The Media's Negative Portrayal of Women

Our beloved media is a sign of and pretty much encourages our culture's mainstream standards for body shape or size, and importance of beauty. Daily TV and magazines reflect images of thinness and connects them to other symbols of happiness, love and success for women. Constant exposure to the thin ideal can lead to the deepest desire to meet it. It also renders these images achievable and real.

In recent times, the amount of magazines in stock has been increasing enormously. Women have a wide selection to choose from; however, in those magazines the content that she will find inside is not so broad. In all of the issues of Seventeen, the most widely distributed adolescent magazine, the largest percentage of pages are devoted to articles about appearance (Schlenker, et al. 1998). This shows that even at the age of seventeen (and younger) girls are submissions of this growing epidemic. Magazine articles may seem to be one of the biggest sources for beauty tips, standards, and perception that the youth population can come across. However, this is not the only case.

Before a girl even has the chance to learn how to read, by the age of 3 she will be intrigued by the self-image awareness program that our media has created. While watching Saturday morning cartoons, a bowl of Cocoa Puffs or Froot Loops balanced unstably in her lap, the child is mesmerized. Suddenly the animated trance is interrupted. A commercial appears on the screen that intrigues this innocent girl, for the new Barbie commercial is on, worshiping the virtues of the latest line of plastic idols. How does the child react to these seemingly innocent commercials? Images and ideas are imprinted in her growing mind that will shape the way she sees the issues of beauty and perfection. It is unfortunate that the media has caused such psychological problems for women, whether it is fixation on the "perfect" doll, or even worse.