The Beauty Myth
Our society is full of tremendous diversity: we are tall, short, fat, and thin. Our colors range from blue-black, copper, olive, and pink. Yet we are all measured against the same unrealistic standards promoted my the advertising industries (Boston Women's Health Collective 33-34). "Images of beauty vary across ethnic groups, demonstrating how racism and sexism interact to shape expectations of women" (Kessleman et. al 111). Advertising agencies generally use young, white, skinny, and attractive girls to promote a product. What is worse is the media generally promotes the product using the girls's sexuality. Adolescent girls are particularly affected by this type of propaganda technique. The mind of an adolescent is just begging to form abstract ideas and develop morals. During this period of growth an adolescent begins to form a complete self-identity. This means that anything in the adolescents life that affects her daily is going to have an impact on who she thinks she is. This includes family, peers, and the media. All of which should have a potentially positive affect on the child. But given the junk values of
She may not even realize what a healthy sexual relationship is. If a girl rejects a boys demand for sex she is considered a prude to her peers and may be ostracized. The sexualization of the female body in mass media may be affecting adolescents girls's emotional, mental, and physical well-being. One out of three report feeling anxious, depressed, or repulsed when they look at their nude bodies in the mirror" (Freedman 115). Once a girl realizes she is being judged for her sexuality she may have a desire to meet those standards. "The drop in test scores begins around the same time that another deeply troubling loss occurs in the lives of girls: self-esteem. Media images depict females as sexy and thin. As a child a female feels relatively safe in her body, but as this body matures it betrays her becoming a target for rape and other sexual violence and harassment. Growing up watching Disney movies where the main character is always a young, white, beautiful, and docile girl who needs to be saved by a man to be happy only aggravates the idea that women should be gentle and pretty and base their importance on those virtues. Higgins "The cultural anxiety precipitated by unbounded female sexuality is perhaps most apparent with regard to adolescent girls. The under representation of positive female role models who use their brains rather than their breasts to acquire power leads to the devaluation of intelligence in young girls. Those standards being sexual, attractive, and skinny. Boys are exposed to all of the media that devalues women's intellect by degrading the female body. She would just feel pressured to be sexy and attractive in order to get boys.
Common topics in this essay:
Health Collective,
Tracy Higgins,
Beauty Myth,
sexual violence,
sexual relationship,
healthy sexual relationship,
brains breasts,
girls growing,
et al,
healthy sexual,
girls begin,
media images,
adolescent girls,
female sexuality,
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Acceptance Essays
