You could get with this...

I had submitted this blog on the 16th of March. However it posted in the same blog as March 15th so I am resubmitting it so that you can all see this blog!!

You could get with this...

or

You could get with that!

This blog is based on theories of media exposure and impact:

“In study after study, findings have indicated that women more often than men are portrayed in a sexual manner (e.g., dressed in revealing clothing, with bodily postures or facial expressions that imply sexual readiness) and are objectified (e.g., used as a decorative object, or as body parts rather than a whole person). In addition, a narrow (and unrealistic) standard of physical beauty is heavily emphasized. These are the models of femininity presented for young girls to study and emulate ("Sexualization of girls," 2007).

With new technology developing it is much easier to showcase women in the media. This blog entry focuses on how women are portrayed in the media and though this topic has been beaten to death by many researchers and sources the one topic that isn’t covered quite as often is the affects it has on children. Desperately thin and tanned women are displayed before children in very little clothing with their size zero bodies as young girls are watching television, playing video games, or surfing the net.

As I pondered what I would discuss for this assignment I ran some ideas by my sister. As we began to talk about this idea of how women are portrayed as only being beautiful and of worth if they are skinny and how this affects children she made a comment about what she learned in her humanities class. She said “Who decided women had to be skinny and tan to be pretty? Back in the day if you were plump and pale you were idolized.”

With that in mind I began my research. Who exactly did get to decide that ‘thin’ would be ‘in’?

But more importantly we should ask ourselves, why did we all decide to go along with it?

I have been out to the beach recently and it is shocking to see how skinny girls have become. However, I could certainly see how many would feel the need to be. The pressure that society has placed on women to be skinny and tan is frightening. I myself have fallen in to this category of feeling the need to be tan and skinny. Before we left for the beach my sister and I joked about not standing by one of our girlfriends in the photos that would be taken because we did not want to be the “fat pale girl” in the photos. We both decided that we would just stand on either side of guys or whoever else would be in the photo to avoid looking unattractive next to her. We both laughed, but sadly this is true and to worse degrees. 

The other photo that was used in this blog is of women who are apart of the Dove Beauty Campaign. The best part about this photo to me is how happy all of these women look… Society is taking advantage of the fact that you can use new technology such as social media websites or television shows and are sending a very unattractive message to young girls.

Word Count: 487

Sources:

 Sexualization of girls. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/women/programs/girls/report.aspx

Zero is not a size..

This blog is based on theories of media exposure and impact:

Beginning this blog I spoke on how the media exposes women and impacts them using technology such as television, radio, the internet etc to demonstrate how women should appear in society to be accepted. Many girls are subjected to the sexualization of women on television show or over the internet. I spoke on the effects the media was causing and how they are harming the youth of our nation by encouraging girls to look as models on television do. Upon doing my research I found the campaign that Dove started in order to spread the message that girls and women everywhere should love their bodies no matter the shape or size. On my blog I posted statistics about how the number of girls and women who suffer from eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia. It saddens me to know that society uses media such as social networking websites, actresses in television shows or radio hosts to promote that “thin is in”. I feel as though the media should take advantage of the fact that they can spread mass media and spread the word that “thin ISNT in” and that women should love their bodies and accept themselves for who they are.  I have quoted at the bottom of this the vision statement that the Dove Campaign has and their vision to help girls and women start to accept themselves and love themselves for who they are. The media should start to expose this to society so that they will have a positive impact on people!

“Imagine a World Where Beauty is a Source of Confidence, Not Anxiety

The Dove^® brand is rooted in listening to women. Based on the findings of a major global study, The Real Truth About Beauty: A Global Report, Dove^® launched the Campaign for Real Beauty in 2004. The campaign started a global conversation about the need for a wider definition of beauty after the study proved the hypothesis that the definition of beauty had become limiting and unattainable. Among the study’s findings was the statistic that only 2% of women around the world would describe themselves as beautiful. Since 2004, Dove^® has employed various communications vehicles to challenge beauty stereotypes and invite women to join a discussion about beauty.  In 2010, Dove^® evolved the campaign and launched an unprecedented effort to make beauty a source of confidence, not anxiety, with the Dove^® Movement for Self-Esteem”

("The dove® campaign," 2012)

Word Count: 415

Source:

The dove® campaign for real beauty. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.dove.us/Social-Mission/campaign-for-real-beauty.aspx

Imagine a World...

This is another video that I borrowed from http://www.dove.us/
With all of the new technology that is available to us.. Why hasnt this video gone global?
These are the messages that should be sent not the image of how women should be thin to be "in"

 Imagine a World...

Today's Girl

I borrowed this video from http://www.dove.us/.. I just love the vision of this company. The media should spread this message instead of the one that they are sending to our youth.
Check it out!

 Today's Girl

How thin is too thin?

This blog is based on theories of media exposure and impact: 

I start this blog with the results from a survey that was conducted by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, Inc. This is a non-profit dedicated to the prevention and alleviation of eating disorders since 1976.

The results are as follows:

Students:

“• 91% of women surveyed on a college campus had attempted to control their weight through dieting. 22% dieted “often” or “always.”5
• 86% report onset of eating disorder by age 20; 43% report onset between ages of 16 and 20.6
• Anorexia is the third most common chronic illness among adolescents.7
• 95% of those who have eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25.8
• 25% of college-aged women engage in bingeing and purging as a weight-management technique.3
• The mortality rate associated with anorexia nervosa is 12 times higher than the death rate associated with all causes of death for females 15-24 years old.4
• Over one-half of teenage girls and nearly one-third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting, and taking laxatives.17
• In a survey of 185 female students on a college campus, 58% felt pressure to be a certain weight, and of the 83% that dieted for weight loss, 44% were of normal weight.16”

("Eating disorders statistics ," ).

Though these results are from a college campus, these women would not be in the position that they are in if it weren’t for the media portraying thin women in front of them since they were younger. The numbers in this survey read 86 percent, 95 percent.. Those numbers seem shockingly high to me.

The media targets young girls by using celebrities in magazines, characters on television and even song lyrics on the radio. The media has begun to bombard children at such a crucial point in their young lives. Toothpick thin women are plastered on our television screen and all over the internet in order to make a sale. There comes a point in time when we have to stop and ask ourselves what is more important here? Making a sale or young lives?

Continuing on about the media and how they use toothpick thin women as role models for children I ran across a few quotes from celebrities. Instead of telling young girls to embrace their bodies these were the remarks that were made instead.

“Nothing taste as good as skinny feels.” –Kate Moss

Marisa Miller one of the Victoria’s Secret Model quoted that you should “eat nachos naked”. She was implying that it is hard to sit and eat a plate of nachos and still feel okay about your body. I have tried this, it is hard.

Many parents worry about obesity but should be worried about the pressure that society is putting on teens to be skinny. They have taken thin women and have made young girls believe that these are the role models that they should be looking up to. Personally, I want to look up to someone who is confident in their body and respects themselves enough to take care of themselves instead of starving themselves for society.

More girls are dieting and it is starting at a much younger age. An increase in eating disorders as well mental illnesses are increasing in young girls.

I have been conducting research by checking out different sites to see how many organizations and what steps are being taken by the media to change the outlook of women being thin to be in. I will post more of that in my next blog.

I close with a question: How thin is too thin?

Word Count: 615

Source:

Eating disorders statistics . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/