Campos 1

Valeria Campos

Professor Jennifer Rodrick

English 115

24 October 2018

Fulfillment

Growing up I personally wished to be like Barbie, who is tall, skinny and popular,

because she was what I defined as beauty as a younger child. Barbie has created an unrealistic

body type expectations set on many little girls as well as an ideal to be popular. Constant

advertisements or movies portray a woman as beautiful by having a skinny body type with a

clear face and many friends. Beauty is one of the biggest ideals set upon women because of the

constant reminder of modern day societal expectations and beauty standards, making it

something women are forced to follow. Conforming to the surroundings is something that most

people do. Women tend to keep up with society’s daily trends to stay in the loop of what

everyone is wearing. Accommodating to their surroundings in order to follow these trends loses

the sense of individuality of the person because trends have become a uniform for most people

due to the fact that they are following the same standards. These ideals are influenced by shows,

films and magazines which have negatively impacted women to change in order to look more

beautiful according to society. Due to these negative influences, society has objectified and

labeled women and have had them conform to the ideals created by their surroundings to obtain a

sense of belonging people crave causing them to lose their individuality.

Due to the ideals created by surroundings such as magazines or films, women have been

sexually objectified. According to a USC study done by Professor Stacy Smith, there is a larger
 Campos 2

percentage of female film actors with sexy clothing or more exposure of skin than male film

actors. Professor Smith states in “USC Annenberg study: Hollywood hooked on sexualizing

women and teen girls” that “viewing sexualized images of females in film may contribute to

self-objectification in some girls or women” (Smith). Professor Smith agrees that society is

negatively shaping women when she writes, that the self objectification in females “increase

body shame, appearance anxiety and have other negative effects” (Smith). Due to vast films

objectifying women as “eye candy,” females are being negatively impacted by conforming to the

ideals set by these films. They start a hatred for their appearance and longing for a feeling of

acceptance. The films people see tend to create a sexy persona that most women want to achieve.

Women want to be seen as sexy to fit into society and have the sense of belonging of people by

being wanted and loved by man or female. The negative effect is that being seen as sexy often

leads to objectification of women. As seen by an ​Extratv ​interview with Scarlet Johansson for

The Avengers​, she was asked if she had worn any undergarments with her Black Widow outfit,

which is a black tight leotard. Johansson replied irritated, “you’re like the fifth person that has

asked me that today!” (“ 'The Avengers' Interviews: Scarlet Johansson and Jeremy Renner”

0:05). As seen by Johansson’s response in the interview, it was not the first time she has been

asked what she was wearing, she was tired of being objectified by what she was wearing or was

not wearing. The question asked was not only inappropriate, but it illustrates that people viewing

constant sexual images of women leads to objectification. There are many female actors that

have been asked a fashion question rather than an actual film question. This negatively impacts

their identities because they are just being viewed and identified by what they are wearing and

their red carpet look and not their talent they have shown people on the screen. Films are not
 Campos 3

only influencing women to conform into a sexualized persona, but they are also being objectified

by others.

Women are forced to comply with what is appropriate to wear because if they dress

“inappropriately” then they are victimized or labeled. In the article “Asking for It”, Clare

McCormack and Nevena Prostran state that the Toronto Police Constable Sanguinetti said “what

[women] wear increases [their] chances of getting assaulted – that [they] invite assault. The

‘solution’ [...] is simply to change the way [they] dress” ( McCormack and Nevena 411).

Women are compelled to comply with what others find as appropriate clothing to avoid being

victimized. But what females decide to wear is is not what invites an assault. The male police

officer, is blaming victimization on what the victim’s clothing are and not on the person who

commited the assault. Following the sexualized persona created by society has caused an excuse

on why women are assaulted. Following the sexualized persona created by society has caused

labels upon women. Because by following these personas and ideals set by society, women are

focused on meeting the set standards to feel accepted, but it often comes with being labeled. As

seen by the image, if a woman is wearing a short skirt, they are viewed as a “slut, provocative, or

they were asking for it” (Lake). A woman does not ask to be labeled nor does she invite an

assault. Women are seen in the wrong whether they are covered or not. If a woman decides to

wear a longer skirt then they are seen as “prudish or old-fashion” (Lake). Women are

automatically being labeled no matter what they are seen wearing. If a woman follows the ideals

of the sexualized persona, then they are labeled as a “slut,” if they are not following the ideals

then they do not belong and are still labeled but as “old-fashion.” Women are conforming to
 Campos 4

societal ideals to feel beauty and acceptance by others, however they are yet to be accepted by

society because of the labels constructed.

Beauty standards and ideals are a result of society’s social culture influence which has

negatively impacted women to crave the sense of belonging. As seen in a personal story by Alice

Walker in “Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self”, she grew up being the cutest and

sassiest little girl, but it all ended for her one day when she was hit by a BB gun and it damaged

her causing a scar in her eye. Walker hid her face and did not raise her head because she avoided

eye contact with others. Alice would abuse her eye and “tell it [she] hate[d] and despise[d] it.

[She did] not pray for sight. [She] pray[ed] for beauty” (Walker 77). Walker believes that since

she does not have the beauty society has defined, that she does not fit in. Hiding from society can

negatively affect one’s self esteem because of the sense of belonging that they do not obtain. As

seen in the story, Walker hid her face because she knew her fellow classmates would not accept

and bully her because of her scarred eye. As she predicted she was not accepted and was

tormented by her classmates. Women are focused on achieving beauty to fulfill the desire of

belonging because if people do not belong in a society they are faced with backlash. As shown

by Walker’s wish of beauty rather than sight, women rather much belong in society than feel

resentment. Women's priorities tend to be beauty above everything else due to the huge impact

that society’s ideals has on them; shaping them to focus on beauty rather than their well being.

Women are getting stuck on the fact that they need to fulfill their craving for belonging by

conforming to what society’s ideals are and forgetting their individuality. Because her scarred

eye is what made her unique and as her child pointed out, she had the “world” in her eye.
 Campos 5

Women need to learn how to accept themselves as who they are to keep their individuality rather

than lose their uniqueness because of a beauty standard they followed.

Women’s identities are negatively affected by today’s society. Society is

objectifying women in films due to the sexualized persona most women want to achieve to fulfill

their craving for belonging and acceptance. Beauty standards created are changing women’s

mentalities and priorities. Women now want to achieve beauty before anything else to have a

sense of belonging. When they follow the ideals, they are put to blame and labeled because they

do not dress “appropriately” which can negatively impact their self esteem adding to their

insecurities. Women conform to society due to the ideals and comply with them to achieve their

fulfillment of belonging.
 Campos 6

Work Cited

Lake, Rosea. “Judgements.”​ roseaposey​, 5 January 2013, http://roseaposey.tumblr.com/page/3.

Accessed 20 October 2018.

McCormack, Clare, and Nevena Prostran. “Asking for It.” ​International Feminist Journal of

Politics​, vol. 14, no. 3, Sept. 2012, pp. 410–414. ​EBSCOhost,​

doi:10.1080/14616742.2012.699777. Accessed 20 October 2018.

Smith, Stacy. “USC Annenberg study: Hollywood hooked on sexualizing women and teen girls.”

PR Newswire,​ 21 Nov. 2011. ​General OneFile​. Accessed 20 October 2018.

“ 'The Avengers' Interviews: Scarlet Johansson and Jeremy Renner. ” ​Youtube,​ uploaded by

Extratv, 3 May 2012, ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHxzxgwJTFc&t=5s​.

Accessed 20 October 2018.

Walker, Alice. “Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self.” ​The Norton Reader An Anthology

of Nonfiction​, 14th ed., Melissa A. Goldthwaite, et al., Ed. W.W. Norton & Company,

2016, pp. 74–79.