I'm not going to lie, the first half of this video was extremely unsettling and disturbing. Hearing a 12 year old saying she wouldn't care if she died from anorexia is extremely worrying and portrays just how dangerous the media and digital media's view on women can affect people. This young girl weighs four stone and all she wants to do is continue to lose weight because digital media has told her she has to be excruciatingly thin to be beautiful in today's society. THIS IS WRONG. For a child to feel this strongly about the way she looks is distressing as she has set in her mind that she is fine with dying. This little girl is not fazed by how ill she is and her only concern is to look skinny.
The second half of the video consists of pictures and facts about the affects the media and digital media have on woman's body image. Pictures of extremely thin celebrities being branded as beautiful shows just how ignorant these industries are to women's health. Although it is celebrities jobs to stay in shape being branded as natural beauty is something they shouldnt be doing as these people do not have normal jobs and are paid to look their best. All they do is exercise or work either on sets or on photo shoots which they are meant to look their best. In the celebrity culture being thinner is important to them but in society it's physically impossible for women to maintain a celebrities body unless they religiously devote themselves to intense exercise every day.
Tuesday 22 February 2011
Beauty is only skin deep. Really?
Digital media is forcing women to be stick thin by pressurizing them with images of boney unhealthy high fashion models and forcing them to take on a positive attitude to this unhealthy look. Cover Girl is trying to attack this from all angles as they themselves know that advertising with anorexic models is doing nothing positive for today's fashionistas. Having access to videos online of tiny woman parading the world's catwalks can be very intimidating to the average sized women as these models always look amazing.
But just because they look amazing doesn't always mean that they are happy. The average model nowadays will suffer from depression and will not enjoy working with over 70% of the people they have to everyday. Digital media is portraying that this lifestyle is amazing but at the same time is also allowing videos like the one above to be available online to show that no one is perfect and that this size zero image is extremely unhealthy and women should be proud of their bodies.
'Perfect' doesn't cut it.
Women all over the world at some point in their life will be affected by digital media, FACT.
The way women are portrayed in digital media nowadays is shaping the way normal everyday women see themselves. With so much pressure on woman to have "a perfect body image" it is no wonder that the diet industry is now worth between $40 - $100 billion dollars, with much thanks to digital media for helping them to this outrageous number. Digital media is a very dangerous tool when it comes to health and when the whole world is telling you to be stick thin and beautiful then you feel this is what you must be to fit in.
Girls as young as 11 years old are developing eating disorders because of the negative impact the media is having on them. Women in the twenty first century cannot fully enjoy life as they are too busy stressing over how many calories are in their lunch, if you can call just a salad a nutritional lunch. The media needs to realize how big an impact it is having on innocent people by using stick thin models in their adverts, they should be using real woman to show that size or 'beauty' don't actually matter. Using online videos and photos means that women have access to these kinds of images 24/7. Women who are unhappy with their bodies are most likely to google images of skinny woman to try persuade themselves to become thinner and more attractive. This is highly dangerous as woman who do this end up becoming victims of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia.
Although their is an enormous pressure on women to look amazing by digital media it can also encourage woman to take action against the weight issues it presents to women. This woman has taken a picture of her stomach after the birth of her children
to show people online not to be ashamed of their bodies as she believes she is naturally beautiful even with stretch marks on her stomach and it not being toned or flat. She did this to show people that they should feel comfortable in their own skin and not worry about what digital media is telling us to look like as beauty is natural and not fake. This photo fits well into my blog as it shows that the digital media industry hasn't managed to brain wash everyone into thinking that beauty is being skinny and having an immaculate complexion, that infact beauty is in the eye of the beholder and being comfortable in your natural skin is beauty.
The way women are portrayed in digital media nowadays is shaping the way normal everyday women see themselves. With so much pressure on woman to have "a perfect body image" it is no wonder that the diet industry is now worth between $40 - $100 billion dollars, with much thanks to digital media for helping them to this outrageous number. Digital media is a very dangerous tool when it comes to health and when the whole world is telling you to be stick thin and beautiful then you feel this is what you must be to fit in.
Girls as young as 11 years old are developing eating disorders because of the negative impact the media is having on them. Women in the twenty first century cannot fully enjoy life as they are too busy stressing over how many calories are in their lunch, if you can call just a salad a nutritional lunch. The media needs to realize how big an impact it is having on innocent people by using stick thin models in their adverts, they should be using real woman to show that size or 'beauty' don't actually matter. Using online videos and photos means that women have access to these kinds of images 24/7. Women who are unhappy with their bodies are most likely to google images of skinny woman to try persuade themselves to become thinner and more attractive. This is highly dangerous as woman who do this end up becoming victims of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia.
Although their is an enormous pressure on women to look amazing by digital media it can also encourage woman to take action against the weight issues it presents to women. This woman has taken a picture of her stomach after the birth of her children
to show people online not to be ashamed of their bodies as she believes she is naturally beautiful even with stretch marks on her stomach and it not being toned or flat. She did this to show people that they should feel comfortable in their own skin and not worry about what digital media is telling us to look like as beauty is natural and not fake. This photo fits well into my blog as it shows that the digital media industry hasn't managed to brain wash everyone into thinking that beauty is being skinny and having an immaculate complexion, that infact beauty is in the eye of the beholder and being comfortable in your natural skin is beauty.
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