Linh Tran Professor Malcolm Campbell English 1103 3 October 2013 The Pressures of the Media Have you

ever opened up a gossip magazine or seen a commercial where the media praises those who have fit bodies and make fun of those who have seemed to let themselves go or dont necessarily have the perfect body? Well heres the thing, no one has a perfect body to begin with. Not even the female and male who have gone under multiple cosmetic surgeries to become the real life Barbie and Ken have achieved the perfect body. The medias praise of having a perfect body mostly affects women but can also affect men. I have been one to open up a US Weekly magazine, or some other gossip magazine, and flip through the pages wishing that I had so-and-sos body, or had slimmer thighs, or whatever the case may be. In some of these magazines, they enjoy bringing attention to celebrities who are overweight or have gained the slightest bit of weight, and that causes even me to judge them even though I am well aware that they are human. According to Points of Views article, Body Image and the Media: An Overview, it states that there has been many ideals of body images have evolved over time. It went from the 1920s look: a boyishly slender, narrow-hipped, and flat-chested ideal feminine body to a more curvaceous body type in the 1950s to now a thin, almost anorexic looking body. In the 1960s, there was a rise in a new body image trend. The thin English supermodel and actress known as Twiggy first popularized this trend. She was

Tran2 around 58, was on the international fashion scene in 1966, and weighed only about 90 pounds. This was a completely different body image from the 1950s curvaceous look of icons such as Marilyn Monroe. Not only did the body image trends of females change, but mens did as well. In the 1980s, the trend debuted with competitive marking campaigns that revolved around young, shirtless, chiseled models (those such as the Calvin Klein models). Since then there has been a rise on males going to the gym to get more built and be able to achieve the bodies of the models. Since the 1960s for females and 1980s for males, the body image trends have still stuck around. The media embraces those body types and will continue to. It seems that more and more people these days are trying to accept their bodies and know that they will never be able to achieve the perfect bodies that the media favors and praises. According to Points of Views article, Point: Body Image in the Media is an Unhealthy Picture, it states that in 1997, the lead actress of the television show Ally McBeal had shown an increase in size shrinkage. It seemed to have had a negative effect but went on to having a positive effect and being known as the term Hollywood Thin. This term, Hollywood Thin, was defined as a size-zero body type and a bone-thin frame. Weve seen this trend throughout celebrities from Nicole Richie to Mary-Kate Olsen. These females got negative feedback from this look, but they seemed to love the attention and promoted the size-zero image. Throughout Hollywood, females seem to start out as having normal body figures and then they get sucked into the Hollywood Thin obsessions and start to look unhealthy, essentially. There was a survey that was conducted at some point and According to the NEDA, 80 percent of women are unhappy with their appearance and approximately 45 percent are dieting on any given

Tran3 day. A study of fourth-grade girls found 80% were on a diet. Advertising campaigns with pencil-thin models are partly to blame for these statistics, and contribute to feelings of inadequacy, low self-esteem, and depression. The statistics are kind of shocking to know that the media even has an affect on girls as young as 10 years old. Eighty percent of the girls that were surveyed admitted to being on a diet. Thats an absurd amount because girls this young shouldnt have to be on a diet or even worry about their body images. Theyre still in the developing stage where they need to eat as much as possible to not risk having health problems in their future. Its so sad that the medias use of advertisements can affect girls this young. Girls this young, or any age at all, should never have to be pressured into looking a certain way. We cant all be the same or else we wouldnt be human. I read a magazine called Seventeen and its for girls that are in high school and the monthly magazine issues always have articles about loving your body and eating healthier. I think this is good because it does bring awareness to current situations that females do suffer from. I love reading these things because it features celebrities who vow to love their bodies and to not give into those Hollywood pressures (but who knows if theyre just doing this for publicity). In 2006, there was a television show that was created to re-examine the stereotypical Hollywood definition of beautiful. This sitcom was called Ugly Betty. It was about a short, curvy Latina female who was a smart, sweet, fashion-challenged young woman working in a high-end style magazine. She had braces, and was nowhere near to having a thin size 2 figure that resembles the stereotype of how people who work for a high-end style magazine should look. She went from being the ugly duckling to people realizing that beauty comes from within. I watched this show

Tran4 every week when it would come on and it was inspiring, even though it was a sitcom. It was inspiring because she didnt let her looks stop her from what she wanted to do, she didnt change for anyone. She did actually try to change at one point to fit in and realized that she wasnt doing herself justice by trying to fit in and not being herself. I think this show was a brilliant idea to show that Hollywoods stereotypical definition of beauty isnt what beauty is all about. I have some friends who are local models in Charlotte, NC and asked two of them the exact same questions and I got very different answers from them for the most part. When I asked my friend Anna, who only did modeling as a hobby, how she felt about being pressured as a model to be a certain size she responded, In some ways yes I felt pressured to be a certain size. The modeling industry compares you to other girls. She then went on to telling, I think normal sized girls are actually more attractive, normal meaning size 2-8. I know a lot of curvy girls that are absolutely beautiful. I also think being in shape is more attractive too. Strong is the new skinny. There is nothing worse than seeing a stick skinny girl who looks like she needs to eat a few burgers. I feel like every girl should have a definition of beautiful as something close to hers. She doesnt believe that the Hollywood Thin is beautiful at all. When asking her who was the one model that she admires and what pressures she thinks she faces she responded, The model that I most look up to is Adriana Lima. I think she is absolutely beautiful and she has an awesome workout routine that I have actually tried. I think she probably faces what all models do to be super skinny but she does a good job of toning her body rather than just starving herself. Anna is actually the one who told me while we were still in

Tran5 high school that being in shape is way more attractive now-a-days because being strong is the new skinny. I then asked my other modeling friend LeAnna, a passionate model who wants to make it big, the question about feeling pressured to be a certain size and her response was, Being a young woman in todays society, I feel that there is always a pressure to be a certain size just in general. Every woman wants to be thin and athletic, etc., etc. I personally feel that I should be a certain size, but I also accept the fact that Im not. I feel like its rough when youre trying to make it into the modeling industry and you try your best to stay within the range that its a bit hard to accept yourself as you are. My next question to LeAnna was: Do you think that the modeling industry has had a negative or positive affect on your modeling hobby/career? Her response was, The modeling industry has had a positive affect on my own modeling career considering I am apart of the industry. It has given me a positive body image and to become very accepting of my height. After reviewing a few of the other answers that they provided me to my other questions, they seem to have a completely different view of body images and the modeling industry. I feel like the biggest reason for these differences is because theyre at two different levels of modeling: LeAnna wants to be a high-fashion model and Anna only did it as a hobby. LeAnna seems to embrace the thinness and what the modeling world has to offer. Anna on the other hand had more of an accepting view of all body images. LeAnna is naturally very tall, standing at 511, but Anna is only 55 and this may contribute to the different views of modeling and body images.

Tran6 I believe that the media has done a lot of damage to girls with low self-esteem and its sad. I believe that girls who realize that they are better than to conform to the Hollywood Thin body image are stronger and are more accepting to the fact that no one is the same and everyone is beautiful in their own way. Words can be very powerful especially when females (and males) are told that theyre fat or overweight because what is fat and overweight? Who set the definitions for these terms? The media most likely had a lot to do with the modern interpretations of these two words. But I believe that beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, I hope that the way media portrays females in the Hollywood Thin state eventually dies out and goes back to loving females with curvier figures such as Marilyn Monroe.