Plastic Women
Do you wish your make-up would last all night? Flash. Long, bronzed, stick legs of a 5’11” woman. Flash. Do you want to drive your man wild? Flash. The camera scans a woman’s butt drop with every sway and up to her bouncing boobs. Flash. Are you tired of trying diets that never work? Flash. Flash. Flash. On average, women see 400 to 600 advertisements a day. Flash. You are not good enough. Women are portrayed in the media as plastic, square, fake smelling objects. Fake becomes reality.
Nip Tuck is one popular television show, among a great deal of others, that depicts women as objects. The introduction shows isolated body parts. Each body part looks like a road map marked with black, thick, lines, like a football play, an object ready to be toyed around with and tampered. Women are dehumanized. And that is precisely what the show does. Most of the women are depicted on the show visiting two handsome plastic surgeons whose job is to not only fix perfectly functioning noses, boobs, stomachs, and legs but to fix their low self-esteem and give them satisfaction with their lives. Most of the characters on the show believe plastic surgery will repair relationships. Also, believing perfect looking women are trouble-free and uncomplicated.
I use to nanny for a family who had two young girls about four and seven-years-old. The older girl engaged in discussion about dress-up, begging me to bring my make-up and old prom dresses over. I thought this is so normal for a seven-year-old girl, and it was so normal for the four-year-old to be less interested. I noticed her mom’s hesitation to enforce ideals related to appearance. One day I was sitting in the kitchen with the seven year old and her dad. We were having a conversation about school, when she blurred out, “and she doesn’t even have a boyfriend.” Referring to me I was awkwardly embarrassed, but I did not know exactly why. While she was expressing her opinion that a man defines a woman, she almost had me convinced, until I thought twice and replied, “Who said I need to have a boyfriend?” This is common for young girls to grow up interested in make-up, clothes, and boyfriends. It made sense that the four-year-old was less interested in appearance because she had not been exposed to enough of the media. Young girls are raised in a society where television commercials expressing these ideas control the segments between daytime television shows. And why would parents think twice about it? They grew up with the same television commercials and they have become immune to the seriousness of the misconstrued messages.
What is a real woman anymore? Dove did a campaign called, The Truth About Beauty. They represented heavier set women, with skin blemishes, and untamed hair. The women dressed down to a bra and underwear showing their imperfections had nothing to hide. They may not be the typical women portrayed in the media, but they are shown as happy, confident, and comfortable women in their own skin. Dove made a huge statement, finally breaking the glass ceiling, saying most women do not look the way they are portrayed in the media. So, maybe this is the truth about beauty and the real woman.
Women… Learn who you are without someone else defining you. Find satisfaction in yourself. Love your body before someone else does. Believe him when he says you are beautiful in every sense of the word. Truly love yourself and the people around you for who they are and appearances will take a back seat.
Krystle Aldana
Nip Tuck is one popular television show, among a great deal of others, that depicts women as objects. The introduction shows isolated body parts. Each body part looks like a road map marked with black, thick, lines, like a football play, an object ready to be toyed around with and tampered. Women are dehumanized. And that is precisely what the show does. Most of the women are depicted on the show visiting two handsome plastic surgeons whose job is to not only fix perfectly functioning noses, boobs, stomachs, and legs but to fix their low self-esteem and give them satisfaction with their lives. Most of the characters on the show believe plastic surgery will repair relationships. Also, believing perfect looking women are trouble-free and uncomplicated.
I use to nanny for a family who had two young girls about four and seven-years-old. The older girl engaged in discussion about dress-up, begging me to bring my make-up and old prom dresses over. I thought this is so normal for a seven-year-old girl, and it was so normal for the four-year-old to be less interested. I noticed her mom’s hesitation to enforce ideals related to appearance. One day I was sitting in the kitchen with the seven year old and her dad. We were having a conversation about school, when she blurred out, “and she doesn’t even have a boyfriend.” Referring to me I was awkwardly embarrassed, but I did not know exactly why. While she was expressing her opinion that a man defines a woman, she almost had me convinced, until I thought twice and replied, “Who said I need to have a boyfriend?” This is common for young girls to grow up interested in make-up, clothes, and boyfriends. It made sense that the four-year-old was less interested in appearance because she had not been exposed to enough of the media. Young girls are raised in a society where television commercials expressing these ideas control the segments between daytime television shows. And why would parents think twice about it? They grew up with the same television commercials and they have become immune to the seriousness of the misconstrued messages.
What is a real woman anymore? Dove did a campaign called, The Truth About Beauty. They represented heavier set women, with skin blemishes, and untamed hair. The women dressed down to a bra and underwear showing their imperfections had nothing to hide. They may not be the typical women portrayed in the media, but they are shown as happy, confident, and comfortable women in their own skin. Dove made a huge statement, finally breaking the glass ceiling, saying most women do not look the way they are portrayed in the media. So, maybe this is the truth about beauty and the real woman.
Women… Learn who you are without someone else defining you. Find satisfaction in yourself. Love your body before someone else does. Believe him when he says you are beautiful in every sense of the word. Truly love yourself and the people around you for who they are and appearances will take a back seat.
Krystle Aldana
posted by Editorial Staff | 9:33 AM
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