Media's Ideal Image of Beauty

(isn't she lovely?..pic of child beauty pagent)

The clip we watched in class yesterday featuring a little girl and images of women getting plastic surgery, make up, dieting, and gaining weight, than wearing skipping clothes was very interesting. The media does have an effect on little girls not just women. It seems girls are growing up really fast because they are concerned with the same issues as full grown women are and that is attractiveness. In fact, girl's as young as seven are concerned about how they look.

I understandable why girl's as young as seven are getting sucked into the media's portrayal of beautiful. Just look at the things they play with: barbie, brats, and Polly pocket. All of these toys have something to do with images about beauty. Barbie is the most famous image that attracts little girls. Barbie is associated with makeup, nails, jewelry and shoes. Brats look like they've got too much make up on and botox on their lips! Polly pocket is a fashion freak. Her advertises are always about clothing and shoes.

It is not just their toys that are promoting beauty, but also the things they watch on tv. In fact, "Rumble, Cash, and Nashville (2000; cited in Klein & Shiffman, 2006) found that the schematic association of attractiveness and thinness with goodness was present in over 100 female characters appearing in 23 Walt Disney animated films (cel cartoons) produced over a 60-year period" ( http://www.mediafamily.org/facts/facts_mediaeffect.shtml). That's not surprising, character's like Tinkerbell, Jasmine, Ariel, Pocahontas, and Bell are all petite and skinny and also show a lot of skin. Tinker bell does not have anything to cover her except a skimpy little dress that comes up really high. The way she bends over is sex appeal. it is obvious that if we wear to draw an image of her from the back view when she bends her buttocks would show because that's reasonably what happens when someone bends like that. Jasmine is dangerously thin and very attractive because she shoes off her stomach and flaunts her figure. Her clothes are very revealing and the way her blouse's sleeve's fall on her arm is also a type of sex appeal. Ariel is the most revealing. She has a basically a bra on and a fish tail. Her cleavage is shown almost all the time. Her waist is really narrow and her hips are also curvy. She also has long flowing hair, that many girl's admire and want because it is very girly. Pocahontas also achieves the same affect as Ariel: long flowing hair and cleavage. She wears a lot of makeup too. Her lips are outrageously red and her yes are thickly lined in black. Bell is the most modest of them all, but she still is fairly thin.

According to Dr. Nancy Signorielli, Professor of Communications at the University of Delaware, "50% of the commercials aimed at girls spoke about physical attractiveness, while none of the commercials aimed at boys referenced appearance" (http://www.mediafamily.org/facts/facts_mediaeffect.shtml#). Even though, the commericials are aimed at girl's boys do think of their appearance. Sometimes men feel the need to be muscular and toned to achieve that more macho look. So it is equally important to talk to young boys and not just girls. In a study on fifth graders, 10 year old girls and boys told researchers they were dissatisfied with their own bodies after watching a music video by Britney Spears or a clip from the TV show "Friends" (Mundell, 2002)" (http://www.mediafamily.org/facts/facts_mediaeffect.shtml#). This illustrates that even when boys see women who are thin and beautified by the media, they too feel bad about their bodies. They may feel that in order to be attractive they need to be muscular and manly so they can get girls who look like Britney Spears. This is really sad because in fifth grade worrying about one's looks is the last thing kids should be concerned about. If they are worried about their looks at such an early age, how will they become when they are adolescents? The media is crazy and is always deemed responsible because we are informed by the media everyday. Their advertisements and tv programs can easily influence children because they are vulnerable. They are still developing and the media's messages can influence them to do wrong things. Children are developmentally immature.