Downfall of Female Body Image: Media’s Influence
In our generation today, obsessing over our looks and bodies has become a day-to-day activity. Over the past decade the media industry has vastly evolved, influencing people all around the world. Media has provoked negative self-perception among the society. It has influenced our definition of beauty. Women/girls are frequently targeted by the media, causing them to stress about their appearance. Every day worldwide, females are trying to obtain this idealistic appearance by making looks consequential to themselves. Women come in all shapes and sizes, and each individual should be treated equally. However, the media constantly presents us with only one image, which is an impractical one. Although …show more content…
These figures are given to children as toys which allow them to practice for roles they will take on as adults. Barbie’s teach young girls to have a desire to be thin, and strive for a body like her. This is substantially represented in the critical essay where a new type of Barbie was produced, “In the 1960s, toymaker Mattel released ‘Slumber Party Barbie’ along with combs, hair rollers and a sleeping bag. This Barbie set included a scale permanently stuck at 110 lbs, and a small book titled “How to Lose Weight”. The only words written in the book were the all-capital exhortation, DON’T EAT!” (Dittmar et al. 285). This ‘Slumber Party Barbie’ sends a negative message to the young girls about body image and the weight. The scale indicates a certain weight that is ideal for every girl, though this weight is less than the average girl in our generation today. Barbie influenced many girls during that era, as it was one of the first Barbie dolls ever produced. Thus, females are taught to model these images in their own lives, as they look up to role models that represent these idealistic beauty standards. This means that icons that portray unrealistic beauty standards set expectations
In our generation today, obsessing over our looks and bodies has become a day-to-day activity. Over the past decade the media industry has vastly evolved, influencing people all around the world. Media has provoked negative self-perception among the society. It has influenced our definition of beauty. Women/girls are frequently targeted by the media, causing them to stress about their appearance. Every day worldwide, females are trying to obtain this idealistic appearance by making looks consequential to themselves. Women come in all shapes and sizes, and each individual should be treated equally. However, the media constantly presents us with only one image, which is an impractical one. Although …show more content…
These figures are given to children as toys which allow them to practice for roles they will take on as adults. Barbie’s teach young girls to have a desire to be thin, and strive for a body like her. This is substantially represented in the critical essay where a new type of Barbie was produced, “In the 1960s, toymaker Mattel released ‘Slumber Party Barbie’ along with combs, hair rollers and a sleeping bag. This Barbie set included a scale permanently stuck at 110 lbs, and a small book titled “How to Lose Weight”. The only words written in the book were the all-capital exhortation, DON’T EAT!” (Dittmar et al. 285). This ‘Slumber Party Barbie’ sends a negative message to the young girls about body image and the weight. The scale indicates a certain weight that is ideal for every girl, though this weight is less than the average girl in our generation today. Barbie influenced many girls during that era, as it was one of the first Barbie dolls ever produced. Thus, females are taught to model these images in their own lives, as they look up to role models that represent these idealistic beauty standards. This means that icons that portray unrealistic beauty standards set expectations