“Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline.” This slogan has been heard in every Maybelline makeup commercial and presents its viewers with women with unrealistically long eyelashes, flawless skin and fully glossed lips. But have we ever stopped to consider the message that these commercials entail? Could these Maybelline models have stumbled upon a full face of makeup that could be mistaken as a natural look? The media portrays these unrealistic standards to men and women of how women should look, which suggests that their natural face is not good enough. Unrealistic standards for beauty created by the media is detrimental to girls’ self-esteem because it makes women feel constant external pressure to achieve the “ideal look”, which indicates that their natural appearance is inadequate. There has been an increasing number of women that are dissatisfied with themselves due to constant external pressure to look perfect. YWCA’s “Beauty at Any Cost” discusses this in their article saying that, “The pressure to achieve unrealistic physical beauty is an undercurrent in the lives of virtually all women in the United States, and its steady drumbeat is wreaking havoc on women in ways that far exceed the bounds of their physical selves” (YWCA). Being surrounded by society’s definitions of beauty has definitely taken a toll on American women’s confidence. This toll becomes evident from statistics such as, “7 in 10 girls believe that they are not good enough or don’t measure up
Everyone always want or desire for something in this world. And to get their want they must somehow bargain for it; whether it was begging or persuading, they are still considered rhetorical techniques. In the story “Whose Body is This,” the author Katherine Haines talks about how society setted a certain standard of what a woman's body should look like, and it practically destroyed majority of woman’s self esteem. Haines further explains that pictures and advertisement on tv and magazines are teaching young girls that they need to look like the models in the picture. Girls don’t feel comfortable to be in their own skin, because they were not taught to love themselves for who they are, right in the beginning.
Girls are beginning to see a deep gender bias from very young ages. The media perpetuates this bias by editing women to be inhumanly perfect. Advertising is set around people’s insecurities. This is giving girls the idea that the only thing that matters about them is the way they look and how men perceive them. Women are said to spend more money on beauty than they do on their own education (Netflix).
Most girls, if not all girls, have gone through one particular phase in life: finding self-confidence. Despite the fact they may say or act otherwise, most girls have gone through a phase where they feel uncomfortable in their own skin. I would like to say that I am comfortable in my own skin and come across that way (I also eat a lot), but I am just like any other girl and have gone through the phase myself (and when boys call me cute, I tend to turn into a strawberry and deny it vehemently). Over the centuries, American focus has shifted from judging a girl based on her personality to judging a girl based on her body image and sexuality, and in The Body Project, Joan Jacobs Brumberg goes into detail about how the United States have shifted in their views of girls’ bodies.
In general, from 1884 to the 1920s women worked so hard to achieve women 's rights. Women have always been looked down upon by different groups within society. From the early times women have been viewed as weak figures. As recently as the early 1900’s women were unable to work in professional fields such as business and medicine. This resulted in women being unable to advance financially in society and being dependent on their husbands.
The ideal of a women magazine model are full of photos with women who are typically white and very thin. Many women will agree that they may feel pressured to dress or look a certain way because of the way the models look. The media can make women feel insecure about themselves and have low self-esteem. The messages in the media says that women will always need to make an adjustment to fit the “ideal” look. Since, the media portrays such images and make women feel like beauty is important women need to make sure they love themselves.
In today’s society, the average American woman is 5’4” and weighs 140 pounds. The average model displayed in the media is 5’11” and weighs 114 pounds. Take a minute to consider that extreme difference in weight and height. This statistic alone is shocking, but the fact that these models undergo intense retouching before ever being seen in magazines and advertisements has an effect on what women today, view as standard beauty.
For many years, women have been expected to meet the unrealistic beauty standards of society, making women face harsh criticism from friends, family, and even themselves. I remember moments when criticism from everyone around me made me very self-conscious about myself. From refusing to wear makeup or girly outfits to obsessing over my overall weight and body shape, I myself am a victim of cruel and heartless judgement just like the girl from Marge Piercy's "Barbie Doll" was. In the first stanza of "Barbie Doll", one line says, "Then in the magic of puberty".
According to Britton (2012), last 2008, YWCA USA developed a report Beauty at Any Cost wherein they discuss the consequences of beauty obsession of every woman in America. It shows that beauty obsession results from a decrease in the level of self-esteem. It also gives a problem to the Americans because it’s also putting a dent in their pockets. It states that because of those cosmetics many people have decreased the level of self-esteem because of those cosmetics.
Countless advertisements feature thin, beautiful women as either over-sexualized objects, or as subordinates to their male counterparts. The mold created by society and advertisers for women to fit into is not entirely attainable. More often than not, models are Photoshopped and altered to the point that they don’t even resemble themselves. W. Charisse Goodman suggests, “The mass media do not
Has society really made humans think that beauty is the ultimate answer to life? Unfortunately, beauty is a major distraction to everyone, especially women. In the essays, “The Ugly Truth about Beauty,” written by Dave Barry and “A Woman’s Beauty: Put Down or Power Source?”, written by Susan Sontag these writers describe what beauty is all about in women’s eyes but with different views and cultures. Men seem to have a different perspective on beauty. It seems that women are more pressured to look a certain way in order to feel accepted by society.
The United States’ term of beauty is very similar to the World State’s term. Staying young and beautiful is the goal in modern society and Brave New World’s society. The media portrays beauty as superficial. People believe if they do not look like the model they see on televisions or magazines, they must make themselves look like that person. “You will never look like the girl in the magazine.
The picture of an attractive female with the slogan ‘ Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s Maybelline.’ It’s up to the consumer to figure out what the answer is by buying the make up. In the 21st century, the trend has tilted towards market fragmentation where each consumer is placed into a designated niche and the elements of each advertisement appeals to the stereotypical characteristics of that niche group. Advertising agencies need to control public behaviour in order to ensure that supply constantly outstrips demand. The problem is that by having the monopoly on the control over public behaviour, it promotes the fundamentally unjust status quo.
One of the categories in being the ideal woman is being conventionally beautiful because, according to the media, a significant portion of a woman’s self-worth rests in appearance. This can be seen through women’s magazines in particular, which promote altering one’s appearance leads to the significant improvement of one’s “love life and relationships, and ultimately, life in general” (Bazzini 199). Therefore, the media presents a direct relationship with beauty and success: the more attractive a woman is, the better her life will be. Thus, a woman must the take initiative to look beautiful in order to be successful. Through the repetitive exposure of the same type of image in the media, what society considers beautiful often resembles a definitive checklist.
Your decisions to comply with society’s view of “beauty” are no longer subconscious, but rather are more conscious-driven decisions. Barbie’s slender figure remains idolized; however, it has evolved from a plastic doll to a self-starving model that is photo-shopped on the pages of glossy magazines. You spend hours in front of a mirror adjusting and perfecting your robotic look while demanding your parents to spend an endless amount of money on cosmetics and harmful skin products to acquire a temporary version of beauty. Consider companies such as Maybelline, which have throughout the ages created problematic and infantilizing campaigns and products for women. More specifically consider the “Baby Lips” product as well as the company slogan, “maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s Maybelline,” that reiterates the male notions of beauty to which women are subjected.
Meaghan Ramsey's TED Talk "Why thinking you're ugly is bad for you" is a powerful speech about low body confidence. Ramsey talks about how society's pressure to be perfect is one of the main reason for young girls' (and boys') low body confidence and how these feelings of low esteem can impact their lives and futures. I chose to analyze this speech because I have experienced low body confidence and I have felt those feelings of low self-esteem. In Meaghan Ramsey's speech "Why thinking you're ugly is bad for you", she discusses how low body confidence is undermining academic achievement, damaging health, and limiting the economic potential of today's youth who are growing up in a world of social media. Ramsey has a strong start to her speech, using a photo and a story about her niece to gain the attention of the audience.