyone who uses photoshopped images of anyone for marketing strategies that they would just cease to exist anymore.

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.

“If I was good looking, I would be happy” and “If I looked like that celebrity, I would be happy forever” are phrases that have been heard around the world, especially from females. But is beauty really happiness? Beauty has changed tremendously over time due to varied cultures, traditions, and perceptions of society. Humanity has had an obsession many years as to how one should look and if one looks right for society to be treated like a normal person. However, nobody can ever meet those standards of beauty because they are impossible to accomplish. There is no real definition of beauty since these standards are constantly changing depending on where you are and what those around you idolize. For instance, in ancient Egypt around the era 1292-1069 B.C., some art has shown that the ‘perfect’ woman had long, braided hair with a symmetrical face, was thin with slim shoulders and had a high waist. On the other hand, postmodern beauty shows that the ideal woman now should have a straight nose, thin cheeks, thick lips, large breasts and butt, and a flat stomach. There is always constant pressure to look a certain way, without realizing the great damage it causes to people’s mentality and self-esteem.