Arevalo 1

Justin Arevalo
Professor Corri Ditch
English 114A
03 December 2014
Im an Average Girl in a Barbie World
Western Society works through the media to catch the publics attention. The media will
try to sell you their product by doing just about anything to catch your attention, whether it is
using celebrities and beautiful models to sell products, or using other gender performances that
are not really related to the point the advertisers are really trying to get out to the world. One
thing that advertisers usually do is use sexuality or the gender performance of a particular sex to
capture their viewers attention. Because seeing these beautiful people on billboards or in
commercials, it can make an individual take another look at their own selves and want change. I
chose and examined the image of a normal, average size woman holding a Barbie doll to show
what western society sees as beautiful. In this essay I will examine the image in depth and
analyze what the point of the image which is, there are socially constructed categories an
individuals gender is expected to adhere to in order to be accepted. Society places these socially
constructed gender performances on both men and women that can be seen as impossible, such
as a nice slim body for females and a cut up muscular dude for males. When trying to reach the
unrealistic expectations of society; they could possibly result to depression, self harm or eating
disorders.

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The image I have selected involves an average sized woman holding a Barbie doll.
Because Barbie is a toy and was made to depict what is called a beautiful figure, it was made
by the media to show that, a figure of a Barbie is a constructed definition of beauty and is
acceptable by western society. Also in this image, the woman is marked, and the marks on her
body represent the unrealistic body figure a Barbie would have in real life. The curvature marks
are marked near her bellybutton and it is noticeable that there are marks everywhere because it
would take a lot of things done to achieve that image. This is image is a perfect example of
societys impractical ideals of the definition of beauty. Barbie dolls are usually played with by
little girls, and little girls growing up usually find what their gender role is supposed to be. Ruth
Hubbard says the concept, woman (or man), is a socially constructed one that little girls (or
boys) try to fit as we grow up. (Hubbard 46) The Barbie doll is a socially constructed figure that
young individuals see as what they want to look like when they grow older.
When growing up, people in todays society see what is beautiful through the media,
billboards, toys and advertisements. For example, if a male were to watch a Carls Junior
commercial and sees a very attractive and sexy model holding a hamburger that is portraying a
feminine gender performance to attract consumers. Through the media, society expects both men
and women to act and look a particular way. These images that are put into the minds of
humanity often makes people in society believe that what they have isnt enough because, the
gender roles of a sex should be accurate to what society expects. Aaron Devor explains that a
feminine woman should demonstrate subordination through minimizing of spatial use: people
appear feminine when they keep their arms closer to their bodies and their torsos and heads
less vertical that do masculine-looking individuals (Devor 41). Devor also explains that
Speech characterized by inflections, intonations, and phrases that convey nonaggression and

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subordinate status also make a speaker appear more feminine, (Devor 41) so he is saying that in
western society, not only body posture or movements make a woman feminine and a man
masculine but also the way an individual speaks. Although there may be instances where there is
a masculine female or a feminine male, society places these norms on how an individual should
act and looks as those actions not acceptable.
The image of the way a beautiful or perfect individual speaks acts or looks is shaped by
society and it tells us what is and is not acceptable for a certain gender, these pressures by
western society can cause dangers to an individual. The picture of an average sized woman
holding a Barbie doll and having the markings of the figure of the Barbie doll represents the
impossible goal of being perfect in society. These images can cause some woman to believe that
their body isnt good enough and cause depression and other self endangering effects. For a
woman concerned with looking skinny, western society often sees the result of that being
depression leading to self harm. Depression and self harm do not only occur for woman but also
in males. According to the sociocultural model, youth are continuously pressured by family,
friends, and media to conform to dominant physical attractiveness ideals. (Lopez) if these ideals
are not met, an individual can go into depression, upset about not being good enough.
Kramlinger explains that depression "exhibits specific symptoms related to mood, behavior,
thinking and outlook that impair their ability to function normally on a daily basis" (Kramlinger
5) When an individual experiences depression because of the way society expects them to look,
it is probable that he or she would want try or do anything to have them achieve that goal of
becoming beautiful. This may lead to steroid use or eating disorders.
Individuals concerned with the way they look, and feel pressured to look like models in
the media look for dangerous short-cuts to get where they want to be. Steroids are used to

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enhance the performance of an individual, to either help an athlete perform at a higher level or to
increase an individuals physique to form a more masculine look. It is shown through the media
that usually, men are the people that use steroids, but steroid use can also be used by women.
Travis Tygart, a sports law expert explains that Extended use of steroids can lead to a variety of
damaging side effects, making any perceived "benefit" not worth the risk (Tygart). Some risks
include breast tissue development and testicular atrophy for men, and deeper voice and facial,
back and chest hair for women. These are just some of the risks an individual might go through
in order to achieve the goal of looking like a socially constructed image of a male or female.
The influence of sociocultural factors in the context of EDs (eating disorders) can be
summarized succinctly as the idealization of thinness thinness is thus relentlessly pursued be
those who see no better way to solve their problems. (Janet Polivy, C. Peter Herman 193)
Eating disorders are another short-cut and can cause harm to the body. Media in western society
also apply pressures on everyone, including celebrities. Demi Lavato, an actress and song artist,
battled an eating disorder a few years ago. People were making fun of her and giving negative
comments because they saw her as fat and did not have a media perfect body. This shows that
there are a good amount of people that deal with the problem of fitting into the socially
constructed images of gender performance, and that there is a struggle that these victims go
through to please society.
There are people that actually go through the extremes just to reach the goal to be
accepted by society. There are actually people in the world, males and females that had surgeries
done to their bodies and face to look exactly like Barbie and Ken; removing ribs and adding
implants to make them look like Barbie and Ken dolls. Instead of working out and doing things
the natural way, the socially constructed gender performances given off by a Barbie doll has

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made people go through extremes. The people that went through what they had to go through
like painful surgeries to their entire bodies, for instance shows that, in order to reach the goals,
one cannot do it by themselves.
Images such as the picture I have analyzed cause unrealistic goals that some women may
find impossible. Since some women feel the need to look a specific way or act a certain way
because that is what society wants to see, they go through all these dangerous behaviors to fit in.
When a woman sees an image of a normal sized woman holding a Barbie doll, and the woman
having the body structure of the doll imprinted on her, one may think that that is beauty. Because
a woman thinks that a Barbie doll figure is what is beautiful, what is to say what a man thinks a
beautiful woman looks like? Not only females look at these types of images and think that that is
what society expects a beautiful woman to look like, but men do as well. The media often uses
gender performance as a tool to advertise their products. When males see these beautiful models
or actresses on these commercials or billboards, men tend to look for these model and actress
types in real life. Males often get the impression that a woman has to look a certain way to find
them attractive, it can also be seen the same way by females.
Having just argued that society places unrealistic and impossible goals of becoming
media perfect can eventually lead to harm to an individuals body and discrimination, let us now
give attention to people that do not feel the same way about societys affect on socially
constructed gender performance. Some people may believe that the media does not place socially
constructed norms on society or that it does but it doesnt always lead to these problems I am
arguing. Although the belief that society norms are not affected by the media can be argued,
there are more evidence and facts that help support the claim that, what society depicts as
beautiful are portrayed through the media.

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To conclude Society places these socially constructed gender performances on both men
and women that can be seen as impossible, and when trying to reach the unrealistic expectations
of society; they could possibly result to depression, self harm or eating disorders. Using the
visual image of an average, normal sized woman holding a Barbie doll with the marks of the
Barbies body figure marked on the womans body. The marks of the doll on the woman, for
instance, shows that the body a Barbie doll has was created by society and in order to reach those
unrealistic goals, the individual would have to go through extremes. These extremes are actually
done by people who want to look like Barbie, harming their body by going through dangerous
surgeries and implants. Depression caused by not conforming to the way society wants you to
look like can lead to harmful shortcuts to get there, like steroids or eating disorders. In other
words, socially constructed gender performances can lead certain individuals to act in certain
ways that can harm themselves.

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Work cited
Tygart, Travis. Steroids, the media and youth: a Q&A The Prevention Researcher Dec. 2009:
7. Print
Polivy, Janet, C. Peter Herman. Causes of Eating Disorders Annual Review of Psycholoy 53
187-213 2002
Groner, Rachel, and John F. OHara. Composing Gender: A Bedford Spotlight Reader. Boston:
New York 2014 Print.
Lorber, Judith. Night to His Day: Construction of Gender, from Paradoxes of Gender.
1994
Devor, Aaron. Male Transsexuals in Society Becoming Members of Society: The Social
Meanings of Gender. 1997
Hubbard, Ruth. Rethinking Womens Biology. 1995
Lopez, Vera. Effects of Gender, media influences, and traditional gender role orientation on
disordered eating and appearance concerns among Latino adolescents Journal of Adolescence
Aug 2013: 727- 736. Print
Kramlinger, Keith. Mayo Clinic on Depression Oct 2001: 15. Print.