APPRECIATION PART II
Body Image & Gender
Representation
Cultivating Beauty
Cultivation Theory - As a person watches more of some
sort of TV, he/she becomes cultivated into the television
program view of social reality… Gerbner’s theory shows
that such change is gradual and slow in evolving in
individuals. Gerbner believes there are two processes that
reveal evidence of media cultivation.
Cultural Understandings…
• Our beliefs are influenced most about
things we have the least first-hand
knowledge of.
– Stereotyping
– Messages about different countries and
cultures
Cultural Studies of Media
“For cultural studies, media culture provides the
materials for constructing views of the world,
behavior, and even identities. Those who uncritically
follow the dictates of media culture tend to
"mainstream" themselves, conforming to the
dominant fashion, values, and behavior….
Television, film, music, and other popular cultural
forms are thus often liberal or conservative, or
occasionally express more radical or oppositional
views” (Douglas Kellner, UCLA, 1995)
http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/papers/SAGEcs.htm
Beauty and Body Image
in the Media
Images of female bodies are everywhere. “Attractive”
Women—and their body parts—sell everything from
food to cars
Why are the media’s standards of beauty so different than
the norm?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1993368502337678412
The Economics of Body Image
How does the “thinness” message get across?
The average North American girl will watch 5,000 hours of
television, including 80,000 ads, before she starts
kindergarten.
By the time she is 17 years old, she has received over 250,000
commercial messages through the media.
The Economics of Thinness
The diet industry is worth $100 billion a year—of that
approximately $33 billion is advertising revenue.
The barrage of messages about beauty and thinness tells
women that they are always in need of adjustment —and that
the female body is an object to be perfected.

69% of girls in one study said that magazine models
influence their idea of the perfect body shape

75% of "normal" weight women think they are overweight

90% of women overestimate their body size.
Beauty and Body Image
in the Media
According to a
2005 study: Over
3/4 of the female
characters in TV
sitcoms are
underweight, and
only 1 in 20 are
above average in
size.
Men Vs. Women
King of Queens
According to Jim
“All family sitcoms
— virtually all
sitcoms now — are
about a fat guy with a
hot wife.”
Rick Marin, former NYT television critic
“Father Eats Best.” New York Times,
November 24, 2004
Image of Couples
of Different Weights
Still Standing
Family Guy
According to Jim
Whether the images are real or animated, the message
is an overweight man can have a happy family life, but
an overweight woman is destined to be alone...
Beauty and Body Image
in the Media
 Researchers report that women’s magazines have 10 and
½ times more ads and articles promoting weight loss than
men’s magazines do.
 Over three-quarters of the covers of women’s magazines
include at least one message about how to change a
woman’s bodily appearance—by diet, exercise or cosmetic
surgery.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1993368502337678412
It’s not only a female issue…
It’s not only a message of thinness,
it’s a manipulated message of
thinness…
How ethical is the “photoshoping” of
images?
http://demo.fb.se/e/girlpower/retouch/retouch/index.html
Implications of retouching?
• Is it creating a greater disparity between
reality and fantasy?
• In a capitalist society, where we all benefit
from market models, what’s the problem?
• Can repurposing help us appreciate body
image more? (knowtheNews Knowrealbeauty)
TASK
How would you, in this highly
invasive media culture, help
people realize and appreciate
body image?