Take a look at this image from the link below, and you will see what women see as themselves when they look into the mirror. This picture was shown on the television show One Tree Hill many years ago, as the character Brooke displays how she feels about herself in a video that is going to be put into a time capsule that no one is able to see ever because they will be burrying it in the backyard of the high school. Brooke, a beautiful, young, high school teenager is a perfect 10, but she does not seem to realize what amazing characteristics she portrays. As many other girls see themselves, Brooke does not feel she is good enough and is not the smartest individual at her school. If any of you watch this show, you know that if Brooke Davis is complaining about how she looks, then we are all screwed!! I know a variety of girls that would find themselves saying these exact things to themselves if they were to be truly honest with themselves. What possesses these young women to feel this way?
http://youthservicesslc.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/girls-low-self-esteem.png
This image particularly communicates to the article presented by Susan Shaw and Janet Lee, "Inscribing Gender on the Body." Women have always been forced to be as feminine as possible, whether it be wearing an absurd amount of makeup, or wearing clothing that accentuates their body figure, or a variety of other things, but why is it that men do not have these forced ideals on their bodies? One particular point that they make in this reading is the idea of disciplinary bodily practices. According to Shaw and Lee, these are, "'practices' because they involve taken-for-granted routinized behaviors such as shaving legs, applying makeup, or curling/straightening/coloring hair; and they are "disciplinary" because they involve social control in the sense that we spend time, money, and effort, and imbue meaning in these practices" (Shaw & Lee, p. 232). What if one day out of the year, women decided that it was okay to go a day without applying makeup or dressing up to attract the men around them, how would society react?
As mentioned previously, men and women have their own ways of performing their masculinity and femininity, but who says that these individuals have to fit those certain characteristics society has placed on them? I know a variety of different women who portray some masculine qualities, as well as men that portray feminine qualities. In the article by Susan Shaw and Janet Lee entitled, "Learning Gender," they describe these differences in a very interesting way. In the particular image presented earlier, it shows Brooke as lacking feminine qualities, such as not being pretty enough, or not being smart enough. These characteristics are what feminine individuals need to portray in order to fit this specific stereotype. Shaw and Lee describe, "the contemporary ideal woman is strong, assertive, active, and independent rather than passive, delicate, and dependent" (Shaw & Lee). In the particular image, Brooke does not portray an independent women rather, a weak individual with very low confidence.
Why is it that women are always the ones being degraded in the media? Why is it that the media decides to focus more on women than men when they are designing their ad campaigns? Just because women have always been known to be weak and delicate does not mean that all women portray these certain qualities. It makes me very angry to see women as these delicate flowers rather than these strong individuals with nothing in the way to stop them from achieving their success. When I walk down the street, I want people to know that I am a strong independent woman with an enormous future ahead, who will not be stopped by anyone. I encourage young women to be themselves and reach out to be the people they want to be. Do not let anyone tell you differently about who you are!
You're right the media SLATE women non-stop. If Brad Pitt put on a few pounds nobody would notice but if Angelina put on weight then no doubt she would be the front page of every magazine with big red circles around her back fat. It is unfair, but it's the way it is for some reason. Men can dress how they wish, they can basically wake up put clothes on and leave the house but if a woman did this it would be frowned upon because apparently there's no such thing as natural beauty. No wonder American women spend $12,000-$15,000 on beauty products a year when there is this amount of pressure to look a certain way.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte, I think you made some interesting points here about women and how much money they spend on beauty products. It is very true that women will not step foot out of the door without making themselves look presentable. I am definitely now one of those people because when I go to class I do not apply any makeup because I know it is just going to be sweat off in practice that afternoon. I think women focus way too much on their look then who they are as a human being. Also, as women we focus on our flaws more than our strengths and that is not okay because each woman has their own strengths!
DeleteIt's crazy how we are expected to look, to act, to talk a certain way...and if we don't conform to these ideals, we're constantly being told that we're not good enough. I don't understand how we can live in a society where we think that making people feel bad about the way they look is okay. I don't get how we could be okay with this. So many young woman are suffering from eating disorders because society is telling them they are ugly the way they are. If we don't do anything about this, then as a society, we are telling the rest of the world that we are okay if our young women have self esteem and body issues.
ReplyDeleteCecilia I think you hit it right when discussing the consequences that come from focusing so much on the body and its flaws. I know that when I look at a Victoria Secret magazine or an Instyle magazine I look at these celebrities and want to look exactly like them. I am sure that every girl thrives to look exactly that way, but why do we put ourselves through this? We should each be happy with the way we look inside and out, and nobody should tell us differently. Half the time when you look at those magazines, the picture is so photoshopped that they do not even look that way in real life!
DeleteIt's sad to think that we have to fit this mold of "the perfect woman". What will it take for our society to realize woman come in all shapes and sizes, which makes each and every woman beautiful in their own way. I like how you referred to women as "delicate flowers" it really defines how women are being looked at; fragile, only for their beauty and powerless.
ReplyDeleteKatie, the point about "the perfect woman" is thrived by millions and millions of women throughout our society. They see images of girls with the perfect little bodies and automatically think that they should look that way. Cecilia made the point about the consequences that come from wanting that perfect body. Many eating disorders come about and women are constantly unhappy with the ways in which they look. Advertising plays an important role in these issues because so much information comes from our media. It is estimated that a person will spend 10 hours a day using some source of technology. Just think of the amount of things they consume in that 10 hours...A LOT of unnecessary stresses are put on one's life.
DeleteI hate the fact that women have a "standard" to meet and for men they almost always fall under the radar. I am sad to say but by all the magazine covers and always seeing nothing but skinny women as beautiful i had begun internalizing it and feeling like i needed to be skinny to be seen as beautiful. Over time i have realized that the way these stars look is something that my body will never look like and i am okay with that. =)
ReplyDeleteJordan, your last statement makes me very happy to read! I would definitely agree with you that so much fuss is being made about a woman's body when in all reality some individuals are just not meant to look that way. Some people just can't be a size 0 with absolutely no body fat. I wish more people would respond this way as you did about being who you are. You should be comfortable in your own shoes and you should let absolutely nobody should tell you any different. More women should come to this realization and stop fussing about having the perfect body. I know it is easier said then done, but we as women we can change our society and its stereotypes for the better!
DeleteI really liked reading this blog because it highlights how even the most beautiful women feel that they have so much to change about themselves. I don't put makeup on most days and my hair is usually in a bun sitting on the top of my head. However, I still practice many disciplinary body practices. I dye my hair, shave my legs, and wax my eyebrows. It would probably make me extremely upset to see how much I spend on those things each year but they have become "necessities" for a lot of girls in our society.
ReplyDeleteI also think that it is interesting that the ideal woman is described as strong and assertive. I feel like women are almost expected to play two roles in society. We are supposed to be beautiful but not try, not promiscuous but not prude, smart but not smarter than the boys, and strong but not "bitchy".
I recently read the book "Gone Girl" and she talked about the role that girls are expected to play in order to be “the perfect woman”. I will include the quote below – sorry it is long but I think it is pretty funny!
“Men always say that as the defining compliment, don’t they? She’s a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl.
Men actually think this girl exists. Maybe they’re fooled because so many women are willing to pretend to be this girl. For a long time Cool Girl offended me. I used to see men – friends, coworkers, strangers – giddy over these awful pretender women, and I’d want to sit these men down and calmly say: You are not dating a woman, you are dating a woman who has watched too many movies written by socially awkward men who’d like to believe that this kind of woman exists and might kiss them. I’d want to grab the poor guy by his lapels or messenger bag and say: The bitch doesn’t really love chili dogs that much – no one loves chili dogs that much! And the Cool Girls are even more pathetic: They’re not even pretending to be the woman they want to be, they’re pretending to be the woman a man wants them to be. Oh, and if you’re not a Cool Girl, I beg you not to believe that your man doesn’t want the Cool Girl. It may be a slightly different version – maybe he’s a vegetarian, so Cool Girl loves seitan and is great with dogs; or maybe he’s a hipster artist, so Cool Girl is a tattooed, bespectacled nerd who loves comics. There are variations to the window dressing, but believe me, he wants Cool Girl, who is basically the girl who likes every fucking thing he likes and doesn’t ever complain. (How do you know you’re not Cool Girl? Because he says things like: “I like strong women.” If he says that to you, he will at some point fuck someone else. Because “I like strong women” is code for “I hate strong women.”)”
Colleen, what an interesting quote you attached to your comment. I too thought that this was very eye striking and very eye opening. What this quote says is really true about men and women alike. As it mentioned at the end of the quote, men hate strong women. They feel that they are being competing with their partner and they always want to be the enforcer. Men always believe that they have the upper hand and you rarely find a relationship where the women wears the pants in the family because men are so controlling and powerful. I know of a couple very close to me where the woman controls whatever the man does and has an enormous say in their relationship. I believe that more relationships should be this way. Men should not always think that they have the upper hand.
DeleteI agree with the points you were making in the blog. It is frustrating how much the media can control about what our society expects of women. It really shows how much we pay attention to the media, and how much they are able to control our social norms. The picture of the girl in your blog reminded me of the new dove campaign. They had a forensic detective draw what women thought they looked like, versus what others percieved women as looking. The video really shows how distorted our own image of ourselves are. I think that it is interesting to see how the media and peers contort our own images, and how we need to realize that we don't have to be what the media makes out the "ideal" woman to be.
ReplyDeleteHere is the link to the video if you want to watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk
Kailaini, I think that that video was a perfect description of what women perceive themselves to be. I know when I look in the mirror sometimes, I point out all my flaws and then I take a step back and think to myself, you know what why am I pointing out all of my flaws, maybe I should focus on my greatest features. Women have always been known to do these particular things when looking in the mirror, and that is what I wanted to demonstrate in my blog with the image I chose. Brooke Davis is a gorgeous woman and instead is focusing on her negative aspects which she believes are her flaws, instead of focusing on the beautiful features she has. More women need to respect their body and view themselves more respectively.
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