“I’m waiting for a real magazine. The day there are headlines like, ‘It’s ok not to have sex with strangers,’ or, ‘Being chubby is ok,’ I’ll subscribe (PostSecret).”
“Beautiful women make me want to kill myself (PostSecret).”
These statements may seem melodramatic or sensational, but they are just a few real feelings expressed anonymously by real girls. One additional anonymous message was written over a blurred photograph of a girl and a mirror. It read, “Because the mirror hurts worse than starving (PostSecret).” Does it really? More accurately, I believe it could be said that the media hurts worse than starving. The media, including video games, movies, television shows, song lyrics, advertisements, and magazines, makes it difficult to accept that women of various shapes can be, and are, beautiful. Every day, young girls are bombarded by the media’s messages telling them how to look, act, and dress, and what they can expect in return. What the girls aren’t told is that not only are these messages untrue, but that they are actually dangerous.
Models are called such for a reason: They are meant to be the perfect example of what they are representing, not to mention the ideal that others are meant to build from. However, they are modeling in another way as well. Like a sculptor might make something from clay or wood, so are their images working with our minds. When women are presented with images of the “ideal” woman, they tend to feel more discontent with their own appearance, a feeling which can easily escalate into such emotions as “depression, shame, guilt, body dissatisfaction, and stress (About-Face).” And is that really any surprise? The average American woman is 5’4” and weighs 140 pounds, but the average American model is 5’11” and weighs 117 pounds (About-Face)! Nearly all models are more slender than 98% of America’s women (About-Face). In fact, many models would technically qualify as anorexic (About-Face). Yet, these are the women that are idolized by women across the nation and globe.
Media affects not only how girls see themselves, which is mostly inadequate, but also how males see them. In many advertisements, songs, video games, and movies, women are presented as objects, mostly sexual tools or attractive decoration. When women are portrayed solely as something to serve a man instead of as a human with an identity and emotions, it’s called objectification, and it’s the first step toward female-directed violence (About-Face). Studies have shown that when men start to think of women as objects more than as people, they are more willing to act out violently towards them (About-Face). The really sad thing is that not only do the men start to believe that it is okay to treat women like this, but because of their belief of their lack of value, women may start to believe that they deserve it, too. This may be because they think that all their value comes from their appearance, which they consider substandard, or it may be because they are so desensitized towards violence portrayed in the media that it has become commonplace in their minds.
In addition, girls may start to see themselves in a less individual way. Once girls are convinced that their personal value comes from their appearance, they are willing to conform to almost any standard to be valued. In the most widely distributed magazine for adolescents, Seventeen Magazine, articles about appearance take up the largest percentage of pages – and this does not even include advertisements (About-Face). When so much emphasis is placed on appearance, is it any wonder that these are the expectations that girls focus on? Media neglects the personal voice, passions, and identities of girls. Girls, consequently, ignore their own individuality in order to earn affection.
When a girl or woman’s individuality is neglected for sexual appeal, it’s called sexualization. Sexualization can also happen if a person is sexually objectified, or if someone is imposed by inappropriate sexuality, such as a young girl being instilled with adult sexuality (“Executive Summary”). When girls are sexualized, they determine how best to dress or behave based on its sexual appeal, even at the early ages of 10 to 12. Tween girls are girls between the ages of 8 and 12, and since the 1990s, sexual content has been increasingly directed towards these girls (“Media, Market ‘Sexualizing’”). According to journalism professor and author of The Lolita Effect, Gigi Durham, “The body ideals presented in the media are virtually impossible to attain, but girls don’t always realize that, and they’ll buy an awful lot of products to try to achieve those bodies” (qtd in “Media, Market ‘Sexualising’”) Females are shown from a young age that their appearance is what determines their “sexiness”, which is what determines how worthy they are of affection.
Furthermore, the media affects more than just the girls’ thoughts of themselves; it warps their perceptions of love, sex, and violence as well. Many unmarried couples on television are considered to be in love, and subsequently, engage in sexual intercourse. As a result of media repeatedly portraying them synonymously, girls may start to confuse sex and love, or mistake them for the same thing. Women may also start to see affection to be the same thing as respect. Much media portrays women who receive excessive amounts of affection to be powerful, and thus worthy of respect. In reality, someone may give affection to anyone; but if you want respect, you have to show that you deserve it. A point that was briefly touched on earlier, violence is often portrayed as an insignificant occurrence. Men are frequently depicted as naturally aggressive beings; Women then assume that violence is a typical part of humanity, and something to be submissively tolerated. The truth is, sex is not the same as love, affection is not the same as respect, and violence is a big deal.
In many songs, music videos, video games, and commercials, violence is portrayed as inconsequential. Some fashion ads even go so far as to include photos of dead women on the sidewalk, a woman’s legs sticking out of car trunks, or women with men holding knives to their throats – hardly funny, considering that three women are killed at the hands of their boyfriend or husband every day (About-Face). Yet many women don’t often see it as a big deal, or even offensive. This may be part of the reason that much violence towards women – a little over half of female-directed assaults – goes unreported (“Violence Against Women”).
This last topic deserved some expanding, because it brings to light a situation which ties together low self-esteem, objectification, violence, and sexualization. While the effect of media violence on boys may increase their violence towards girls, it can also desensitize girls to the severity of the situation. Women may also endure brutality because they may not consider themselves significant enough to bother anyone about it. In addition, objectification is a contributor to abuse inflicted on women who are perceived as an object as opposed to a human, and sexualization habitually act as a secondary form of objectification.
By showing young males “what they’ll get” and showing young females “what they’ll be”, the media has successfully distorted all youths’ view of women. The physical, mental, and emotional damage that this has done to young women is inestimable. How does one measure pain? Just consider the following. In his book Battle Cry For A Generation, Ron Luce informs us that after only a few weeks of viewing mildly sexualized media regularly, men started to show signs of lessened respect or concern for women. The longer they continued to view it, the more tolerant they became of violence and objectification or sexualization of women. Some men even changed their minds about the severity of rape and assault (91-110). In addition, several studies have shown that after just half an hour or less of looking through adolescent magazines, women tend to rank their appearance or value lower than before they viewed the magazines. The studies also discovered that the lower you originally rated yourself, the quicker your self-esteem fell (About-Face). What people need to think about is that if these effects are made visible in just thirty minutes to thirty days, what can it do to a person during an entire lifetime? What really hurts worse…the mirror or the media?
Work Cited
About-Face. 10 Sep. 2008. About-Face. 28 Sep. 2008
“Executive Summary” APA Online. 2008. American Psychological Association. 3 Oct.
2008
Luce, Ron. Battle Cry For A Generation. Colorado Springs: Nexgen, 2005
“Media, Market ‘Sexualising’ Young Girls For Profit.” AOL India News. 27 Apr. 2008.
AOL Interactive Media India. 3 Oct. 2008
PostSecret. 5 Oct. 2008. Ed. Frank Warren. 5 Oct. 2008.
“Violence Against Women Goes Unreported” Women In Distress. 18 Apr. 2003. Women
In Distress of Broward County. 3 Oct. 2008
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