From a very young age, women are the target of advertisements relating to their body image. Whether we are aware or not, self-image and the perception of one's self worth is beginning to be molded at a very young age. To give an example--I am a fan of Disney, but when have we EVER seen a Disney princess that is of average weight, or height, or even age for their actions? I wholly understand that Disney depicts highly imaginative stories, but the implications and expectations about self image that girls are learning from watching the seemingly flawless characters, outweighs the benefit of the story. It wasn't until I was a self-conscious, body-hating, angry teenager that I realized part of the way I felt about myself in the world, was subconsciously done to me without my permission.
When I was younger I had several Barbie dolls that I was in love with. I even had the Barbie Volkswagen Bug that I would make Barbie go to the mall in with Ken. Nearly every young girl my age was playing with Barbies so this wasn't a revelation--but when you have prepubescent girls idolizing a doll with a "perfect" body image that is anatomically impossible to achieve, how do you think this will translate into their image of themselves? It sends the message that no girl will ever be perfect, or at least you can't attain this ideal in a natural, healthy, or even safe manner. I had this realization when I was in middle school and all the other girls were bragging about their breasts that the boys used to drool over while I was barely filling an A cup, and I towered over half the boys because they hadn't hit their growth spurt yet. It struck me like a bag of bricks when I finally knew--I would never be barbie. I wasn't going to have long, flowing blonde hair, my breasts would never meet the full, perky expectations, I would have acne that scarred my face, and my legs would never be airbrushed tan. My waist would only be slightly smaller than my hips, my shoulders a little too broad, my smile a little crooked, and lacking the genetically influenced "thigh gap." Back then, I didn't know that was okay, or that it was even normal.
The messages about how women's bodies are "supposed" to look goes far beyond childhood influences. Women are constantly barraged by advertisements, influenced by models unattainable attributes, charged more for products because they are labeled for females (which is a whole separate issue in itself), and told how to look, act, and be. Due to the fact we are constantly told how to conform to societal norms it barely gives women the time to discover who they are, what they like, or how they like to groom themselves, etc. To give an example: think about lingerie advertisements- lingerie advertisements portray women as sex items, and the viewers strive to be like this woman in the advertisement on the premise "this will make me more attractive to my partner". Purchasing lingerie is not to promote the positive self image of the woman, it is for the pleasure of their sexual partner. This idea can also be applied to women's razors. Razors are gendered despite that fact "men's" and "women's" razors perform the exact same job, the only difference being the cost of the product. The reason companies are able to get away with this is because women have more strict expectations of their grooming habits - therefore companies are able to increase prices with the idea that women "need" these and will pay more for them. But clever marketing tactics are just part of the issue with the way women view themselves.
By not portraying women in media, in advertisements, in movies, in children cartoons, in books, in anything as they are in life naturally, we are sending the message that women should always be striving to reach the unattainable. The idea of perfectionism is enough to send girls to the hospital with eating disorders and to psychiatrists for poor self image. How we portray women in the media is harming women in our society. The call to women to be proud of who they are, inside and out, should be a call heard by all women. The call to end objectification of women in the media is not a tall order. We are not Barbies and we should not be expected to transform ourselves into an unrealistic image of who people think we should be.
For a brief and excellent video about this topic please click here.
