The "Ideal" Female Form

Women, more than men, have struggled to be seen as equals for centuries. The way in which females are portrayed in the mass media in today's society is interesting, important, and disconcerting all at the same time. In first understanding the underlying complexities of this phenomenon, the stereotypical gender roles and assumptions that have plagued humanity the definitions of such mistreatment can be identified and hopefully changed in the end. Recognizing the acceptance that is conveyed by glamorizing such a way of thinking in mainstream advertisements, magazines, television, and film, helps to understand the similar treatment of women in real-life scenarios like the home, school, and workplace. This paper will examine how the "ideal" female form as historically portrayed and accepted in popular culture negatively impacts women's health through the affirmation of gender roles of the past while forcing an unrealistic image of the way females should be, physically and mentally, upon cultures outside of our own.