Semester Final Project

Changing Beauty Expectations

     Media literacy is an area that is not well understood because innovations of technology are constantly evolving. Technology has offered new ways of media portraying its message with cool effects that allow for everything to be retouched. This has allowed for extra room for industries of beauty, diet, plastics surgery to gain money at the disadvantage of the consumers, by destroying the self-esteem and confidence of women in particular they become the motivated consumer always trying to achieve this ideal beauty produced by media expectations. This cause and effect relationship between media and production has led many women and girls with low self-esteem, mental, eating disorder problem. This also effects society as a whole ! IF we have less women who are confident they will be less willing to be leaders because they lack the confidence, what kind of future will we have with even LESS women leaders? The root of the body image problems can be traced down from starting at the teen years. More teenagers are more than ever on social media, according to The Washington Post, “Teens are spending more than one-third of their days using media such as online video or music — nearly nine hours on average” (Tsukayama 1 ). Movies, television shows, commercials, magazines, toys such as Barbie and websites portray an unrealistic picture of females and that beautiful people is the ideal goal in life. As media and advertising grows and industries like the beauty and fashion exponential growth the issue on negative body image will continue unless addressed. 

Barbie Vs. Actual figure of women doll 

      This is a big problem in our society and can lead to depression, social anxiety and eating disorders in young teen girls which can be life threatening. This has also allowed for a cultural crisis to occur! Media with the help of the major corporations have produced enough advertisements and media shows to show images of a false image women and men. Individuals are exposed to this information all the time now leaving them with much room to compare themselves to these fake images, this has led a big impact to body image satisfaction, self-esteem, mental health, eating disorders amongst a lot of individuals but in particularly women. Although it is not a new topic it has not gotten better over the years but has seen drastically worse cases because ideal beauty expectations and media influence have not changed.

What are we teaching young girls? Beauty is the utter most important thing to achieve in life..... but yet it is impossible

   One of my biggest inspiration to this issue and that influenced my project to raise awareness on this issue is Jean Kilbourne, where she explains how mass media is affecting girls in 4 different volumes. .Killbourne referenced in her videos how we are exposed to even greater amount of media than when she first started her work, which is why now it is even more of a crisis. She explains that although we see media everywhere only eight percent is processed consciously. Meanwhile after seeing that piece if media the individual  is subconsciously reviewed,revised and interpreted over and over subconsciously. With exponential growth and advancements in technology kids are exposed at an even earlier age to these innovations that offer new ways of interacting with media. This increase calls for concern especially when there is an increasing numbers of eating disorder amongst young women, social problem, confidence issues and even some extreme cases of death correlated to body image issues. Women are photo shopped, retouched, air brushed, under pounds of makeup in order to be a featured on magazines, television, big screen etc..In today’s time since beauty expectations are so high they are even un-achievable for models! Images we see of women are a false expectation of them and are usually photo shopped or mixed in with 3 other girls to create a perfect image. But what is “perfect” and "beautiful" ? IT is an artificial stamp media and social expectations that has pressured women to hate their bodies and teaching young girls the same.

If models need to be photo shopped why are these images still so significant to individuals to compare to

By simply supporting movements that create resistance to this ideal beauty expectations women and girls are a step closer in achieving this change. Dove company started a campaign to promote body positivity where they encouraged young girls to embrace themselves for who they are.Dove launched the "Campaign for Real Beauty" in 2004 in response to a major finding in a  global study of, The Real Truth About Beauty: A Global Report, which has revealed that only 2% of women around the world describe themselves as beautiful. ( Etcoff, Orbach,SCott, & D'Agostino, 2004) The fundamental message of the Dove battle was that ladies' exceptional contrasts ought to be praised, instead of disregarded, and that physical appearance physical appearance should be transformed from a source of anxiety to a source of confidence. This message was delivered through a variety of communication means, including TV commercials, magazine spreads, talk shows, and a worldwide conversation via the Internet. The advantages of media allow for messages to be seen from all parts of the world, like the Dove campaign achieved in portraying their message I hope to spread my awareness. 

    For my project I choose to create a space in the universe where a lot of individual will be able to see it and let it speak to them. I choose a social media platform that is popular amongst a lot of generations but especially the younger crowd, Instagram. I wanted my project to be able to speak out to a young girls who need for some guidance to loving herself. I want my viewers to be challenged on the ideal body form and bring awareness to its negative consequences in our society. I will convince my audience to promote body positivity and be aware of the surroundings media has condition us to live in. I want girls, women boys and men to be able to reach out, share stories or seek some advice after viewing my page. I found pleasure in creating several resistance art pieces toward media’s message and have featured them in my movement.It reminded me of a similar artists, Cecile Dormeau who uses both humor and reliability to mock these beauty anxiety women feel and help those people who have struggled with negative body image. Dormeau's way of art means to exaggerate these pressures caused by society and media. On a similar way I hope to exaggerate the false portrayal; of women using a college theme in resistance to body image issue. .

Nearly everyone has these! Yet many of us feel them so acutely, it's as if they've taken on a life of their own, faces and all

 If by tearing up a million fashion and beauty magazine to create these colleges we can change beauty expectations, then so be it! My page will feature my work of collages but would more than happy feature other people's work on the page. Lastly, I want to create a movement to spark change if not in the media world but the perspective of young women. As part of my project and a way to show support I have asked on my social media site to feature a picture of your body with a positive message on bearskin to show beauty in all of us. By tagging my page or adding hashtags we are creating more traffic space for others to come across the page and have a voice to speak up.

@Unfiltered_Beauty

Follow Follow Follow !

Beauty is much more than surface of our skin. Meaning beauty goes beyond what we wear or how we look. In today’s society body image has taken over personalities and increased the number of narcissist. Body shaming has led multiple women to feel unworthy of themselves and their bodies. My goal is to create self-awareness, these girls and boys need to focus on the present, be active and become self-aware. My self-awareness project is a great advantage because it helps individuals create a clear perception of their personality, including strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and emotions. Improving individuals emotional stability helps one feel stronger and motivates them from their day to day activities.

https://instagram.com/p/Bq-83PMn3eG/

Thank you !!










Work cited


Editors, S. (2018, August 23). It's OK to Have Conflicting Feelings About Body Positivity. Retrieved from https://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/how-body-positivity-movement-is-evolving-whats-nex

Etcoff, N., Orbach, S., Scott, J., & D’Agostino, H. (2004). The real truth about beauty: A global rTsukayama, H. (2015, November 03). 


tHow I'm Using My Love of Art to Promote Body Positivity. (2018, February 20). Retrieved from https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/blog/how-im-using-my-love-art-promote-body-positivit

Killbourne, J. (Director). (1987). Still killing us softly [Video file]. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Documentary Films.s.

Miller, K., & Mantini, N. (n.d.). Does Body Positivity Still Matter? Retrieved from https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2017/05/155665/body-image-positivity-political-activism

Morin, A., & Lcsw. (n.d.). How to Prevent the Media From Damaging Your Teen's Body Image. Retrieved from https://www.verywellfamily.com/media-and-teens-body-image-2611245image-2611245

Tsukayama, H. (2015, November 03). Teens spend nearly nine hours every day consuming media. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/11/03/teens-spend-nearly-nine-hours-every-day-consuming-media/?utm_term=.1efe6abccd62

Cited Videos:
Miss Representation- Jennifer Siebel Newsom
Embrace- Taryn Brumfitt
Killing Us Softly- Jean Kill Bourne