When people want to know “what’s in” the first place they go is where? When people want to see what all the celebrities are wearing now where do they look? When people are searching for validation on how they look where is the first place they look? I’m pretty sure that the answers to these questions are magazines! Magazines are every where. The grocery store, the airport, walking down the street on news stands, and even in school. Magazines are where we get most of our information from pertaining to celebrities and “what‘s in”? Celebrities are our validation for a lot of things we do. Some people dress like their favorite celebrities and do their hair like someone famous they see everyday on television but, how far should people allow ourselves to go in hopes of looking their favorite celebrity? Everyone has noticed that actresses and models are becoming taller woman they give you steps on how you can get become her. Magazines like Stars have titles such as WORST BIKINI BODY, then next month “How I Lost 10 pounds”. Magazines have ads and photo shoots of celebrities and models who are very thin and tall with clear skin and perfect bodies ,but is that the truth? Most photos we see are not the actual pictures of our favorite celebrities but, airbrushed photographs to show them with a “perfect body”.
In the photo above we see Kim Kardashian’s picture had been airbrushed to make her look thinner, more shapely, and lighter. Technology in this time makes the models in the pictures look thinner, taller, unblemished, with brighter eyes and whiter teeth. Some airbrushed pictures defies how a human body is naturally constructed.
What is this saying to women and young girls? When we look in magazines we see the picture on the right. The way the fashion industry says your body should look but, that is sending the wrong message. “Heartless retouching, should not be the chosen tool to represent women in the beginning of this century.” Mr. Lindbergh one of the top image makers told the New York Times.
Women and young girls strive to gain these unattainable bodies. They are taking major risk with their health and when that image is not achieve then they can start to take other alternatives. Research have shown that by being exposed to false, airbrushed pictures of young celebrities can be linked to depression, low self-esteem, and development of an eating disorder. One in every one hundred teenage girls may develop an Eating Disorder. Women and young girls are comparing themselves to women in the media and women around. Is media to blame for low self esteem? Or is it a deeper problem? “To wish you were someone else is to waste the person you are.”- Unknown
I believe that the media is the blame for low self-esteem in young girls and adults, even men. I believe this because these individuals see these perfectly sculpted bodies and go on these restricting diets just to have that magically constructed image. The media has constucted reality into society's head to believe that the next 'trend' is to be anorexic or bullemic, just to match the bodies of our role models of celebrities. This issue also has to do with the individual itself. If someone is completely happy with themselves, there is no need to be falsely persuaded into being the next look-a-like. Honestly, it's an esteem issue that is within and the media just so happens to bring that out even further.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the media is to blame for low self-esteem especially with young teenage girls. Many young girls flip though these magazines only looking at the perfection of the pictures and striving to conform to look like pictures in these magazines. The problem is most of the times the pictures do lie. They are false representation of what the person honestly looks like. I personally feel like magazines are not reality and they only show the stick, super, skinny girls when in reality everyone is built different and beauty can be found in all kinds of shapes.
ReplyDeleteI feel your title is perfect if this article. It pinpoints the topic exact and you give great evidence to support you concept. It fulfills the promises of the title and gives great insight and visual aid to support your view. I felt like this was an easy article to follow and a current issues that many women face in today’s society. I will be looking forward to see how you expand on this. I believe that there is something going on inside the media that allows them to believe its all about size that determines beauty I would love to see if you could find any information about that
When I saw that there was a blog tagged under fashion, I was immediately drawn in as I aspire to break into the fashion industry as a model. I kind of expected to see something about designers or maybe even models, but after reading the title I knew I was wrong. However, I read the article, as fashion is my interest, and was in no way shocked by the statements of this blog.
ReplyDeleteWith constant advances in technology all around the world, it has become increasingly common for photos and images to be a variation of the actual truth. Just think, without the use of CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) and other special effects most of the movies that people watch, today, would not be as amazing.Avatar is one of my favorite movies, but it was created largely from CGI. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1_JBMrrYw8 The same is true for photographs. If photographers did not have the ability to airbrush photos and in some cases use CGI, then a number of the beautiful images that we see today would not be possible.
With every new invention, there are benefits and pitfalls, but the interpretation as to which it is depends heavily on the individual. To say that altered images cause low self-esteem is to say that beautiful people cause low self-esteem. If this is the truth then low self-esteem is unavoidable and those who suffer from such a case would do so even if images were never altered. No matter where someone goes they can and will always find someone else who is more beautiful in the eyes of another individual than they are.
I understand the media is to blame for low self-esteem in many teens, but I also know some parents could be the blame for their child’s low self-esteem. In the article "Blame Mummy, not Madonna, for low self-esteem in girls" it is stated that young girls watch their mothers’ obsessive dieting habits, which results in them feeling as though they should do the same. So are parents the blame or is it all do to media?
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ReplyDeleteIt is very clear that the media is to blame for bringing out lower self esteem in young girls today. Not only do the media's "picture perfect bodies" effect young girls, it effects everyone who looks at them. Everyone forms jealousy when they see what their favorite celebrity is wearing, their hairstyle, and especially the perfect shape their body is in. However, the magazines edit so much, they're almost lying. In that case, your choice of title fits the subject very well. What caught my attention was your use of pictures. I knew they re-touched some people in magazines, but never imagined it would be so extreme. Your blog was easy to follow, and something we can all relate to.
ReplyDeleteThe media is definitely to blame for people with low self esteem. It seems to me that people are always comparing themselves to celebrities and not actual people they know, when it should be the other way around. Celebrities and models are human beings just like us and just because they are in the media, does not mean that they don’t have low self esteem either. They are probably self conscious about their image just as much as non-celebrities are, but they are lucky enough to have professional photographers airbrush out their flaws. People need to stop striving to look like models and celebrities they see in magazines and start trying to be happy with who they are on the inside and out.
ReplyDeleteThe media may the blame in some cases but not in all cases. Sometimes some girls are not taught to have self confidence or even to be happy with there body. In some cases girls are taught at a young age to be there for the man and do what ever is told to them by the man. Thats where the "based on a true story" and "lifetimes" movies come into place. They are there just for entertainment. They are there to actually teach young females a lessono when they get older they will know to be themselves and to change for the better not for the man in there life.
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