The Perfect Woman in Our Society

"Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel... It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex"(Brontë

According to Yoder (1999) society views women as caring, and sensitive. As such, they are expected to

Over time relationships and gender roles have changed dramatically. Women are being affected the most by the changes of societal expectations especially in what is viewed as the perfect woman. Women were expected to be quiet, submissive, and obedient to their husbands. On the contrary, women today are able to speak their minds and be expressive and have more freedom. This is seen in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew and its modern day version 10 Things I Hate About You through the character Katherine.

To begin with, the media industry has the power to decide what reaches the public’s eye; therefore, they present to the public their versions of what “beautiful’ women should appear like. The media has created their version of what the “ideal body” should be. They continuously show the audience photographic images of models that appear extremely thin. Media meticulously chooses women with bodies which media calls “sexy”. Spectators rarely get a glance of women who are overweight. For example, all of the actress that make an appearance on television shows are below what is considered a healthy weight. Yet, this concept is what media has defined as beautiful, influencing many women to obtain a thin figure. As a result, of these messages sent by

“The Beauty Myth” written by Naomi Wolf is an essay written to present how the advancements of women in social power lead to a societal backlash that lead to a woman’s value being equated to her appearance by both sexes. This devaluation of women has led to a harmful relationship with food and women subjecting themselves to mental and physical torture to be thin. Wolf describes in the 1920s was the first time that women became “preoccupied with dieting and thinness” after receiving the right to vote. In the 1950s, women’s curves were celebrated again because “their minds were occupied in domestic seclusion.” According to Wolf, when women were in male spheres, “that pleasure had to be overridden by an urgent social

In Susan Bordo’s article “Never Just Pictures,” she expresses her understanding of how images in the media alter the way our society sees itself. She starts off addressing how critical society has become about the weight of those in the spot light. This cruelty has emerged from critics comparing those in the media such as, athletes, actors, news castors, etc. to super models who are expected to remain at an extremely low weight percentage for fashion shows and photo shoots. In just about every magazine, there are advertisements for a weight loss products or promises, or show models glamorized while they look to be on the verge of starvation. She implies that magazine editors only care about selling products and do not consider the effect the

“Society tells girls how to look and how to act and that’s not good at all” “On late night talk shows people are more likely to hear about how thin Nicole Richie is then a fat joke abouthow heavy Queen Latifah is.” “Ideals of beauty change some what over time, but the simple fact is that proponents of plus-size preference have failed to convince America that fat is beautiful.”

Many negativities have resulted from what the media is portraying as the idealized body image; the body size of women portrayed in the media is noticeably getting smaller. The media will do everything to sell a product, especially when it tugs on someones insecurities. The term “thin-ideal media” refers to media images, shows, and films that contain very thin female leads (“Body, Of”). The media has made a thin body appear as if that is what the ideal body image should be, even if it is harmful to a person’s health. The average fashion model is typically 4-7 inches taller and 50 pounds lighter than the average American (Insel 292). Many consider that having good looks means you have good health; furthermore, it then makes it difficult for some women to go without thinking

“Talking about how they need to have control, they isn't suppose to seem weak or like a pussy.” -Hip-Hop & Feminism Note Sheet. This detail means that in society, people have made standards for men to always be in jurisdiction and authoritative, while women are subordinate. “Can’t cry in front of people (Referring to men)”. This component means that people associate men crying with being weak, effeminate, or gay. The projection conveyed is that a man is somehow less than a man if any or too much emotion is

A woman’s ability to achieve self worth and personal fulfillment is clouded by the pressures and expectations imposed upon them by society. The media prioritizes different societal roles of women and overlooks her accomplishments as an individual. Throughout history, women have always been told how to act in order to be deemed acceptable in society. Women are controlled by the media, men, as well as other women, which leads to the feeling of being a “plaster doll… with eyes that open without landfall” (Sexton). Because most women did not enjoy much independence prior to the beginning of the modern feminist movement, they felt as though she is nothing more than a housewife whose role is to dress up and look presentable in front of the people around them. Most women wanted to be more than an object, however, women at that time were only expected to please their husbands and follow the rules by the book. Similarly, the prevailing notion that women are constantly judged by the decisions they make in society keeps them from acting freely due to the fear or being criticized. Britney Spears “wouldn’t want to do or say anything that would upset anyone,” (Perotta) which shows how women are forced to present themselves in a way that is

A female should not feel insecure with her body when she is comfortable in her own skin, whether or not she weights 130 pounds or 150 pounds at 5’5”. According to Rehab’s study of the evolution of the female figure over one hundred years, “the body shapes of the most admired models have remained consistently slimmer than that of the average American woman.” Due to the significant increase in mass media throughout the twentieth century of the United States, there has been a noteworthy impact on the popular image of women. A woman being dissatisfied with their body is a everyday trend around the world where as

Being perfect is the main theme that most of the women strive for it. Everyone today watches and buys the movies, magazines, news, advertisements and we see celebrities with the “perfect” bodies. It is not our fault. Media sometimes it manipulates women through the technology by using Photoshop and makes women look with perfect body and mark these false creations as flawless and inspirational. For instance, making a female to look ideal is tricking the society into thinking that we must have to be like that. We live and exist and it doesn’t mean that we suck just because we are not perfect as others who pretend to be with perfect bodies. Our society wants us to look perfect and actually we are wasting our time of trying to reach that because it is something that we can’t do it and it is impossible. No one can be or are perfect.

Time and time again women are told what is considered desirable or not acceptable about their body. The reality of it all, is that women in the media are unrealistic and harmful and do not represent the average human being. According to Whyte, Newman, and Voss (2016), “Women prominently featured on television, on the internet, in film, and in the print media often have body proportions representing (and often exaggerating) cultural ideals—specifically, ‘a thin body size, curvaceously slender, physically appealing and unrealistically thin" (p.823). The women we see behind the cameras should not be our role models. They do not perceive the daunting truth that their bodies are created to shame figures that can never be as “perfect”. Many women diet merely because they “feel fat”, and they take it to the extremes which can be detrimental to one’s health. Within the past few decades women have become more aware with the idealization of thinness and what risks follow the idea (Fuchs, J. N, 2008). Women

Women have let the idea of looking beautiful take over their self-confidence and life. Healthy Place, an online magazine teaching women about living a healthy life, says that, “today's fashion models weigh twenty-three percent less than the average female, and a young woman between the ages of 18-34 has a seven percent chance of being as slim as a catwalk model and a one percent chance of being as thin as a supermodel.” So why do women push themselves to be excessively thin when these models are anomalies? They do it because the media tells them that this look is the only look that can attract men. Even if a woman is “beautiful” according to the media’s standards, she will always find something about her body that she hates, whether it is her hair or her belly button, no women is completely satisfied. Our society is very accepting of different religions and lifestyles, so why can we not accept different types of beauty as well?

While it’s fashion week in London, the size “zero” models start to prepare for the big show by purging to be as thin as possible. Most models starve themselves in order to achieve the “waif”, stick-thin figure; it becomes so addictive, almost like second nature that it further leads to serious eating disorders. From recent studies, today’s model weighs about 23% less than the normal woman. Clearly, most models do not depict the average woman. Men and women all over the world follow the influences that the fashion industry provides. They believe that the fashion industry depicts on what society should be acknowledged as, picture-perfect thin.