Posts Tagged ‘image’
Beauty and Body Image in the Media
March 29th, 2010 | Author: admin
The pictures of female bodies are seen being displayed all over the place. These women along with parts of their bodies are used for selling everything from cars, clothes to food and more.
In the present times famous film and TV actresses are seen becoming slimmer and trimmer, taller and younger in age. Women’s magazines are seen to be full of these overwhelming articles that promise losing the last twenty pounds will turn out to be the perfect solution for situations in life – from marriage, sex, children and career.
The question that arises is that why are women being made to live up to such stringent standard of beauty? Certain analysts suggest that this approach is more economical where a steady and overwhelming growth is seen and maintained in the diet and cosmetic industry.
Youth is definitely clubbed along with this concept and standard of beauty where “thinness” is the mantra of today of being beautiful. Women are being constantly bombarded with this idea of thinness and beauty concept. If one does not require losing weight, surely she will be aging and will need to maintain a false and superficial appearance. In the world of the beautiful “age” or “aging” is a disaster that must be managed.
The stakes are high. It has been observed that women are insecure about their body statistics and facial appearances tend to purchase more of these beauty and weight loss products. In view of today the diet industry is itself worth 40 to 100 billion US dollars. Research and study suggests that this image of young, thin and ultra-model women has its links to depression, unhealthy eating habits and lack of self esteem.
The Research group of the American Nervosa and related eating disorders, Inc. reports that one out of every four college-going woman tends to have eating disorders and use unhealthy weight reduction methods such as skipping meals, over dieting, excessive fasting, rigorous exercise, use of laxatives and puking. The Canadian women’s heath network has also reported that girls as young as 5 to 6 years of age are implanting unhealthy weight reduction and diet programs on themselves.
In the year 2003, the Teen magazine reported that 35% girls aged between 6 and 12 was on at least one diet program and 50-70% or them considered themselves to be overweight when actually their weight was normal. This falsified concept of beauty and remaining young is taking its toll on the younger generation and research substantiates that almost 90% of the women are experiencing some sort of dissatisfaction regarding their image, appearance and self esteem.
Unattainable Beauty
The media tends to portray an image of beauty that is unattainable and perfect beauty figures and appearances can be achieved and attained only by a small section of women who are professionals and perfectionists. The rest will never reach this standard, but should strive to achieve it.
Researcher trying to develop a computerized model of a woman according to the proportions of a Barbie doll found out that women would actually die from malnutrition and weakness. It is estimated that almost 99% girls in the age limit of 3-10 years own a Barbie doll.
Seeking to achieve unhealthy standards of weight is an epidemic that can have devastating consequences on health. In 2006 a statistical survey revealed that nearly 4, 50,000 Canadian women were suffering from some kind of eating disorder.
The Culture of Thinness
Researchers have also highlighted the fact the women’s magazines have more articles and advertisements on thinness and weight loss as compared to that of men. Films and television portray the thin body of a standard and measure of the worth of a woman. It has also been reported that healthy women experienced some sort of negative comments from their male counter parts because of their bodies.
There has been an effort to change the trend where in Madrid in the year 2006, ultra-thin models were banned from walking the ramp. The Quebec magazine Coup de Pounce is continuously adding images of healthy and normal sized women. Furthermore, Spain has undertaken a project where clothes would be standardized according to normal body statistics of woman.
Despite these efforts the advertisements “Thinness is the ultimate standard and pillar to success” and “become thin to attain a perfect body” still prevails. Today models weigh 23% less than an average woman. Advertisers believe thin models sell products better than an average sized women, so the hype is all the more.
They continue to believe and remain convinced that only thin models can spur the sales figures of beauty products in the market.
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Media and Influence on Women’s Body Image
March 9th, 2010 | Author: admin
It has become obvious now that the media advertises and promotes a very unhealthy trend of extreme dieting and other bad eating habits to women. Most of media sources put on their covers images of skinny emancipated females.
Doing this they influence the subconscious mind of the masses. And women continue to spend their money trying to achieve this unattainable look they constantly see in media advertising.
To try and solve this problem let’s answer the next questions.
What is body image?
What kind of trends in the media industry are we noticing now?
How do the media influence our perception of body image?
What could be the reasons behind this?
What are the consequences of this kind of trend?
What are some real suggestions on how to improve your body image?
Your body image is how you perceive, think and feel about your body. This may have no bearing at all on your actual appearance. For instance, it is common in Western nations for women to believe they are larger and fatter than they really are. Only one in five women is satisfied with their body weight.
Nearly half of all normal weight women overestimate their size and shape. A distorted body image can lead to self-destructive behavior, like dieting or eating disorders. Approximately nine out of 10 young Australian women have dieted at least once in their lives.
So, the basic trend in the media industry at the moment is to promote slim, even skinny unnatural looking women’s bodies as being beautiful.
Women of all ages but especially young women look at magazines, TV, movies and other media products full of images that show skinny women’s bodies. And these are perceived by the subconscious mind of young women as being a role model to follow and aspire to be like. Achieving this skinny look does not come naturally; it inevitably leads to practicing some kind of dieting, excessive exercising or abnormal eating behaviors.
Twenty years ago, the average model weighed 8 per cent less than the average woman—but today’s models weigh 23 per cent less. Advertisers believe that thin models sell products.
When the Australian magazine New Woman recently included a picture of a heavy-set model on its cover, it received a truckload of letters from grateful readers praising the move. But its advertisers complained and the magazine returned to featuring bone-thin models.
What could be the reason behind all this? Why has this fashion trend occurred now? Why are standards of beauty being imposed on women, the majority of whom are naturally larger than any of the models?
The reasons for this according to some analysts, is an economic one. By presenting an ideal look which is difficult to achieve and maintain the cosmetic and diet product industries are assured of growth and profits. It is estimated that the diet industry alone is worth $100 billion (U.S.) a year. This is a lot of money and certainly worth their while to continue to foster emancipated women as being the norm.
And the consequences of this trend are huge. On the one hand, women who are insecure about their bodies are more likely to buy beauty products, new clothes, and diet pills or other diet supplies.
On the other hand, research indicates that exposure to images of thin, young, air-brushed female bodies is linked to depression, loss of self-esteem and the development of unhealthy eating habits in women and girls.
The level of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia are increasing rapidly every year. It is estimated that around 5 per cent of women and 1 percent of men have an eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia or binge eating some time in their life.
And about 15 per cent of all young women have significantly distorted eating attitudes and behavior that can lead to developing anorexia or bulimia in the near future.
So, what would be some real suggestions on how to improve your body image without resorting to unhealthy eating habits?
The First one is to change your goal from weight loss to just improving your health. Second, is to focus more the internal beauty like improving your self-esteem, self-confidence and internal strengths of your character.
Get informed by reading up on body image issues and self-improvement books. And give yourself a break from women’s magazines and the mass media advertising for a while if you feel you maybe prone to this kind of false perceptions.
To sum up, the media does impact on women’s body image significantly and it can affect women’s physical and mental health in a negative way.
And the only way to stop these negative effects coming from the media is to teach women not to judge themselves by the beauty industry’s standards and learn not to compare themselves to the cover girls. And also it is important to promote a healthy life style with emphasis on internal beauty like improving self-esteem and self-confidence. Not on being a stick like model.
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Weighing in on My Belly Dance Image
February 1st, 2010 | Author: admin
Today I was looking in the mirror and looking back at me was a disgruntled me. I was looking at my image and what I didn’t like. All I saw was what I wanted to change. This is contradictory to what I tell my students. I usually tell them to look in the mirror and see what they like about themselves. But I have to admit today I just didn’t feel like doing it. I wondered about this and decided to take a good look at why I was feeling dissatisfied with myself and how this feeling fleeting as it may be can make a dancer sing the blues, in my case off key.
Through out my dance career people have commented on my weight. Why is it that people think it’s ok to make a comment about someone else’s weight? Our society has become obsessed with weight and in our field of entertainment we are suppose to uphold a certain standard. I remember dancing at a beautiful restaurant in Dallas and was told by a regular costumer that I needed to lose 5 more pounds and than I would be perfect. I stood there shocked and all I could do was nod my head and walk away. She told me this in front of other customers and I remember feeling embarrassed and vowed to lose 10 pounds! I know she had my best interest at heart but all I heard was “You need to lose weight”. So my self image crumbled a little bit that night and what I didn’t realize was that those words would stay with me for so long.
My next question is who decided what standard belly dancers have to uphold? Well, I know that there are many nightclubs and restaurants that want dancers that are a certain proportion. There are some restaurants that won’t hire what they consider an overweight dancer. I know this because I have worked at a few restaurants that won’t tell overweight dancers they won’t hire them, they will just tell them they don’t need dancers or that the position has been filled. So does this compromise the existing house dancers’ relationship with her dance community? How do you tell another dancer she is over weight? I can’t or I should say won’t because it would be like the pot calling the kettle black. Weight is a personal issue and should only be addressed if asked. But it’s not totally the restaurant or house dancers fault because the customers also dictate what kind of dancers they want to see. Most managers will hire belly dancers that are pleasing to the eye according to society’s standards and not women standards. So how do we as women change these so called “standards”?
That’s a really hard question to answer because how many of us photoshop our photographs? How many of us will buy costumes that hide our “problem areas”? How many of us have gone on crash diets just before we have a major performance? I gage my weight according to how my costumes fit me and I have friends who do the same. When I go on a diet the first thing I do after a few days is put on one of my belts. So how can I feel good about my body image when it can only look good if I look a certain way in my costumes? My image has become a blur because I have allowed these standards to dictate how I look. So if I want to go head to head with this standard than the first thing I have to do is start with my own issues and figure out a way to let them go.
An American research group in 2003 said that 50 to 70 per cent of normal weight women believe they are overweight. So are we trying to attain a perfect image that really exists only in our minds? In order to answer this question I went back to the mirror and brought a magazine with me and turned the pages until I came to what I thought was the perfect woman.
I had breasts and she didn’t and I had hips and she didn’t. She had a hard look to her because she was so thin. Than I realized that the image looking back at me in the mirror wasn’t so bad after all. What I thought was the perfect woman turned out to be unrealistic. If we can’t connect to the photos in the magazines than why do we allow these images to dictate how we should look?
Robin Gerber author and motivational speaker put it beautifully;
“We don’t need Afghan-style burquas to disappear as women. We disappear in reverse-by revamping and revealing our bodies to meet externally imposed visions of female beauty.”
When I see dancers on stage all I know is they are the most beautiful vision of womanhood that I can possibly imagine. So I guess I’m in contradiction with myself because I’m up there on stage sometimes too. My most favorite times are in the dressing room just before a production or show, seeing and feeling all the excited energy in the room. If this feeling could be put in a painting it would be a masterpiece.
So why with these images in my head is it so hard for me to look in the mirror and appreciate what I see? I think it’s because I decided at a young age to collect and accumulate all the negative experiences and comments that came my way. So I decided to let go of memories that no longer served me or my image. I threw them away into an invisible trash can. Guess what all of a sudden I started to feel better.
This led me to become curious about our image as women throughout history so I took a look at how we have changed to become what we are today.
In the 1890’s if you were plump and had a light complexion, you were hot (this meant you didn’t work). In the early 1900’s the corset and hour glass figure were all the rage (so what if you couldn’t breath). In the 1920’s if you were flat-chested and skinny, the world was your oyster. In the 50’s and 60’s Marilyn Monroe ruled but Twiggy was right beside her. The 70’s and 80’s were all about working out and having no body fat (let’s not forget about the hair). In the 90’s large breasts and narrow hips became the norm (not really). And today, women are a combination of all of the above. S
As a belly dancer I can handle being a little bit of each generation. And as a matter of fact if you look around our dance community you will see our history in every woman alive and well. As women we have to decide what suites our own vision of beauty. And after looking at our history I realized I was in great company. So I looked back in the mirror, laughed and saw something I did like, a smile. As
