The Media. A women's best friend, or worst enemy?

The media is obviously hudge in the part of women an plastic surgery there is so much pressure today to be thin and have big boobs there women fall into the trap. women are always going to want the perfect body and will do what it takes to get that.

I am a strong believer in personal independence. I think that the media attempts to drastically affect women (and men). Whether it be through messages of physical imperfection or behavioral wrongdoings, the mass media seems to constantly send messages to the public that we need to change who we are. But I don't think this is a reason to stop enjoying what the media has to offer. I believe it is simply up to each individual to decide how much the mass media influences their lives.

I believe the mass media has created all women to be monsters. They only show images of beautiful skinny women which in turn makes us normal women want to look like them. Women do undergo crazy surgery and insane workout habits so that they try to look perfect like the media represents. No I do not believe women should stop watching television and avoiding magizines just because the media portays perfect models. I think women need to become comfortable with themselves and accept the body and personality they have. Not everyone needs to be like a model. If you enjoy tv and magizines by all means keep reading and watching it. We should prevent this by helping women be comfortable with themselves and by supporting "normal" models. The public should opt to buy magizines that represent the majority of the culture which is not stick thin, perfect women.

I think it is important for both men and women to use their intelligence when dealing with the media. Sure guys want their girl friends to have perfect bodies like models on television and obviously girls themselves would like to look like that, unfortunately that is not realistic for most of us. I think we should look at these women and then strive to a nice, healthy look. I definitely don't think women need to stop reading magazine and watching TV to avoid pressure. I think all that needs to be done is for people to start using some common sense and not expect everyone to look like Heidi Klum.

Media had always potrayed women in a certain light, in their place, and as they should be. Men are indeed behind these displays of women in the media and they tend to gravitate toward the women who fit the mold of a fantasy woman. Even back in the 50's the pictures on vacuum machine boxes and cooking ware would be of perfect figured, perfect hair, perfect smile, perfect demeanor women. It was important that these women looked a certain way to help sell the product, look appealing, and cater to the needs of men who belive their wives should look that way. I think that now the media has evolved into a monster that causes women to doubt their looks and have raised their standards to meet the marks of women who aren't meeting that mark themselves. Someone made a previous comment about Jessica Simpson and how a lot of men don't like her because she's not the sharpest pecil in the box. Although that may be true, men still may like the look of her, the idea of her physically. Some men would prefer that she say nothing at all and just be pretty. Women now see that this is w hat men like and they try to adust their standards to match that. What about the brains? Nobody has everything and the media is hurting women by throwing it out there that "yes" you can have everything. These beautiful models are flawless and you're not but you can look just like them... or your nose doesn't look good enough so how about you just get a nose job to look perfect. Nobody is perfect and the media refuses to that that go. That is the pull they have over women and men as well. Even though we all know what we see in the media is not real we still believe it to be. How interesting. Women are putting themselves in danger by performing these drastic surgery's and then they still aren't perfect. The Swan is the worst show ever because they take women and so called "build their self esteem" just to make them compete against each other and lose to feel just as low as they did before the whole thing. To feel like you're not good enough is not a good trait to have and the media constantly perpetuates this. The more power the media gains through time the stronger the counterforce has to become and this is why feminist today are taking bigger strides and making their presence more known. The more the media evolves the more the feminist movement will strengthen.

I think Susan Douglas is correct when she says that "the mass media are both our best allies and our most lethal enemies" in regards to women. Being so, it is easy to recognize both sides of this statement. Mass media offers wonderful exposure to women, products, and ideas that are not harmful towards women while it also has the upper hand in exposing the "ideal" way women should look, think, and act. Because a lot of the mass media is controlled by older men, I think that we are going to continue to see and hear what they want (unless they can make a bigger profit another way). Personally, I have taken a lot of the filthy magazines out of my life, yet I still watch television. It is easier not seeing so many harmful images but I know they are still there. I think that in order for women to face these images (even though they shouldn't have to) they should be comfortable with themselves first.

The mass media is evil. I believe I can say w.conviction that plastic surgery, low self esteem, increase in depression frequencies, and an increase in eating disorders is a direct result of the media today. A monster has definitely been created. A monster that is forever growing...getting greener and slimier along the way. I think to tell women to stop reading magazines and watching TV isn't a feasible option at this point. The media is out there and there is really no getting away from it. The only steps I can see that would even remotely promote change would be to work to change the media itself...and I think that is a long time in waiting. This is what sells right now...these images, that eventually lead to what is the downfall in our society, are what keeps the society up and running. Ironic huh?

I would say that over the years the media has definitely gone downhill in the vast production of their manipulative propaganda. In the form of magazines, newspaper, TV, and movie, companies have managed to lasso in millions of devoted media addicted followers. So how bad is it? Have we really all turned into media-headed monsters? I think that, indeed, yes we all have some form of media-mutation that has caused us to think differently or act differently because of it. So in order to fight this "lethal enenmy" we cannot shy away from it. Stopping reading and watching TV is losing the battle. Working to make the media better is the way this issue should be handled. Greater awareness of the issue by use of the magazines, TV, and internet we see so much of. Just like the About-face website listed in the readings, there can be media that is used to teach people more about what is happening because of the media's actions.

One baby step I've seen in magazines, sales fliers, and in the shopping malls are stores and clothing for plus size (larger than size 14) women.

Ok, it's not going to knock those CK models off the bill boards, but it's a baby step ..

In some small way, marketers are realizing that plus size women DO want to dress stylishly and are designing, selling, and marketing clothing targeted to them.

Sure, beauty is all about size, but there are now a few beauty pagents for plus size women. Why should they be separated, I agree, but I'm happy to see any improvement.

And we are seeing makeup geared toward women who have had chemotherapy, burns, or have scarring from other life experiences.

Money makes the world go around and the majority of the population wants the "quick" fix, but small pockets of consumers are being heard.

Isn't that progress, no matter how modest?

Yes, the media has always had a huge influence on how women look at their bodies, but also mentioned in the BUST article is a list of several “media broadcasted” persons such as Roseanne, Madonna, and Jane Pratt that have made women look at the other side of the spectrum. I feel that it is up to the person watching the media to make their own judgments about who is and who is not a positive role model. Of course, age is a factor in all of this as well. That is why it is important for parents to speak with their children about the influences that the media has over them.
I do not feel as though women should stop reading magazines or watching television because media can also influence us in many other ways, such as newspapers, billboards, the internet, even on menus in restaurants. We can never total avoid the media, without climbing into a deep, dark hole and spending the rest of our lives clueless to what is happening in the world. It is important for women to be exposed to these ads in order to make their own depiction of what they are seeing and how they would like to perceive it. Just as, we do not want our children to be subjected to drugs and alcohol, but we know that it is inevitable that some point in their lives, they will be forced to deal with it. That is why we educate them the best we know how and hope that they make the right decisions when it comes to using them. We are the same when it comes to media, we need to be educated, by parents, friends, relatives, or peers on what makes a women attractive, which is not always judged by what she wears or how her body looks but by her confidence and personality.
Just a note – I have spoken with MANY men that say they are not particularly fond of Jessica Simpson because she is so unintelligent and ditzy…. and we thought ALL men based their likes and dislikes on beauty alone!?

I think that the media isn't the only influence on women getting extreme surgery. I feel like the media is just a medium between the average and the above. When i say this i mean that what most women fail to realize is that the women in the media are ordinary women who have flaws as well. Of course the side we see is never flawed and this leads some women to believe they can obtain a look that even their "models" don't have. I think that getting surgery could be something a woman can do to boost her self esteem, something for her own benefit and no one else. There are a few cases where women get surgerys to look like thier idols and this is where i feel the media is to blame. Male owned entertainment agencies may have created this ideal look for women by air brushin their pictures to deal or only signing and representing pencil thin women. Women then feel like that's the only acceptable way to look. And then they get surgery causing the women around them to begin to feel selfconscious of how they look and it goes on and on. I don't see anything wrong with women reading these magazines or watching tv because honestly it's virtually impossible. These two forms of media are the biggest ones there are and they are monsters all on their own. I think it's important for women to build strong foundations within themselves as well as other women around them that way the influence these forms of media have on them wouldn't be so high. If you know you like one piece bathing suits because they feel more secure then wear them instead of getting so crazy liposuction to look like the model who wear the two piece which you hated anyway. I think that impowering each other and learning to love and accept your body is a good start. I for one am not against surgery if you are doing it for YOU. It's understandable to have things you want to change about your body and that's why people take steps towards doing so. However, when the media is the main motivation behind those changes you need to re-evaluate. The reality of it all is that there is no "ideal look" for a woman because women are all shapes and sizes trying to look like a certain kind is the workings of the media. Look at your mothers, sisters, aunts, girlfriends and ask yourself do these women look exactly like? I think the diversity of women is beautiful and if all women strived to obtain the figures, shapes, and faces of the airbrushed women in the media then the world would be pretty boring and surgeons would have the highest paying job.

Though I do believe that the media influences the way women view themselves, I do not believe that it forces them to look like it's models. I also believe that to stop reading magazines and watching TV would be more than a little bit extreme. What we can do is choose what we read or watch or listen to. As miniCooper said in another blog, starting young is key. I think parents need to be aware of what their children are watching and need to be open and talk with their children about self-esteem and, as cheesy as it sounds, make sure that they know that real beauty is on the inside.

Parents have an extremely strong influence on their children, and I've seen it used to a child's advantage or used to make a child feel even more inadequate when it comes to looks. Most often I have seen this happen with parents with overweight families who try to protect their children from going through the ridicule at school for being overweight by making them diet all the time. If the same parent were to talk about health risks of being overweight with their child or to try to talk about eating healthy and getting exercise rather than being thin and then accept the child for who he or she is when they are living a healthy lifestyle, I believe the child would be much better off.

My point is, though I believe the media sets the standards for the "ideal woman" at an unrealistic and unhealthy level, I believe that their are other critical factors influencing the way women veiw themselves from a young age. Parents are the ones to choose the first movies their children watch, and the first tv shows and many times even the first magazines and books. I believe that parents can and do make the biggest difference in shaping the way their children view themselves. The media is a second to that, and I believe that the media will only change when the people who pay attention to it change. If they have to market to an audience in a different way to maintain an audience or sell their products, then that is what they will do, but until then...