Linh Tran Malcolm Campbell English 1103 23 November 2013 A Waisted Image Almost a century ago, the fad

with body images arose all over the world targeting mainly females. Writer Naomi Wolf once said, A cultural fixation on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty but an obsession about female obedience (Quotes). Valeria Lukyanova of Ukraine has gone under cosmetic surgeries and uses strategic makeup placement on her face to try to become the real life Barbie (Sieczkowski). With this in mind, Wolf has a point: are we obsessed with female beauty itself or female obedience to stay within the trend? According to Points of Views article, Body Image and the Media: An Overview, Beverly Ballaro and Geraldine Wagner state that 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 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 those of men did as well. Ballaro and Wagner continued with more history jumping to the 1980s when the trend debuted with competitive marketing

Tran2 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 achieve a more built physique like the male models (Ballaro and Wagner). Since the 1960s for females and 1980s for males, the body image trends continue to thrive through the industry today. The media embraces those body types and will continue to do so. It seems that in current time more and more people are trying to accept their bodies and know they will never be able to achieve the perfect bodies the media favors and praises. Points of Views article, Point: Body Image in the Media is an Unhealthy Picture, states that in 1997, the lead actress of the television show Ally McBeal had shown a tremendous weight loss. Her extreme weight loss came to be known as the term Hollywood Thin. The term Hollywood Thin was defined as a size-zero body type and a bone-thin frame (Chittom and Finley). Weve seen this trend throughout celebrities from Nicole Richie, the daughter of Lionel Richie, to Mary-Kate Olsen, known for her role as Michelle on the hit 90s television show Full House alongside her twin Ashley Olsen. These females received negative feedback from this look, though they seemed to love the attention and promoted the size-zero image. Throughout Hollywood, females seem to start their careers out as having considerably a healthy weight for the height and age to being drawn into the Hollywood Thin obsession. A few examples of celebrities who have gone through the Hollywood Thin obsession include Nicole Richie, Leann Rimes, and Shenae Grimes. Celebrities go through this Hollywood Thin phase all of the time. Richie, Rimes, and Grimes have significantly succumbed their eating disorders.

Tran3 In a 2006 interview with People magazine Nicole Richie said, I know I'm too thin right now, so I wouldn't want any young girl looking at me and saying, 'That's what I want to look like (Lehner). Richie partly blamed her severe weight loss on her breakup with then-fianc, Adam DJ AM Goldstein, who died on August 28, 2009 due to a drug overdose. She tried to increase her weight by forcing herself to eat higher calorie foods and eventually sought professional help from a psychiatrist and personal trainer. She then went on to say that she was scared that it could be something more serious" (Lehner). I believe that this magazines interview might not be very credible since it is considered a gossip magazine along with magazines such as US Weekly. This answer that Richie provided the editors of the article might have been rehearsed; she may have not even blamed her severe weight loss on her breakup with her then-fianc but it created sympathy for her severe weight loss. There was a survey that was conducted and According to the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA), 80 percent of women are unhappy with their appearance and approximately 45 percent are dieting on any given day. A study on fourth-grade girls found 80% were on a diet (Chittom and Finley). Advertising campaigns with pencil-thin models were partly to blame for the statistics and contributed to feelings of inadequacy, low self-esteem, and depression (Chittom and Finley). The statistics are considerably shocking in that the media even has an affect on females as young as 10 years old. Having had 80% of girls say that they were on a diet is an absurd amount; girls this young shouldnt have to be on a diet or worry about their body images. Theyre still in the developing stage where eating a balanced meal of all food groups is substantial to their growth. The medias use of advertisements having a negative impact on young

Tran4 females lives is disappointing. Girls this young, or of any age at all, should never have to feel 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 mainly geared for girls in high school and the monthly magazine issues always have articles about loving your body and eating healthier. This is particularly positive because it does bring awareness to current situations that females do suffer from. I enjoy reading such articles because they feature celebrities who vow to love their bodies and to not give into the 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. The sitcom Ugly Betty starred a short, curvy Latina female who was a smart, sweet, fashion-challenged young woman working in a high-end style magazine. She wore braces and was nowhere near to having a thin size-two figure that resembles the stereotype of how people who work for a high-end style magazine should look. She went from being the known more-or-less as the ugly duckling to having people realize that beauty comes from within. I watched this show every week when it aired and it was inspiring, even though it was a sitcom. The show 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 with the crowd. Betty soon realized that she wasnt doing herself justice by trying to be someone who she wasnt. This show ran for four seasons and the series finale ended in 2010 with Betty moving on to do bigger things in her life and saying goodbye to her old friends (Ugly). At the series finale, viewers are also able to see that Betty is far more confident

Tran5 in herself than she was when she first made her appearance in the pilot for the series. She gained confidence by accepting that she would never be like the other females she worked with in the fashion magazine, Mode, she worked at. I think this show was a brilliant idea to show that Hollywoods stereotypical definition of beauty isnt what beauty is all about. Theres a campaign that is called The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty that began in 2004. On the Dove website, the introduction to the campaign states to Imagine a World Where Beauty is a Source of Confidence, Not Anxiety (Dove). The introduction goes on to say the Dove brand is rooted around listening to women and that the campaign started a global conversation about the need for a wider definition of beauty after the study proved the hypothesis that the definition of beauty had become limiting and unattainable (Dove). With the studies that Dove did for this campaign, the statistics showed that only about two percent of the world would describe themselves as beautiful. Dove later conducted another global study in 2011, The Real Truth About Beauty: Revisited, and the statistics revealed only about four percent of women around the world considered themselves beautiful and that anxiety about looks began at an early age. Dove also did another study with a little over 1,000 10 to 17 year olds and 72% of the females claimed that they did indeed feel tremendous pressure to be beautiful (Dove). I think its crazy that in a 7-year period, the statistics of women who would truly call themselves beautiful only jumped slightly by two percent. Yes, I do realize that this was a global study and two percent includes a lot of women, but that is still not enough. Not enough women can comfortably say that they feel beautiful when they feel all sorts of pressures, especially from the media, to appear thin and confine to the

Tran6 definition of beautiful, if there is a real definition. I do believe what Dove is doing is sending out a powerful message alone with their commercials geared toward this campaign. Its a great way to bring awareness to females that not being a size-two with a thigh gap is completely okay and theres no such thing as being ugly because, as I briefly touched on before, what is the real definition of beautiful? No two people will have the same definition of beautiful because everyones views are different. Its a good thing that a big company like Dove is campaigning for such a great cause for something that women deal with on a daily basis: trying to fit into the Hollywood definition of beautiful. I have some friends who are local models in Charlotte, NC. I decided to interview two of them the exact same questions, but the answers I received were very different. When I asked my friend Anna Quan, who only modeled as a hobby, how she felt about the pressures 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 (Quan). 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 (Quan). I believe that every female needs to have a definition of beautiful similar to hers. Quan 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 believes she faces she responded, The model that I most look up to is Adriana

Tran7 Lima (pictured at the bottom of the previous page). 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 (Quan). I stumbled across a website that had quotes about body image and I found one that is very close to something that Quan used to tell me in high school: Jess C. Scott once said, A fit, healthy bodythat is the best fashion statement (Quotes). Quan used to tell me almost everyday 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 Haggist, a passionate model who wants to be a professional model, 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. I personally feel that I should be a certain size, but I also accept the fact that Im not (Haggist). I feel like its harder to accept your body the way that it is when youre trying to make it into the modeling industry where there is a certain size quota that you need to stay within. My next question to Haggist 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 a part of the industry. It has given me a positive body image and to become very accepting of my height (Haggist). After reviewing a few of the other answers they provided me to my other questions, they seem to have a completely different view of body images and the modeling industry. I believe the biggest reason for these differences is because theyre at

Tran8 two different levels of modeling: LeAnna wants to be a high-fashion model and Anna only modeled as a hobby. LeAnna seems to embrace the thinness and what the modeling world has to offer. Anna, however, had more of an accepting view of all body images. LeAnna is naturally very tall and stands at 511, but Anna is only 55 and this difference may contribute to the different views of modeling and body images. Because of LeAnnas height, she has the upper hand in the modeling industry with just the fact that shes tall; Annas height is considered to only be commercial and would not have the chance to do high-fashion modeling. LeAnna is most likely going to embrace the tall and thin figure because thats what is going to help her achieve her dreams of becoming a high-fashion model. Anna knows she wont be able to make it in the high-fashion industry so theres no need to believe that being thin is good; she takes more of a being tone with exercise and having healthy eating habits is the way to achieve beautiful lifestyle. The media has done a lot of damage to females (and occasionally males) with low self-esteem as if it these people are their targets. I believe that females who realize that they are better than to conform to the Hollywood Thin bodily images are stronger; they 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 theyre fat or overweight because where is the line that crosses over to 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. I believe that beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. Would you still say that females are obsessed with their beauty or is this fad really based on female obedience?

Tran9 Works Cited Ballaro, Beverly, and Geraldine Wagner. "Body Image & the Media: An Overview." Points of View Reference Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2013. Chittom, Lynn-nore, and Laura Finley. "Point: Body Image in the Media Is an Unhealthy Picture." Points of View Reference Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2013. "The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty." The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. Unilever, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. Haggist, LeAnna. E-mail interview. 2 Oct. 2013. Lehner, Marla. "Nicole Richie: 'I'm Too Thin'" People.com. Time Inc., 04 May 2006. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. Quan, Anna. E-mail interview. 30 Sept. 2013. "Quotes About Body Image." Goodreads. Goodreads Inc., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. Sieczkowski, Cavan. "Valeria Lukyanova, Real-Life Barbie, Blasts Justin Jedlica, ReaLLife Ken, After First Meeting." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 29 Jan. 2013. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. "Ugly Betty." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.