The Merriam-Webster definition for beauty is stated as “the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit”. In other words, beauty is something that should be unique to each person in their own right. There should be no set criterion that defines if one is beautiful or not. Unfortunately, today’s modern society seems to have just that: a set criterion that determines if one is considered beautiful or ugly.
Influencing society’s youth from a young age, pop culture plays a substantial role in defining this criterion. According to a 2007 study done by the American Physiological Association, early exposure of women in pop culture can be extremely harmful to a young girl’s emotional and physical health. From the age of toddlers to young adults, the brain is developing and is susceptible to impressions made by pop culture. For example, you
ng girls usually get their first Barbie doll at the average age of three. Barbie dolls are marketed as being a skinny and curvaceous girl with a no flaws to be found. Barbie dolls have the typical “desirable” body, the hot boyfriend, and the successful career. Aspiring to have a successful career is an important goal for any young girl, but unfortunately it seems that more girls in today’s society are focused on achieving the “perfect” body rather than working for not only a successful career, but a successful future overall. If a standard Barbie doll is proportionally increased to human size (a standard Barbie doll is 11.5 inches, so increase by a 1/6th scale), the “real-life” Barbie would stand at five feet nine inches, chest size of thirty-six inches, an eighteen inch waist, a hip size of thirty-three inches, and would weigh in at one hundred and ten pounds. The “real-life” Barbie would be roughly thirty-five pounds underweight and would most likely suffer from back problems due to a lack of lower back strength to support her breasts. Is this what young girls should be aspiring for from such a young age? Furthermore, it does not stop with the Barbie dolls. As young girls become teenagers, and eventually mature to become women, pop culture consistently bombards them with the “proper” definition of beauty.
As girls grow up, pop culture continuously surrounds them with undermining interpretations of what true beauty is. Many forms of social media such as music, movies, and television contribute to the overall “criterion” that has been set by pop culture for beauty. For example, today’s (October 12th, 2011) number one R&B/Hip-Hop song on Billboard.com is She Will by Lil Wayne. The lyrics are vulgar and clearly objectify women as sex objects and nothing more. In the song, Lil Wayne continuously refers to women as “Bitch”. In one line of the song, Wayne raps, “Karma is a Bitch; well just make sure that bitch is beautiful”. With lyrics that degrade women to such a base level, it is troubling to see that the song is one of the most popular songs in today’s society. Songs that 
are found near the top of the charts often degrade and objectify women as sex objects. In television and movies, the majority of women are famous for their physical aspects such as their slender curves and pretty faces. It is extremely unfair that women in the media such as Megan Fox, Jennifer Aniston, and Kim Kardashian set unrealistic standards for beauty. These standards can damage the self-esteem of many women throughout the world. In a 2004 study done by the American Physiological Association, sixty-eight percent of women strongly agreed that media and advertisements set standards for beauty that are unrealistic for the average women to have. More surprisingly, only two percent of women considered themselves beautiful. More alarming statistics were to be found by the APA. Seventy-five percent of teenage girls reported having low self-worth and participated in activities such as disordered eating, cutting, bullying, smoking or drinking when feeling lowly about themselves.
Today’s youth should not have to grow up feeling uncomfortable in their own skin or have the feeling that they are not good enough because they do not look like Megan Fox or some Victoria’s Secret model they see on television. Parents need to inform their children of media literacy (ability to analyze and assess the messages sent out by media in all its forms) and also reassure them that they are beautiful. There is no specific way to be beautiful; each person has their own unique set of traits that make them beautiful in a completely different way than the person standing next to him/her.
References:
Breezysands. "Mass Media Has a Negative Impact on Women." Web log post. Teen Ink. Teen Ink. Web. 10 Oct. 2011.
Carter, Dwayne M. "Lil Wayne - She Will Lyrics." Metrolyrics.com: Lil Wayne - She Will Lyrics. Metro Lyrics. Web. 11 Oct. 2011.
Zurbriggen, Eileen L., Rebecca L. Collins, Sharon Lamb, Tomi-Ann Roberts, Deborah L. Tolman, L. M. Ward, and Jeanne Blake. Sexualization of Girls. Publication. APA, 2007. Web. 11 Oct. 2011.
My audience is to the parents of children, young children especially.
ReplyDeleteMy question is if you were a parent how would you change what your children were exposed to and if they were exposed to material that you were not comfortable with, how would you explain it to them?
The popular culture item of your blog is Barbie dolls. The main point of this blog is that "As young girls become teenagers, and eventually mature to become women, pop culture consistently bombards them with the “proper” definition of beauty." I believe you have taken your specialized audience into account. The pictures are well organized and effective. Maybe it would have been better if you found bigger pictures.
ReplyDeleteIf I was a parent, I would monitor what my children watch on tv and who they hang out with. It would depend on their age for how I would explain such material to them. If they are older than 10 I would try my best to explain it to them without making them feel awkward but if they are younger I will just tell them I will explain it to them later.