Society’s attitude toward what is beautiful and the perfect body shape forces many people to want to change their body by going to extremes, like using steroids or plastic surgery, to achieve what they believe is their ideal body. This happens in both men and women, they both use unorthodox methods to conform to the social standard. The media has usually always defined who is beautiful and who is not. Many people believe that they have to strive be like the movie star on television or the gorgeous women in magazines. Their self-esteem and confidence is directly related to the way they look. This has been an ongoing issue through many generations, the media and movies usually set the standard for what is considered beautiful and gorgeous. Women’s and men’s self-esteem has been dramatically declining because of the pressure that is put on them to be strong and pretty. The more reasons they have to use these different methods to get what they long for, the more extremes they go to achieve their goal.
Women use many methods including plastic surgery to have dramatic changes done to their body. They believe if they have this procedure they will have more self-confidence and feel better about their self. This quote shows the emphasized pressure that young people feel to look like movie stars; “…I Want a Famous Face underscores the self-loathing of young people pursing surgery; although most of them are conventionally attractive to begin with, we learn in painful detail how inadequate they feel in relation to their template celebrity, whose imagined share of universal love (the love that is celebrity’s cultural due) they cheerfully label “self-esteem.””(Blum 804).
The Essay on Body Image Women Toilet Obsession
Looking at the ad many obvious observations can be made. You see a female bent over a toilet. Then you notice the writing on the ad. Then you realize that it is an ad for the widely marketed perfume Obsession. Hey wait a minute. When did obsession start making ads where women were bent over on the toilet? Oh, I see. That's when it clicks. Its not really an ad on the perfume obsession but really a ...
But the risk of these procedures are very high, women do not focus on the risks instead they take them to try and fit into what has socially become the standard of beauty. These women feel that if they are not skinny or pretty that they are not worth anything.
This has been caused by the constant reminder in society and in movies and magazines for women and girls to be beautiful. Another way for people to gain their desired look is to harm their bodies by developing extreme sicknesses like anorexia or bulimia; these can cause long lasting effects and can alter a person’s health. Are women honestly putting their health at risk just to fit into this fixation on body image? The idea that women should be strong and independent is growing. Athletic companies have taken advantage of this idea. This quotes states that “Aspiring athletes are then encouraged by slick advertising campaigns to identify their own individual empowerment- in essence, their relationship to feminism- with that of the corporate entity that acts as a celebrity feminist.”(Dworkin 742).
These companies started marketing specifically to women, by using catch phrases that are supposed to empower women and celebrities that emphasize this empowerment. This played on the body image issue by trying to make women feel better about them if they buy certain clothes and shoes from these companies that media and magazines promote. If they buy these items, women believe that they are more like the people that promote them; strong and confident, which is what they want to be. Men diet, lift weights and work out to try and achieve the look of men in magazines. In “Getting Huge, Getting Ripped: A Qualitative Exploration of Recreational Steroid Use”, Petrocelli, Oberweiss, and Petrocelli stated that “When dieting, training and legal supplements all failed to produce the magazine-like results, respondents realized that they would need illegal supplements to achieve their goals.”(Petrocelli 758).
The Research paper on Hernando People Women Men
In Lisa J. McIntyre's case study titled "Hernando Washington" we learn about a young man named Hernando Washington who kidnaps, rapes, and murders a 29 year old woman named Sarah Gould. Using common sense the answer to the question "why did Hernando do this?" is "because he is a horrible person." Using the sociological imagination we ask questions such as, "What was the social milieu in which the ...
Men wanted to get muscular because they feel more powerful if they have more muscle, and since legal supplements were not enough, they turned to steroids. In the media, guys who are really muscular are considered more dominant and beautiful than the scrawny little white guys. Because of this men go to extremes to maintain muscle and to gain more. Many lie to their spouses or have financial troubles because they spend so much on steroids. Also, most men ignore the health risks involved with this drug just because they want to be bigger and better than other men. Some people keep using steroids which have many side effects, and while it makes them “huge,” the risks are not worth the harm it causes to their bodies. Since the media links masculinity to power, men really have no choice but to take the risks to reach the goal that they want for their body and their desired level of masculinity.
Since childhood many people have encouraged others to “Be Yourself,” so they may argue that people should not want to change the way they are, but instead embrace and love their individual self. They should not try and cover up their flaws, but realize that those are what makes them unique. But by the time those people are in their teens they have seen thousands of advertisements that focus on beautiful women and strong men. Our society places emphasis on the beautiful people but then again encourages people to be themselves. But for most people being themselves is not enough. There is so much pressure on men to be strong and women to be pretty, how can they love who they are when they cannot fit into the mold that society makes.
Although society embraces people that stand out and show who they are, they also stress people to conform to a certain standard of beauty or power. If they do not, they believe that they will be made fun of. Almost everyone struggles with this at some point in their lives. Some people do find some way to change, but most finally get over their imperfections and learn to live with them. Whether it is steroids or plastic surgery, people want to change themselves because of the pressure that media puts on them to be and look a certain way. While this topic may seem trivial, it is in fact crucial in terms of today’s concern over body image. Body obsession is forcing people to harm them and the people around them. This issue is important, in a world that is increasingly focused around the media, the pressure people feel about how they look plays a big part in society.
The Essay on Body Image Society Media Magazines
... the media today influence society. Standards of beauty, body The media predetermines all shape and size. The ideal body image ... contrary to popular belief 3 out of 4 people over 25 years of age are overweight, ... link between bodybuilders and steroid use. The relationship between the two is that steroids have been known ... a light has been shown on the man's perspective of how they are also being ...
Works Cited
Blum, Virginia L. “Love My Neighbors, Hate Myself: The Vicissitudes of Affect in Cosmetic Surgery.” From
Inquiry to Academic Writing. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. Print. Dworkin, Shari L., and Michael A. Messner. “Just Do … What? Sport, Bodies, Gender.” From
Inquiry to Academic Writing. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. Print. Petrocelli, Matthew, Trish Oberweiss, Joseph Petrocelli. “Getting Huge, Getting Ripped: A Qualitative
Exploration of Recreational Steroid Use.” From Inquiry to Academic Writing. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2008. Print.
