Carl Justin T.

Aliganga

Descriptions of beauty are thrown at us every day in various and opposing views.
While many people stay with the belief that beauty is internal, society’s view of
beauty is propelled at us from every angle. Just turn on the television, open a
magazine, or surf the web and you will find yourself bombarded by the idea that
being sexy and being beautiful are synonyms. Critics argue that this view of
beauty is causing our women and even some men to alter their bodies in
damaging ways. While I agree that the way today’s society views is damaging and
unrealistic, but I also do not believe this is a new occurrence. Throughout history
various societies have caused their subjects to do damaging and dangerous things
all for the sake of what they called beauty. Beauty has become superficial and a
term that is dangerous and used as a weapon to control the mindsets of others.

The word beauty is described in the dictionary as “the quality or aggregate of

qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably
exalts the mind or spirit.” (Merriam-Webster 2012). So why throughout history
has the human race associated beauty with physical appearance? The ancient
Mayans went to vast lengths to change their physical appearances. Every woman
is made beautiful in God’s own image but we hear people saying, “She is
beautiful, she is not.” But, have we really pondered who sets this standard of
beauty? Why do very few fall in the category of the so called, “beautiful.” Perhaps
there may be many forces that set the standard of a beautiful woman but one of
the strongest forces among them would be commercial advertisement. Earlier,
media were accused for influencing the audience towards violence but now they
are also subject for pursuing girls to be like the models as projected in the
commercial advertisement. Media too has its own share of positive influences,
they are indeed very helpful in today’s fast changing world but when it comes to
commercial advertisement there are concerns which need serious attention, one
would be the stereotyping of woman’s beauty. The cultivation theory in media
studies talks about how media influences the audience into believing what they
project as true and authentic.