In this digital age, everything seems to be controlled by social media. We are able to send, share, and post infinite amounts of pictures, statuses, and just about anything. As a 20-something living in this age, I, as well as 99% of my peers, rely on social media for much of our social activities. It's a blessing and a curse honestly. While social media has allowed for people to stay closely connected and upload snapshots of their lives, it also leaves room for much scrutiny about just how it has influenced society.
What I am going to focus on in this article is just how social media portrays women and how it has impacted how women are viewed/view themselves. It seems, at least from my perspective, that women are only deemed beautiful if they receive hundreds of like on their Instagram pictures or have become "verified." Seems like the only things this verifies is society's need to label and classify women by an imaginary scale of "attractiveness." Seeing these fitness models, curvy socialites, and even fellow peers who are "popular" per social media terms can really take a toll on a woman's self-esteem.
Honestly, it's a virtual nightmare.
Popular social media accounts, particularly Barstool and Total Frat Move, are what I feel are the epitome of the problem with the portrayal of young women via social media. I happen to follow both these pages and find their content infuriating. Barstool, a college social media account that has a personalized collegiate account per almost every college in the U.S., makes women look like brainless sex robots. They upload pictures of what appears to be the same exact type of girl, calling it "Babe of the Day." The girls are usually wearing little clothing, and all it has for a caption is to click a link to see more pictures.
This is where it gets uncomfortable. The link leads to a page on the Barstool account that's just an endless spread of pictures of said-girl in skimpy outfits, mostly showing off her breasts and butt. NOWHERE is there anything mentioned about her academics, future career goals, interests, etc. It's just pictured, a more "PG" porn spread if you ask me. Why can't Barstool focus on these girls' minds? Why just her body? And why the same body? It's always a tan, blonde girl with big boobs and a big butt in a bikini. Never a girl above a size 6 and rarely a girl of color.
Come on, Barstool, get with the times.
The more you sexualize and exploit women for only their looks and leave out physical feminine diversity, the more young men will do the same. Now I'm all for showing off what you got and celebrating body confidence, but why can't you post a variety of pictures for "Babe of the Day"-maybe even renaming it "Woman of the Day"-showing the girl doing normal daily activities? Why can't you have a blurb about her studies, future goals, ambitions? We're not living Barbie dolls…It's like Barstool has adopted the motto "women are better seen, not heard," making us all look like bots.
A woman is not for show.
She is a person with a brain and feelings. All Barstool has done is make it seem like all we are are our bodies. I don't even want to get into Total Frat Move, the stuff on there isn't appropriate enough to write about (barf).
Aside from these social media accounts, the next area of disgust is current music videos. I swear all I've seen/heard as far as mainstream music is songs about using women for various different sexual activities, her ass/boobs, and, well, that's it. For example, music videos for new songs like "Kream" by Iggy Azalea, "Taste" by Tyga, "Tip Toe" by Jason Derulo, and of course gems like "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj literally all portray women as only being valued for their large, twerking-behinds, skimpy clothes, and porn star qualities.
Literally, all these songs and others like them just drive home the wrong idea that women are only valuable if they have a large ass, boobs, and unlimited sex appeal.
Why must the music industry of today keep degrading us women more and more? I'm literally disgusted by the overuse of the same form of feminine portrayal in music. However, Ariana Grande's latest single, "God is a Woman," is a much-needed breath of feminist air. As far as the rest of the mainstream music industry, they need to steer away from making women feel like they are only "worthy" if they have a surplus of sex appeal and show off their bodies. This is definitely a toxic message, especially for young, impressionable girls. These girls will watch these music videos and feel like all they need in order to get male attention or to be successful are their bodies.
This is definitely not what our society needs. We need to remind women and girls that they deserve respect and are valued just as much for their minds as they are for their bodies. Of course, I do support women expressing themselves physically however they like, the only way that this is an issue is when it's made out to be the only thing of value about a woman.
There's a fine line between expressing a woman's physical beauty/assets and exploiting them. We, women, are so, so, much more than this, and it's time social media, and media in general, gets this through its digital head.
