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Ashley Hillard
English 11B
Mr. Burch
17 May 2012
Society’s Beauty
It’s been a theory that the more attractive someone is; the further that person will go in
life. They will have a better job, a bigger salary, and even a better mate. If a woman fits the
image, portrayed by the media, then people see her as more sociably acceptable. As Timothy
Sexton said in this article, “The Media and Influence on Body Image and Beauty”, “… if you do
happen to come across someone who doesn’t fit into the narrow mold of what is considered good
looking, chances are that person is presented as either the ‘bad guy’ or, more probably, the
‘nerd’” (Sexton 1). Media represents women that would need to be less than 130 pounds, have a
maximum jean size of three, have a small waist and big chest, and also have the looks of an
angel. “Every society has a way of torturing its women, whether by binding their feet or by
sticking them into whalebone corsets. What contemporary American culture has come up with is
designer jeans” (Derenne 1). If girls don’t see themselves exactly how the media portrays good
looks, then it causes problems. Everyone wants to be accepted and looked at as beautiful. Some
people though go to great lengths to become it. Those lengths have now caused big concerns in
America’s society like the high rates of eating disorders, social disorders, and bullying all
because of what the media interprets as “attractive”.
With this unrealistic image of how women should look and the obscene growth of eating
disorders in the youth, there must be a definite connection between the two. The diet industry is
a multibillion dollar business, and according to Pop Culture Universe: Icons, Idols, Ideas, “An
estimated 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 women and girls suffer from eating disorders, including
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anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder, as well as eating disorders that are
not otherwise defined” (Eating Disorders Awareness, Prevention, and Education Act 1). Women
are consistently given the message that they are not pretty enough or thin enough. As said by
Jennifer Derenne in her article, “Body Image, Media, and Eating Disorders”, “Though it is
highly unlikely for a rail-thin woman to have natural DD-cup size breast, toy manufacturers set
this expectation by developing and marketing the Barbie doll, whose measurements are
physiologically impossible. However, with increased availability of plastic surgery, today’s
women are faced with similarly unrealistic expectations every time they open a fashion
magazine” (Derenne 2). In the height of fashion, corsets are always big. The image of an
extremely small waist is always key to making someone seem they are more beautiful. However,
women today have been going as far as having ribs removed to further decrease their waist size.
This procedure isn't only very painful and cause shortness of breath and dislocated organs, but it
is showing women that they can take harmful measures to try and keep up with the media. This
influences anorexia, the support for anorexia, and even obesity.
Whether it's in a magazine, a television show, movies, or advertisement ads the women in
them are unrealistic to imitate. “In the May issue of Psychological Bulletin, University of
Wisconsin-Madison postdoctoral researcher Shelly Grabe and psychology professor Janet Hyde
described a sweeping analysis of 77 previous studies involving more than 15,000 subjects. In it,
they found that exposure to media depicting ultra-thin actresses and models significantly
increased women’s concerns about their bodies, including how dissatisfied they felt and their
likelihood of engaging in unhealthy eating behaviors, such as excessive dieting” (Grabe 1). That
doesn't stop the female population to stop trying though. "The rates of exposure to all the media
were associated with higher rates of body dissatisfaction and the drive for thinness" (Derenne 2).
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Then the drive to become beautiful has become an addiction. “One in 200 American women
suffer from anorexia and two to three in 100 American women suffers from bulimia every day”(
http://www.state.sc.us/dmh/anorexia/statistics.htm)., and at those rates it’s extremely hard to stop
considering, “Only 1 in 10 people with eating disorders receive treatment”
(http://www.state.sc.us/dmh/anorexia/statistics.htm). If it is not sad enough that this has been
seen among young teens and adults, but as Jennifer Derenne pointed out, “As highlighted in
recent articles, classic eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are being diagnosed at
younger ages, and with a higher frequency. A survey found that 40% of nine-year-olds have
been put on a diet” (Derenne 2). The media has now got every generation hooked on becoming
what they see as beautiful. This behavior is even portrayed on the hit television show "Toddlers
and Tiaras", where beauty-driven mothers enter their daughters, as little as infants, into beauty
pageants. When these girls are forced into this world of being judged solely on their looks and
talents, they grow up thinking that they always need makeup to look beautiful and that
appearances trumps personality.
Not only is the American media teaching us what is supposed to beautiful and what's not,
but it's also teaching us to support the unhealthy behavior. Women encourage each other to count
each number of pounds they lose, and to use that as motivation. Women are encouraged to count
the calories of everything they consume, and to have a limit of calories they can have. These
women can actually do all this on new pro-anorexia and pro-bulimia websites. The names proanorexia and pro-bulimia just mean that it supports those two disorders. Jennifer Derenne, "The
development of pro-anorexia and pro-bulimia websites on the internet has been particularly
concerning. Here at these websites, people who have made a 'life style choice' to engage in
eating-disordered behavior post messages detailing their weight loss progress and provide tips,
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support, and encouragement for their peers. Pictures of emaciated women resembling
concentration camp victims serve as what's known as 'thin-speration'" (Derenne 3). It's bad
enough that girls get hypnotized under the media's "beauty-spell", but then there is the group of
women who don't stick to a solid diet and gain weight rapidly instead of lose it.
If women are unable to follow a diet or exercise to try and stay healthy and look good,
then they become over weight and it's hard to stop. After restricting too heavily, dieters often
feel deprived. They binge on unhealthy foods, gain weight, feel bad about themselves, and
restart the cycle. In a study by Jennifer Derenne, "Less than 5% of individuals who have lost 20
pounds are able to keep it off for at least five years" (Derenne 4). The cause of the obesity is not
just from women feeling they can never reach the media's standards, but it's also from sitting
around watching and reading more of the media and not doing anything active. Even alone,
"Television exposure independently increases the odds of becoming overweight by 50% for
women" (Derenne 4). Also, "Twenty-five years ago, the average fashion model was 8% thinner
than the average woman. Today, that number has risen to 23%, likely reflecting a combination of
rising obesity rates in the average woman and the progressively thinner models represented by
the media" (Derenne 4). Not fitting into the image of beauty, according to the media, isn't the
only thing obesity causes. Being obese is a serious health issue that can lead to heart diseases
and even strokes. However, it still doesn't end there because having these physical flaws creates
the chances of having a social disorder also.
People are constantly exposed to the media. They are aware of what the social standards
are for looking attractive. When a girl doesn't feel she meets those expectations, it causes her to
look down upon herself and eventually start to hate herself. When feeling not good enough and
hating her own self at the same time, it causes major depression. Ed Salkind, author of Bullying:
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Child Development, proved that, “Within the social scientific community, a general consensus
exists that mental health involves the presence of general attributes, all of which correspond to an
individual’s ability to capably function in society” (Salkind 2). Once again, this isn't just
affecting the young teens and women. This growth of depression is also being found in children.
It has been proven that, "Excessive media consumption is correlated with the rate of childhood
depression. This could be a function of negative body image, or may reflect the tendency of
depressed kids to spend more time in front of the television because of diminished energy"
(Derenne 4). The media caused a bad cycle in obesity and now in depression. Since these cycles
seem to never end, it only becomes worse.
Girls are now afraid to go out in public thinking they don't meet the expectations they
will be constantly judged on. Nobody likes the feeling of being the outcast in a group of people.
Everyone hates the feeling of being rejected, in any way. Therefore, why would a girl want to
interact with people, thinking she doesn't fit the standards of beauty and knowing how many
possible bad reactions she could get from everyone? That's just it; she wouldn't want to interact
anymore, and now she has social anxiety and is anti-social. However, people need to know
social skills to get through life, and without interacting girls will never achieve them. One social
skill that is key is having confidence. Without confidence, a woman will constantly shy away
from others, and once again join a never ending cycle. Repeatedly, the cycle only becomes
worse. "... far more dangerous, is the possibility that those who do not attain social skills are
treated with disregard and discrimination" (Sexton 2). This disregard and discrimination can be
also known as bullying.
The top reason girls get bullied or treated poorly is because they are "ugly" or "fat". They
don't meet the "attractive requirement" sent out by the media. The "flaws" people see are the
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easy targets bullies like to aim at, and point out to everyone. These girls that are being picked on
already don't like themselves and have to deal with getting picked one, but now these girls have
no friends either. Girls try to keep away from getting bullied and picked on so if they're not, then
those girls aren't going to want to associate with the girls that are the target. Now, being bullied
and having no friends are two important things that would cause a girl to have a really low selfesteem.
The bullied girls are constantly being told more of what's bad about themselves rather
than the good. If they have no confidence for what's on the outside, then all confidence for their
whole self is lost. They feel they have no power to stand up for themselves against anyone.
Also, they don't have many friends to stand up for them either. Therefore, the bully will never
have a reason to consider stopping bullying. Although the bully might never stop, even if
someone stood up to them anyways. The bully feels better about their own self when they pick
out others' flaws, instead of acknowledging their own. Also, the bully can think that a girl has
more flaws than she does, giving the bully more confidence. However, now that the bully has
more confidence it makes her feel more powerful. More confidence and power only continues
the bullying cycle towards other girls. Yet again, this awful effect caused by the media is now in
a horrible, never-ending cycle.
Girls don’t see themselves imitating exactly how the media portrays good looks, and it
has caused problems. Everyone wants to be accepted and looked at as beautiful although, people
though go to great lengths to become it. Those lengths have now caused big concerns in
America’s society like the high rates of eating disorders, social disorders, and bullying all
because of what the media interprets as “attractive”. Each problem, caused by the media, has
also spiraled off and caused greater problems. Each situation becomes deeper and deeper, and
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eventually creating a cycle of problems within the original problem. Even now, each cycle can
be related to each other causing a never-ending cycle of problems. All because of movies and
television shows, like ‘Toddlers and Tiaras” and advertisements, like the ones in ‘Victoria Secret’
magazines have decided what our society's beauty looks like, no matter what the cost is to
become it. When women finally decide to stop using the media as a beauty guide, our society
will have a million less problems to worry about.
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Work Cited
Bullying: Child Development. Ed. Neil J. Salkind. New York: Macmillan Reference USA,
2002. Print.
Derenne, Jennifer. Body Image, Media, and Eating Disorders. American Psychiatric
Association, 2006. Electronic.
Eating Disorders Awareness, Prevention, and Education Act (2005). Pop Culture Universe:
Icons, Idols, Ideas. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 14 May 2012. Electronic.
Encyclopedia of Social Problems. Ed. Vincent N. Parrillo. Vol. 2. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications Inc., 2008. Print.
Sexton, Timothy. The Media and Influence on Body Image and Beauty. Yahoo! Inc., 2012.
Electronic.
Shelly Grabe. Concern over Strong Media Influence on Women's Body Image. Medical
News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 13 May. 2008. Electronic.