Media vs. Body by Brian Jones

Growing up I would always look to those on TV or in the Movies as to what is latest style and growing up I always had to have what was in. The point I am trying to make is that media controls so much about the way we feel we should look, whether it is our dress or it is the way our body should look. We are constantly seeing "perfect" body images on TV shows or in the Movies or on the Internet, or even at any store you go to, you can look at a Magazine and see a person with a so called perfect body.

I, like anyone, like to look good, dress nice, and feel fit. In my opinion however, I do not believe that we should have to portray ourselves as all the Hollywood Stars to be excepted into today society. There are tons of people in the world and I find it ridiculous to only say that a certain group are attractive or perfect.

When you take into account what the media is asking, or expecting people to become, it is for the most part, unrealistic. Take the Dove campaign for instance, they took a completely normal looking person, photo shopped her, stretched her face, and made her something that she wasn't at all so that she could be beautiful to the "world." Take for instance a young girl playing with a Barbie Doll. Growing up she feels that she has to look like a Barbie, blonde hair, body structure. Then all she sees on Magazines and on the TV are these body looking people and she feels unhappy with herself when she doesn't look like that, when in reality, a very few percentage of people actually do.

I know that God created everyone with unique characteristics and our purpose is not to come her to look exactly like one another and to become what the world wants us to be, but to become like Him. Yes, it is important to be healthy and to keep our bodies strong and fit, but in no way do we need to harm our bodies to be something the media tells us to be.

What is Beauty?

I asked several of my friends to give me their definition of beauty and the media's definition of beauty. Each of them thought that the word beauty means a wide-variety of things. I'm also impressed that they believe it's how people hold themselves and their actions that make them beautiful. There's some delightful mood music at the end. Enjoy!

You're Perfect the Way You Are

This is Emily Potter and Jordan Hansen. They're 13-years-old and heading into the 8th grade. I set up this mini photo-shoot for the girls so they could have fun, express themselves, and feel beautiful. When I spoke with them I learned that they too struggle with the pressures of being perfect and looking just right. When I asked them what their favorite thing about themselves were, they both sat there for a while thinking hard. Emily finally said, "My eyes I guess." Jordan chimed in, "Hey that's what I was going to say! People say my eyes are nice." I then asked them what their least favorite things about themselves were and they immediately jumped in with, "My feet, and my toes. My hands. I hate my nails!" It was so much easier for them to think about what they hate about themselves versus what they love about themselves.

I think that is how each person is. We are so concerned with our flaws that we forget about what makes us each gorgeous.

I asked the girls how they, and other girls their age, are affected by the media today. They told me that girls their age just want to be mature. They're always trying to be someone else and they forget who they really are. They try and dress much older and do their hair in more stylish ways. Emily and Jordan told me, "They even worry about their weight! But not as much as the clothes the wear and the things they do." They said if they could say one thing to those individuals that take so much stock in what the media says it's this: "You're not being yourself. Just be who YOU are!"

MAKEUP

The Media reports that women will be far more beautiful if they are wearing makeup and do something great with their hair. A variety of cosmetics are consistently are advertised in order to perfect the woman's face. Here is an example of how makeup can change the face:

BEFOREAFTER

Edge of the Sword by Emily Hale

Media in its’ very definition is mass communication through several portals including, but not limited to: television, radio, Internet, newspapers, magazines, etc. Media in all its forms is a giant beast that can never be tamed, because it’s ever changing and always-in demand. Today, everything we know about the world is delivered in a neat and convenient package, known as communication through the media. With this incredible machine come benefits of grandeur. As a nation, family, or as individuals we gain so much information about the world through these media portals. People are currently communicating across oceans or accessing pictures and videos from all over the world.  People are being entertained as they watch movies and television or as they get lost within the pages of books and magazines. While the media is such a gift in so many ways it is also a double-edged sword. On the one side there is awareness, education, and knowledge, and on the other side lies exposure, degradation, and negativity.

For every positive, wonderful, and marvelous thing provided by the media, there is an equal amount of idealistic and unrealistic perceptions about relationships, body image, and self-worth. Tabloids, movies, magazines, and newspapers convey a completely improbable portrait of what a woman should look like, act like, smell like, eat like, dress like, and so on, and so forth. Women portrayed in the media make up the minority of the population. The media and all of its by parts showcase perfection by their own definition. When comparing the definition of a perfect woman from the 1950’s to the perfect woman today. Some may say we’ve come a long way from the vacuuming-in-pearls and Ovaltine woman, but now we’ve reached complete female sexual exploitation. Little to no progress has been made, simply because women are still viewed and considered objects.

Sure, women today have better jobs and job opportunities. Yes, single-mothers are now revered instead of ridiculed. And of course, women can now say and express themselves more freely, but the reality of the current media debacle involves women and the growth of negative body perception. Why are the standards of beauty being imposed on women today? The answer in itself is… the media. There’s no escape from the portrait of beauty that’s forced on every female in today’s culture. Because of the current media’s standard of beauty, women are developing eating disorders, emptying their bank accounts, undergoing painful operations, and killing themselves over an ideal reflection of beauty that doesn’t exist and cannot be attained.

Is beauty really in the eye of the beholder? It’s impossible to be the perfect ideal woman, because the standard for beauty is endlessly changing. The bar for beauty is always being raised. One can never please every person with their appearance, but one can learn to love them self, and celebrate what it is that makes them different, unique, and truly beautiful. It’s so important to discover what makes each woman feel beautiful. Choosing to be your own person and feeling empowered is an irresistible quality. It’s important to spread beauty by being lovely, kind, and warm to others and sharing beauty by sharing love. Finding comfort and solace in one’s own skin is what radiates beauty throughout the world. Beauty is not what the media tells us it is; it’s what we decide it is.

Jaime Lee Curtis

Jaime Lee Curtis is an advocate for the average American woman. She wants people to know that what you see on the magazine isn't real! She contacted MORE Magazine and did an all natural photo shoot. Here is the picture and a little bit of what she had to say on the subject!

In her interview with More magazine, Curtis said to readers: “I don’t have great thighs. I have a soft, fatty little tummy.

I don’t want the unsuspecting 40-year-old women of the world to think that I’ve got it going on. It’s such a fraud.”

She says the fraud is perpetrated by magazine editors who rely too heavily on photo retouching - which gives models and actresses a “digital diet” long after the photo shoot is over.

“The fraudulence really has to do with perpetuating something that isn’t real anymore,” says Curtis.

No matter how beautiful or how thin the model, she’s often retouched in some way to make her even more beautiful and thinner still. What the magazines are selling, Curtis says, is a beauty that is largely unattainable.

Confident and Gorgeous

By: Allyx Moedl

Media is a part of every one of our lives. Even if we don’t own a television, we see movies, read magazines, hear the celebrity gossip, and read our books. We are constantly getting an onslaught of what is being said, worn, or done by famous people and we seem to think that that is how we should all act and be. I spoke with a few different people to see how they felt about the effects of the media. Erin Tenney, age 27, feels that magazines and movies put a bar on beauty that is just “impractical and impossible” for the average American to reach. “There is such a standard in America for women to be beautiful and it all comes from the media. Movie stars are all a size two and wear incredible clothes and the world has somehow gotten into their heads that that is how we are all supposed to look. I think we forget that they get to have every picture airbrushed and altered and every video shot at specific angles in specific lighting,” says Erin.

Jessie Oborn is 17 and a senior in high school. She is a confident, gorgeous girl who feels she “doesn’t need anyone famous to tell [her] what to wear and how to think.” She says that the media affects girls her age the most by making them feel like they have to be skinny. When she was just a freshman her best friend developed an eating disorder. She was terrified of being fat and having boys dislike her. Even after getting help, she continued to eat very little and diet often so she could stay skinny. Jessie thinks these girls should be more concerned with fun and getting into college and not about how the media thinks they should look.

After looking at my own life I can see that I have allowed the Media to affect me more than I would have thought. I watch movies and TV shows and I long to be like those stars. I want to be beautiful and famous and be able to buy anything that I want. I want my stomach to look like the models I see on the Victoria’s Secret commercials. I want my legs to look like Vanessa Hudgens’ incredibly toned and gorgeous legs. I want Selena Gomez’s entire wardrobe.

If I am not careful I will be consumed by these thoughts. I have to remember that I also want to be myself. I don’t need to be anyone else to be happy because I have a wonderful life and wonderful people in it. I think we sometimes get caught up in the fiction of Hollywood and forget how great our own lives really are.