Now, let me start off by saying that I don’t have anything against those who have had or are planning to have plastic surgery, if it makes you feel better about yourself then that’s all that matters, what I am discussing here is how the media portrays beauty to young women and teens. Mostly the way the media ideal gets pounded into the minds of teens. I have no problem with the people being shown as ideal, the problem I have is that the “media ideal” is promoted as average and sets the standard for average women when the very ideal the media is promoting clearly is not average.
Now, I want you to think about an actress who is portrayed as beautiful, just pick on that is often shown in the role of a desirable woman in movies, now think about her features, most shown in the role of desirable women are thin, normally below a size 3 (American sizing), no flaws or distinguishing marks on her face (moles, even small ones and things of the like are absent from most leading role actresses), every hair in place, not a flaw on her……now look around you, think of the people you know, do you know any women who compare to the actress in your mind’s beauty? While some of you may, I’m sure many don’t, and even those who do know one woman who fit’s the media image will know even more who don’t. You know why that is? Because, as much as the media might want you to think that their media ideal is average, it really isn’t.
I know, I know, it’s just a movie right? It doesn’t effect our lives………..or does it?
The mind of a teenage girl is already being bombarded with ideals and expectations, she’s being pulled every which way as it is. Now try to put yourself in her mindset, the mindset of someone trying to find their place in this world, trying to find their worth, defining who they are and who they are going to be in this world, then add in the expectations from her peers, the teasing she gets because she’s not one of the pretty girls and then throw this media image into the blender and hit puree. What you get is a person with low self esteem who is reminded that she’s not expectable in the eyes of other’s every time she turns on the TV or goes to the movies.
Here’s the thing, even if other’s see her as beautiful, she won’t see herself that way because there’s always someone on TV who’s better looking, thinner, has prettier hair, something that will make her feel like she is lacking, like she is flawed. Do realize I’m not talking about an adult with her life set, I’m talking about a teen who is only starting to realize who she is and who she wants to be, this confusion and low self esteem can carry on well into her 20’s. You have to ask, why are women so worried about their looks? Well the answer is a complicated yet at the same time simple one.
We are always reminded of appearance, be it by the media, by our peers, sadly sometimes by our own families, as women so much of our worth is judged solely by our looks and I’m not talking just about weight, by desirable facial structure, by absence of distinguishing marks, by stuff as stupid as the shape of our rear ends, by things that are purely genetic that we have no control over…ah but we do, and it’s called plastic surgery.
Don’t like your cheek bones? Have thin lips? Boobs not big enough? Don’t fit the media image? There’s plastic surgery for that, a little scalpel cutting into your flesh and adding unnatural things into your body to make you beautiful, but is it really worth it? Do we really have to fit into the media image? Is it really that important?
Well, plastic surgeons want you to think it is, otherwise they’re out of a job which means they can’t afford their expensive cars and high end toys. See, they are taking advantage of the media image for monetary gain and thus taking advantage of confused teens with low self esteem who grow up to be confused young women with low self esteem, but still over the age of 18 which means they can now get plastic surgery to “fix” all those things their peers made fun of them for, even if there is really nothing wrong with the way these girls look in the first place. Many people who have plastic surgery done for cosmetic reasons are very beautiful to begin with, there’s nothing wrong with them, but media and peers (often influenced by the media) as well as so much of her worth being based on her looks in comparison to the media image make her believe that there is something wrong with how she looks.
The media image is a very destructive force aimed right at our nation’s youth, more so young girls though it also targets young boys to a point as well, but since society places so much value on a women’s looks, the teenaged girls are a lot more pressured into fitting the media image.
So, what can we do about it? The media is a pretty big force to reckon with, however, we can take steps in our own homes, in our own families, to assure teens, both male and female alike, that they don’t have to confirm to that media image. It’s an issue not many parents, aunts and uncles or teachers tackle, it’s one of those things we hope someone else will do for us, but there in lays the problem, most of us expect someone else to be the voice in this issue, but not many step up to the plate.
We need to let children and teens know that, not only are the actions in movies not to copied, but also that there is no need to try and copy the looks of the actors and actresses either, that the media is the media and nothing in movies is to be confused with real life, not the actions and not the images. We are quick at telling our kids that people who die in movies aren’t really dead and that it’s all pretend, but we fail to explain to them from a young age that the ideals portrayed in movies as average are just pretend as everything else in the movie, that the average woman doesn’t look like that, that the average man isn’t built like that, that nothing in the movies are real life, yes, these actors and actresses look like that but the way that perfect appearance is portrayed as average is not the true average and that those actors and actresses make a living off their acting skills and their looks (Sometimes even their acting skills are null and void) and that is why they look so perfect, because they have to in order to keep their jobs.
If we were to explain that to them from a young age then, chances are, it wouldn’t effect them so much when they hit their teens because they would know that the only reason those actors and actresses look so “perfect” is because they have to in order to keep their jobs and that the media ideal does not reflect what the average person should look like.
Related Reading:
http://youthdevelopment.suite101.com/article.cfm/models_teens_and_selfesteem
http://www.mediaandwomen.org/problem.html
http://www.something-fishy.org/cultural/themedia.php
