“Boys don’t like girls who are too smart”, this is just one of the many lines from the comedy “ House Bunny, which is a movie about a playboy bunny who ends up being a ‘housemother’ to a sorority house at college. Most people who watch the movie do not question the underlying messages it is expressing but as I am writing this I am watching this movie and questioning it myself: why is this so entertaining for so many people when the messages are so detrimental to so many young and old individuals in society?
Well the answer is simple: we do not care what messages the movie is sending as long as men have a beautiful girl to look and a women have something to idolize and envy. Now this might sound a bit exaggerated but lets think about it… women constantly watch movies, listen to music and read magazines that all tell them who they should be and what they should look like but yet none of us; myself included ever stop filling our heads with this unattainable idea of perfection. That’s essentially what all these messages are, just blueprints on how to be perfect. This idea of perfect is corrupted because it is altered, digitally enhanced and falsified by technicians and beauty artists; now does being made up to look like Barbie make you the definition of perfect?
Take the movie “House Bunny” again as an example; the smart women in that movie have to change their images to be popular and get attention from boys. Shelly their playboy bunny housemother makes them into these ideal perfect girls, who can have everything they want. Now let me ask you this: Is beauty really the only classification for popularity and getting the guy you want?
Check this clip for a preview of their makeovers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9A1O8kD2PA
From watching this clip I think it is pretty obvious to see the messages that are being displayed; “ So this is what it feels like to not be invisible…. We weren’t exactly invisible before just the anti-hot”. This is stating to young girls watching this movie that, to be visible by society you need to be hot; beauty is key to be recognized. Is this the kind of message we really want to put into the minds of the young members of society? Is this even the truth; does beauty really make us visible?
Advertising is one area of media that suggests beauty makes us visible; whether it’s older models dressed as innocent sexy children, girls only represented by one part of their bodies or women dressed provocatively. These photos usually have a degrading message or a message that pushes to remind women that they have to fit into this category of beauty.
Yes because a ‘Sexy Imagination’ means displaying a women with big boobs in a bikini, classy advertising.
How about this photo ? Well this photo is telling women that we have the power , yet the focus of the picture is our legs and bodies; many advertisements use a focus point of sexual parts of women’s bodies because the male gaze is on them. I look at the photo and think, ” yes women have the power but not when it concerns matters of intelligence, only when it concerns matters to deal with our bodies and sex.
This caption seems to suggest that working out automatically leads to an increase in one’s self esteem; but what it is really saying is that having a great body will increase the chances of being considered beautiful by the rest of society.
This picture concerns me because a male is trying to give the women a high-five so she will reveal her breasts. The caption is ” Humpday HighFive”, this is shocking because it shows how much our society is okay with the objectification of women. The worst part about it is I found most of these pictures on Facebook because some guys on my Facebook shared them and wrote ‘lol’ on the photos.
After looking at these photos, I have begun to notice a trend, to be beautiful in society you must be skinny and what I mean when I say skinny is a size 00, 0, 1 or 3, basically you must look like a model, perfect hair, skin, facial features; there is no chance for variations when you want to fit into the category. I have become so aware of these advertising trends that I myself am starting to question: why has society not picked up on these unattainable images? I have also noticed that women are sex objects; we are plastered on buses and magazines, billboards, and in advertisements in barely any clothing or nothing at all, which confuses me because companies can plaster these images everywhere; yet child pornography and public nudity are illegal?
I might not know the answer to these questions but I do know that throughout my life, I have tried to fit into these categorical images I have seen everywhere and it has only brought how I view myself down. I am nowhere near a size 3, my skin is not always blemish -free, my hair will never be perfect every single time and I do not look like a model. I have learned that it is not always about what is on the out side, maybe dove was right when they said, “ Beauty is only skin deep”.
Instead of just highlight the negative advertisements, there are a few positive advertisements, which people seem to skip over and forget. The Dove Company is one company that highlights different images of beauty and pushes to raise the self-esteem of girls across the globe. Dove features women of all shapes, sizes and races to put their point across that beauty really is only skin deep. I wonder if society is more or less apt to use Dove products because of their advertising tactics?
Just watch how the media can transform someone into this beautiful advertisement; this is Dove’s attempt to push for true beauty campaigns. Dove hopes to help young teenagers to realize that their ide of beauty is distorted, it’s fake and it’s a trap. A trap that we need to get out of before we hurt ourselves; the bodies we have are beautiful, the way we look is beautiful, we are beautiful as individuals. I hope by making people aware of how distorted beauty is, it will create a change in the media to promote plus- sized models, feature movies where the girls do not have to be hot to be noticed and create advertisements that do not only objectify women.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHqzlxGGJFo – Real Life beauty right, you tell me ?
Have we ever thought about the effects these images, media and advertisements are having on the people in our society; whether they are teens, middle- school ages or older people, they are affected. I found this video on Youtube and I can say it scared me, it enlightened me and worried me for the future. Young impressionable people do not need to be told by the media that they are not beautiful because they are. The realization of these dangerous mind games is serious; it is potential created a future where meals will be half a salad and women will be 100 pounds; is this really what society is coming to?
I hope this video is an eye-opener to some people ; if we keep supporting the media and advertisers we are only damaging ourselves and potentially killing ourselves. I cannot imagine a future where girls weigh less and less because they are try to comply with the standards of beauty that we are being told to follow, we need to stand up before it is too late.
Lastly, for all the women and men out there: you are beautiful, please believe that and please know that beauty is not the only thing in this world,it will only get you so far, intelligence and personality are needed to survive in this world.
Take care xx
Hockeygurl11
Resources:
Facebook Pics from different groups
The two photos that are not showing up are in these links : http://saharsblog.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/dove-01.png
http://joyreactor.com/post/397049
** sorry about that, the images did not load properly
In reply to the Dove campaign, I don’t think it is really changing things that much. It still is a marketing strategy. Yes it shows women of different sizes and ages, describing what they don’t like about themselves, and there are women with different ethnicities. But it is still limited in its definition of real beauty. Also the term “real” can be offensive to some. For example, some may say that real beauty is what is biologically natural to you, yet what if I was transgendered and the sex organs I was born with does not make me feel whole as a person? There are also “alternative” forms of beauty including tattoos, piercings, radical hairstyles, plastic surgery, scarification, the list goes on. So yes Dove’s ad may differ slightly from the standard model ads we are used to seeing. But I still think it is very limited in it’s idea of what beauty is, and suggests that people who alter their body (including hairstyle) in a way that is not considered socially acceptable are not included in this ad. It’s a step forward, but has many limitations and I think if they really wanted to make everyone feel beautiful they could do a lot better, and run a lot more ads showing different kinds of beauty.
I agree with what you are saying and I see where you are coming from , I just feel as though it is a step in the right direction because it is not a ‘one size fits all’ type of ad. I think that there are many types of beauty and what I was trying to get across is that real beauty is not a on dimensional image, that there are more things and people who are beautiful . I do agree that there is a lot more to be done, I would love to see the advertising business push to make changes, which I think should include all different types of people; I think this may help bring about the idea that beauty maybe does not have a real definition. You raise some good points though on how Dove might be different but it still needs some work ; I was just trying to show that there are some advertising companies that are trying to change the common mainstream ad but I agree there are a lot more things that need to be changed.
In regards to the Dove advertising campaign, I agree with both of you. I believe the Dove campaign is imperfect in that it doesn’t properly represent the full spectrum within social constructions (no children or elderly, all models are able, etc). however I also agree it is a step in the right direction. One question I haven’t seen posed yet, which could be due to our own biased perspectives as women, is the objectification of men in advertising. Women are presented as submissive and sexualized, but men are taught they need to be aggressive, physically fit, and domineering. Many men don’t fit these roles and are seen as less masculine in society, and there are embarrassingly few ads for men that provide the same alternative messages in the way the Dove beauty campaigns have provided messages to women. I believe women seriously suffer mentally, socially, and physically from the messages the media enforces, but I think we also need to consider pressures men feel in the same way. From our viewpoint as women it might seem more derogatory and harmful to be told to be thin, attractive, and quiet, but how are men who don’t fit their own stereotypes (men who don’t have 8-pack abs, bulging biceps, who might be more passive or gentle, or those who aren’t attracted to women, for example) affected?
I agree with you completely thoughtintoword , the media does have an outstanding influence on how men see themselves as well. I have heard before that men as well suffer from eating disorders because they feel that they need fit into the medias definition of masculinity. I do think that we might overlook how males are influenced by the media because they are set in the dominant roles in advertisements and on television but there is still a large group of men who do not resemble the idealized image of male beauty. I think that men do face the same obstacles that women do when it comes to the images portrayed in the media, which has negative implications of exclusion as well but I think they have a bit more privileges because they are seen as powerful, in control and dominant. Do you think maybe that is why we overlook the obstacles they have to overcome as well ?
Going off of all you have discussed, I would like to bring in the idea of how music and music videos also play a role in how both men and women view themselves in society. Music videos are a well known source of sexualization for both men and women. More than 80% of music videos have been found to display sexual imagery, including the sexual objectification of women (Aulette, Wittner 410). Additionally, the lyrics within the songs are extremely degrading toward women in many ways. Here are three examples by Eminem:
“So blow me bitch, I don’t rock for cancer, I rock for the cash and the topless dancers”
“I’m looking for a girl that will do whatever the fuck I say everyday she be giving it up”
“Bitch, please – you must have a mental disease. Assume the position and get back down on your knees – c’mon”
-Eminem
When songs like these begin influencing adolescents, many times the self-objectification of young girls occurs. If they act the way the song describes women, then men will like and want them. This has very negative consequences in terms of a girls’ ability to healthily develop sexually (Aulette, Wittner 411). Self-objectification is directly linked with decreased sexual health among teenage girls. Examples of this are decreased condom use and sexual assertiveness (Aulette, Wittner 411). This self-objectification can also feed into rape culture, where men who have raped claim that the girl was “asking for it” based on her clothing, actions, and/or behaviour.
These songs in popular culture also promote violence in adolescent males. Here is one example:
“If I ain’t got a weapon I’ma pick up a rock, And when I bust yo ass I’m gonna continue to rock”
-Eminem
Violence in clubs and bars is extremely common in North America. Young men influenced by these songs begin to relate violence to power, acceptance, and as ‘cool’, as well as a way to be liked and valued by women. These songs are also all based on heterosexuality, or heterosexual relationships, excluding and isolating all other genders or sexualities. There are also a lot of racist comments and comments of racial segregation in songs, creating an “us vs. them” mentality.
That is a good point to bring up queenofhearts19 and as well as the lyrics the music videos also pertain half- dressed women who are dancing provocatively and are usually used as a ‘private dancer’ for the male artists. This does have negative implications because it teaches young adults that women are sexualized while men should use them for their bodies. I think you also bring up a good point about how lyrics and music videos influence the aggressiveness within men and how it has a negative impact because the amount of violence in bars and clubs has increased. Do you think the amount of violence in clubs has increased because of the messages of the music or because of the alcohol consumption or could it be a bit of both?
Sorry if this is going off topic, but to add in to queenofhearts19 comment, many women including myself (until recently) are fans of and support artists like Eminem. This is very powerful. Someone like Eminem who is so famous and has women everywhere throwing their panties on stage at concerts for him, is also able to use such awful lyrics without any sort of consequence to his career. On the other hand, Chris Brown lost many fans and though still successful, has had some difficulty coming back to the spotlight. However, both artists are very similar. Both have acted negatively towards women, whether in songs or actually hitting a woman, and yet both are famous and have many female fans. While I had no problem choosing to refuse to listen to Chris Brown after the Rihanna incident, I made many excuses for Eminem despite his lyrics. “Well some of his songs are less offensive, or catchy”. Then I realised that’s the equivalent of saying that “this guy hits her a few times a week, but he makes an awesome brunch”. How do you think fame and the image of celebrity affects what we are willing to watch, hear, or accept as entertainment? I think that we are stuck in a cycle where celebrities make offensive music, fans listen to it, and the market for that type of music is increased causing more celebrities to make such music.
I find the relation between Eminem and Chris Brown to be totally different. In a sense Eminem does not only write about objectifying women, he writes about his life and the struggles he’s been through as well, whereas Chris Brown only writes songs about women and has songs that objectify women as well such as his song ” Strip” ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1AWehQff9M ). I understand that a lot of male artists use women in negative ways but I do not believe this is the same case as actually abusing a women. He made the conscious choice to hit Rhianna and we as fans do not know if the music choice is a producer’s choice or the artist’s choice, I have lost all respect for Chris Brown and even though he abused Rhianna she is still dating him and he is still very successful. I do not understand how society allows for this to happen, why do we as fans; men and women support Chris Brown by buying his records, listening to his albums, giving him awards? Another situation is with Justin Bieber , he smoked weed and all of a sudden girls are protesting him saying ” cut for Bieber” in hopes of making him quit smoking weed; where do we as fans draw the line?