DONT TELL ME HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL
The media maintains a rather loud opinion on how humans should be; how to act, look, eat and generally live. Sexuality is one of the most exploited themes and it has overtime been used mainly to drive profit while subconsciously creating unhealthy narratives of the sexes.
The effect of media in the portrayal of genders has been quite damaging to self-esteem especially for women, with the portrayal of beauty standard that is most likely unattainable. The media through ads reconditioned the public on what the ideal beauty for both genders should be, using sexuality and focusing mostly on women. Mrs. Kilbourne in her talk, Killing Us Softly IV explained how the media has used images of perfect looking women to sell products over the years, while subconsciously pitching the concept that flawlessness is the ideal beauty that should be sought after to experience fulfillment. Meanwhile, the perfection shown is achieved through studio make-up and digital enhancement of images.
This ideal beauty standard portrayed by the media creates a problem, because women feel inadequate for not achieving perfection, and men judge women constantly with this unrealisable standard. The average woman struggles to achieve media standard- the perfect flawlessness, skinnier body, lighter skin tone, quiet demeanor and most importantly sexier outlook for men’s pleasure- and the inevitable failure has damaging effect on self-esteem (Jean Kilbourne , 2010). A high level of body dissatisfaction has also been recorded for men that do not fit the well-toned, muscled stereotypes.
The lack of satisfaction with natural body image has been linked to mental and physical health issues like depression, eating disorders and substance abuse. Gender-stereotyped portrayals limit the aspirations, expectations, interests and participation of women and men in our society (McKenzie et al, 2018). The obsession to fit socially accepted body size has increased the need for cosmetic surgeries and non-surgical body enhancements with a high financial burden that may also lead to depression.
The media’s mold for perfection is unachievable and the futile attempt to fit in has a cumulative damaging effect in mental health of women and men across the globe. The ideal image of men and women should be desexualized across. Major corporations and government agencies should encourage a healthier and more realistic portrayal of the both genders in media across all shapes and colours.
Individually, it is necessary to promote a culture of self-love and healthy motivation to achieve greater altitudes. Social media is one of the most effective tools of social engineering and can be effective in this change.
Works Cited
Jean Kilbourne. Killing us softly 4: Advertising’s image of women. Media Education Foundation 2010.
McKenzie, Mandy; Bugden, Megan; Webster, Amy and Barr, Mischa. Advertising (in) equality: The impacts of sexist advertising on women’s health and wellbeing. Women’s Health Issues Paper, №14, Dec 2018.
