Images of tall, skinny and beautiful women haunt us everyday as we encounter them in magazines, movies and television. These types of media serve not only as forms of entertainment, but as reminders of how women’s bodies should look- informing women on what they should aspire to look like. There is nothing good that can come from the media’s unrealistic portrayal of women’s bodies, and the effects are both physical and mental.
According to Jean Killbourne, the director of “Killing Us Softly,” four out of five women are dissatisfied with their appearance. Almost half of American women are on a diet any given day
One of the key points that Kilbourne makes in her film is that advertisements sell women the myth that they can and should achieve physical perfection in order to have value within our culture. This assertion is problematic because it is almost impossible for most women to achieve the bodies of even the skinniest actresses and supermodels. It’s not that most women are lazy, it’s due to the fact that most women’s bodies aren’t built to be extremely thin. The world is filled with women of different shapes and sizes, and the fact that advertisers and the media are trying to prescribe a certain waif body type as the norm is incredulous.
Also, aside from discouraging women to embrace their curves or lack thereof, not conforming to a prescribed body type can be mentally and emotionally damaging to women. In her documentary, Kilbourne goes on to say that women who don’t measure up to advertiser’s ideals of beauty are treated with a tremendous amount of contempt. I believe that this contempt doesn’t only come from those around us, but can arise from within ourselves. Too often I see and hear women criticizing their own bodies, complaining about how wide their hips are or that their arms are too flabby, when, in reality, they look completely fine. What are women measuring up to, and why do they feel the need to show contempt toward their own bodies?
Even women who we may perceive as perfect are not apt enough to measure up to the media’s standard of beauty. This point can be clearly illustrated with how advertisers and magazines alter photographs of models and actresses. For example, Christina Hendricks, an actress best known for her role as the curvaceous redhead Joan Harris on AMC’s Mad Men, recently completed an advertising campaign for London Fog. When Hendricks’ advertisements were revealed online, many of her fans noticed that her buxom body was absent and was replaced by a digitally altered and considerably thinner silhouette. This proves that even the most attractive women aren’t safe from being physically adjusted in order to conform to the strict, unrealistic standards that the media is using to control women’s bodies.
Though it is difficult to resist the media and its influence, it is important that women take control over their own bodies. Skinniness is not the sole measure of healthiness, and it is imperative that we get out of this harmful mindset. Instead of comparing ourselves to images, we should put in the effort to understand what is best for us individually.
Originally published in the Daily Titan on October 4, 2010.
