The article "Turning Boys Into Girls", the no side of the issue, is emphasis on body image in the media harmful to females only, was great. I thought that it brought up a lot of great points and I thought that the light tone that it was written in was great. I actually started laughing a little bit when I was reading this.
I think the fact that Cottle says that if women want gender equality we have to make men as obsessed with their looks as women is a great point. I think that it is almost impossible to reverse the affect that advertising and society have on women and I think now that the media, advertisers and beauty products are focusing on men in some very twisted way it begins to level the playing field. I think that in general if we could reverse these effects and somehow prevent our society from being so obsessed with looks the world would be great but I think only in a utopian world could that ever happen.
I think that it is nature as the yes side was saying that people want the most healthy and attractive looking mate and I feel like advertising has taken it to another level by completely exploiting beauty. I don't think that beauty is the problem I think that it is the money driven world that we live in, people want to make money and beauty and beauty products sell. I mean I think that is the problem here, in the no side, Cottle stated that the advertising went up in Men's Health when people figured out that this was an untapped market. Basically the idea is to exploit people's insecurities to make a buck.
I do think that men being obsessed with their looks is generational though, I think that younger men are much more concerned for the most part with their looks than older men. And I think eventually we will live in a society where everyone is so obsessed with their looks, men and women and children to adults. I mean we already see it happening. I think that maybe we just need a little bit more movement to stop this advertising. I do remember seeing this Dove campaign I think it was called Real Women are something like that, and there were all different types of women in the advertising. I thought that it was a great campaign but I think that it is the only major campaign that I've really seen.
I just have a few questions, do you think that it is possible to reverse the effects of advertising on both men and women? How long before men are just as equal to women with their insanity about their looks? What ways to you think that we can attempt to stop this from affecting children?
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There is no way that body image in the media is only harmful to women, yet I can understand how people can think it is. If you look at advertisements in magazines they have women half naked, if not completely (with usually the product they are trying to sell covering them), who are beautiful and skinny. They have men as either looking “rugged” or “hunky” with their shirts off and their chest and muscles showing.
What are viewers of these ads supposed to think? Ads like these and others, cause people to question their bodies, and cause them to crave these good looking bodies, which can cause eating disorders. I agree with Jen about the Dove campaigns that showcased “real women.” The ads contained women from all body types and races, etc. in a campaign to show that those women you see in ads, those aren’t real women; real women come in many shapes and sizes. Also, many people, especially teens, don’t realize that most of the ads they see are airbrushed; meaning that the men and women in these ads may not have that “perfect body.” Meaning any scars, birth marks, beauty marks, etc. that are on a person’s body are all covered up with makeup by using this tool. Air-brushing can also shed off a person’s pounds or make that person have bigger breasts, etc. (for women) or huge muscles, etc. (for men). The pictures of models and celebrities that lace the covers of magazines, to the runway fashion shows showcasing beautiful models, can all lead to common misconceptions about what the “perfect” body looks like. Check out this commercial for Dove about how the images we see in ads may not be what we think (it's a short video showing how they make one model in a billboard ad look "beautiful" and how they do it).
http://youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U
Body image in the media is telling girls that you have to be skinny and beautiful and men that you have to be built or have a great physique in order to be attractive or desirable. I think in answering Jen’s question about how long before men are just as equal to women with their insanity about their looks, is happening now. Men are just as equally obsessed about their looks as women are. I mean they are getting facials, manicures, spending a fortune on hair products, etc. I think the answer to how we can stop this obsession with looks for children is by educating them, possibly even showing them the video I submitted. “…Research suggests that the period between the fourth and eight grades is important in girls’ development of positive perceptions of the self,” (p.60). This is because their bodies are changing and developing and what they see in ads or on television with girls or women having a “perfect body” will cause them to want the same or be like them. Advertisements play on our insecurities. “Not surprisingly, both men’s and women’s magazines have argued that, far from playing on human insecurities, they are merely helping readers be all that they can be – a kind of training camp for the image impaired,” (p.70).
Mass media's constant emphasis on body image has created problems such as eating disorders and low self-esteem among teens and women.
As a woman, I found that Cottle article-turning boys into girls interesting. With the new term "metro-sexual" being the coin phrase for the well kept man it puts more pressure for men to be fashionable and fit.
Whereas, women have always felt this type of pressure to be beautiful. Even female athelets are not above the scandal.
Through my research, I found two websits that show the cause and effect of body image on women.
Http://www.girlsbodyimage.org and www.about-face.org. Give statistics along with solutions to this global problem.
I have never sought my body image in mass media instead at home and in my community where beauty is in abundance.
Like mentioned, the Dove campaign is trying to change the way society views women and the women portrayed in the media. I think that this is the beginning of a good thing. I feel that it is society's duty to change the way that companies and media are portraying the ideal male and female. The statistics are there, the negative effect on males and females is growing. If society can put the pressure on the media to change, then I feel that our youth and the future of society is not completely lost. Magazines such as Self have pledged to only use real women as their models. I think this is a good start, It needs to continue.
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