Mirror mirror on the wall...

“Mirror mirror on the wall who is the fairest one of all?”

Nobody would have thought that when this famous quote was first said in the famous Snow-white story, that it would become so realistic in the modern times. I guess the whole idea of “Do not judge the book by its cover” has gone to the dogs. Everyone now lives by the rule- “If you got it, then you have to flaunt it.” “Perfection- It's classified in   medical journals as the extreme need to be more perfect than is humanly possible. My perfection resulted in a four-decades- long struggle for sanity, starting with my childhood and zooming in on my long nights of modelling.” says model Janis Dickinson. Perception of reality can easily get distorted through exposure of certain ideas. The media has only one way of thinking and one way only, and that is, the sexier the better and the thinner even more better.

Female children learn to worry about their appearance from an early age. Huge quantities of girls between the ages of three and ten have one or more Barbie dolls. On television children are bombarded with commercials showing tall and thin women promoting dieting products and leading a “dream” life. Being exposed to numerous
“perfect” female images leads girls trying to defeat their imperfections into their adult life. Parental messages about appearance also have large impacts on young girls. In the Second Edition of Feminist Issues, Susan A. McDaniel comments: “For the female child, to be assessed as ‘pretty’ or ‘beautiful’ is the highest accolade, one that usually makes her parents proud…To be pretty is to be approved of, liked and rewarded.” She also mentions that in “infancy, females are judged by standards of ‘cuteness’ and ‘prettiness’ and this shifts with age into standards of ‘beauty’ and ‘glamour.”

Today’s society is not at all how it used to be, especially in the media. When turning on the television, looking through a magazine or newspaper, or even listening to the radio is not how it used to be. Today’s society is all about the way someone looks. The media today affect’s the way teenage girls view themselves. The media today affect’s the way teenage girls view themselves. This can cause eating disorders, self esteem issues, or even depression. The obsession with thinness today can lead to anorexia in teenage girls. Anorexia is when people are so afraid of gaining weight that they starve themselves. They have to diet all the time and they still think they are fat after the lose weight. So why do teenage girls choose to become anorexic? One of the major causes of anorexia is the media. The media sets standard of beauty which is thin is in. Not only can the "tall and thin" body image have a dangerous effect on the health of American teens, but it is also an unrealistic aspiration. Many characteristics of female bodies are inherited from past generations, such as metabolism, bone structure, and diseases like diabetes. The American Diabetes Association describes some symptoms of the disease as "unusual weight loss or weight gain, excessive thirst, and extreme hunger." These are all factors that affect the weight and general body image of an individual. Metabolism is another hereditary characteristic that can cause female body types to differ dramatically. Defined as "The processing of a specific substance within the living body," metabolism controls the ability of the body to process food intake and release energy. Every person's metabolism is unique; while one person may process food quickly without storing much of it in fat cells, another person may have a slower process, causing them to gain weight more easily. Furthermore, the unique bone structures of females may differ greatly, causing a person with even the lowest body fat percentage to have a large frame. These distinctive traits of the human body prove that the possibility for the average female to have a model body type is not always under her control.

Along with emotional conflicts, those influenced by the media have encountered physical problems, including bulimia, anorexia, and the employment of harmful dietary plans. Unless reality is discerned from what is presented in certain media, some people will continue to suffer. Consumers could find the truth more easily if media offered products advertised by normal people without all the extra glamour. In addition to this, if the public could view advertising only as something to get one's attention and not a portrayal of how one should look, there would be fewer problems. Until either is accomplished, the negative effects will be felt by the vulnerable, and companies will continue to make their money.

“Whoever controls the media, the images, controls the culture.”

                                                                                       --Allen Ginsberg

          ---Mediajunkie