In my last posting, I talked about how media has an effect on young girls and women’s self esteem. People agreed with my argument towards the media that’s “Pictures Do Lie”. And some stated that the media wasn’t the cause for low self esteem. Yes, there are beautiful people in the world, but the media has defined what beauty is. The media has brain washed into thinking that there are standards for someone to be considered beautiful. They include being young, tall, thin, straight hair, flawless skin, light eyes, and pearly white teeth. Having low self esteem is the effect of the media putting these false pictures on display ,but having low self esteem has its effects also. When people are exposed to perfect bodies they tend to criticize their own bodies by pointing out what different from theirs. People who don’t like a specific part of their body wants to change it any means necessary. That’s why this blog is about how media and their false pictures have an effect on people wanting plastic surgery.
So when young girl self esteem’s are effected by the exposure to false media they try to find ways to become like their favorite celebrities or who they saw in the media. If the girl or woman is able to afford it ,then plastic surgery could become a big option.? American Academy of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) members performed 8.3 million surgical and non-surgical procedures. This amount is 300% more then the number of procedures in 1997. Plastic surgery has become a big part of media with shows like Nip Tuck and The Swan showing individual going through their plastic surgery procedures. It portrays everyone as happy after the change and how it made them a better person ,but what happened to being happy with the body GOD gave you. Magazines have articles on who has gotten the latest plastic surgery procedures and how much prettier they are afterwards. What is this telling everyday women and young girls
On a episode of Dr. 90210, a women coming in to get her consultation for get procedure showed him pictures out of an magazine where she copied a pasted different celebrity body part to make her perfect body. Gabby Atkinson stated in her article The ‘Face’ of Perfection that “…as this image has gradually become based on perfection and superficiality, the lives of our generation have become wasted from anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa (both emotional disorders rising along with the image) and plastic surgery fads.” Most people don’t know that most images are digitally corrected and they begin to make goals towards their new bodies based on these images. “A study conducted in 1996 found that the amount of time a child watches soaps, movies, and music videos actually effects their perception of their body and their desire to be thin.” (Atkinson) Plastic surgeons depend on the media to get the importance of plastic surgery out there.
False images of the women bodies causes more girls to put pressure on their body and more pressure to be a life size Barbie doll and this causes extra pressure to get plastic surgery. Why should plastic surgery be an option for happiness. Happiness comes from within, not from changing your outer appearance.
My overall thoughts on the blog are exactly what the blog betrays. Girls should not be pushing themselves into images presented by the media. The amount of pictures and what the pictures portray was what caught my attention to respond to the blog. To quote the blog, "The media has brain washed into thinking that there are standards for someone to be considered beautiful." I couldn't agree more! The media is a very large socializing agent which people look upon to know what the social norm is. In an article, http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/excerpt.asp?id=2 the site describes what the social norm is. According to the website, "Hollywood movies rarely feature women over forty, and the older women we do see represented in the media, from movie stars to news anchors and even politicians, look much younger, thanks to plastic surgery. As a result, those of us who choose to age naturally, without the aid of plastic surgery, are sometimes seen as "letting ourselves go." This comes from what the blog said in relation to young girls, "when young girl self esteem’s are effected by the exposure to false media they try to find ways to become like their favorite celebrities or who they saw in the media." The media is setting girls up at a young age to be the perfect human being. Although many girls and women think you have to be perfect outside, that's never the case. "Happiness comes from within, not from changing."
ReplyDeleteThis blog caught my attention because I have seen several young ladies who felt that if they could change this or do that, that everything would be perfect. It is unfair that the media falsely advertise the standard of beauty. The truth is that beauty is the eye of the beholder. Not everyone I the world is going to look alike even identical twins have something different about them. Everyone is beautiful in their own way being tall, skinny, and having lights do not make people beautiful. What makes people is being themselves if there was no indivuality then the world would be a boring place. The media needs to come to reality and these young ladies that not everyone is perfect. This blog is very informative and fulfills its the expectations of what I expected. The visuals for this blog would really help people in general understand how the media photoshop how people truly look.
ReplyDeleteThis blog has totally caught my attention. I feel like this topic relates to so many girls trying to feel comfortable in their own skin. I commented on your last blog and this one is even better. I feel like you have added more evidence by pulling in examples of television shows along with expanding your blog by tying in plastic surgery and how many people feel like that is a quick beauty fix. I defiantly agree with you and i feel like the media has this image of what beauty is and only excepts a certain look. I even hate looking at some magazines that only have skinny, perfect girls in it. Its not realistic and it makes you start to second guess your body and it can really hurt someones self-esteem.
ReplyDeleteYou picked a great topic and your doing a really good job at getting your point across. Keep it up!!!
When you say that the media "defines what beauty is," I totally agree with you because sometimes i watch americas next top model and think hmmmmm....,maybe I could shed like ten pounds. Before i watched the show i was perfectly fine with how i looked, but then i watched it and I saw how those girls were going to italy to model for italian vogue. So i thought hey that must be what beauty is, if I was a little thinner, maybe I could one day be a model or feel as pretty as those girls. But in all actuality the "media" put so much stree on models and actor/actress, that deep down inside there not happy with themselves either. They also suffer from low self-esteem, so what we think is pretty or beautiful, deep down inside they might not feel the same way. According to (http://www.suite101.com/content/models-teens-and-selfesteem-a14441), must models are under weight and there bodies does not represent the average bodies in everyday life.
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