Reflection 5

After reading multiple articles on my subject of both the academic and popular nature a few different arguments have been brought up.  These articles are connected to my group in that they look into would be characteristics of the group.  Some such characteristics are the affect of media on a girl’s body image, and the affects of bulimia and anorexia.  One article addresses the topic of a double standard of aging where men can become older and still maintain handsome qualities if not become more handsome where as aging for women is unthinkable.  The media stresses how much women should hide their age using make ups and other beauty products.  This article also states that “women in our culture gain status and value largely from their physical appearance…whereas men gain status and value from…strength, character, intelligence, competence, and personality.”  Another article sought to determine what the predictors of body image dissatisfaction were in men and women.  The predictors tested in this study included gender, media influence, family influence, and self-esteem.  It was shown that women scored lower than men on body satisfaction measures, and the media lends itself to strong body image dissatisfaction among women.  Though this article tested some predictors, another article enhanced the list by testing body satisfaction of people who exercise regularly and people who do not.  The topics of these articles varied and were not meant to prove or disprove each other because they were studying different things.  They do however tend to come up with results that are similar in many of the studies.  One such result is the difference in body satisfaction among men and women.  “Women show lower body satisfaction on average than do men” (Predictors of Body Image Dissatisfaction in Adult Men and Women) and “femininity has been shown to negatively relate to body-attitude variable in some studies”(Age, Gender, and Body Attitudes); this shows that women tend to view themselves more negatively than men do. 

            After reading these articles, some more than once, I have thought of a few questions I might like to ask or find answers to.  How much influence does the media have on how a girl feels about their self?  Why do women feel they must look a certain way?  How can the effect of the media be prevented?  What are the consequences of falling into the “media trap”?  I would like to interview more women asking questions specifically related to body image to see if any answers correlated with the studies I’ve read about.  I will also look for more information on eating disorders.  In a few of the papers I read, it seems that the media influence on young women often leads to eating disorders in the attempt to make themselves look like the girls on TV.  I think it would be important for everyone to understand the warning signs of an eating disorder, what can be done to help, and what the long term consequences can be.  In “Age and Gender Relations” it questioned the difference between those that exercise on a regular basis and those that do not.  I would also like to follow up with some of my previous interviewee’s as well as some new one’s on how they feel about themselves when they go without exercise compared to when they do exercise.  I assume that people will feel better about themselves after exercise and especially if done on a constant basis, but I am going to ask and observe people’s demeanor to try to find an answer.  As I pointed out earlier it in “Age, Gender, and Body Attitudes”, it says that there is a relationship between femininity and low body satisfaction.  I don’t know how but I would like to know more about this, and if it is true, why it is, and what can be done about it?

Advertisers often emphasize sexuality and the importance of physical attractiveness in an attempt to sell products, ¹ but researchers are concerned that this places undue pressure on women and men to focus on their appearance. In recent survey by Teen People magazine, 27% of the girls felt that the media pressures them to have a perfect body, ² and a poll conducted in 1996 by the international ad agency Saatchi and Saatchi found that ads made women fear being unattractive or old. ³ Researchers suggest advertising media may adversely impact women's body image, which can lead to unhealthy behavior as women and girls strive for the ultra-thin body idealized by the media. Advertising images have also been recently accused of setting unrealistic ideals for males, and men and boys are beginning to risk their health to achieve the well-built media standard.

The Beautiful Message
The average woman sees 400 to 600 advertisements per day, ⁴ and by the time she is 17 years old, she has received over 250,000 commercial messages through the media. ⁵ Only 9% of commercials have a direct statement about beauty, ⁶ but many more implicitly emphasize the importance of beauty--particularly those that target women and girls. One study of Saturday morning toy commercials found that 50% of commercials aimed at girls spoke about physical attractiveness, while none of the commercials aimed at boys referred to appearance. ⁷ Other studies found 50% of advertisements in teen girl magazines and 56% of television commercials aimed at female viewers used beauty as a product appeal. ⁸ This constant exposure to female-oriented advertisements may influence girls to become self-conscious about their bodies and to obsess over their physical appearance as a measure of their worth. ⁹

A Thin Ideal
Advertisements emphasize thinness as a standard for female beauty, and the bodies idealized in the media are frequently atypical of normal, healthy women. In fact, today's fashion models weigh 23% less than the average female, ¹⁰ and a young woman between the ages of 18-34 has a 7% chance of being as slim as a catwalk model and a 1% chance of being as thin as a supermodel. ¹¹ However, 69% of girls in one study said that magazine models influence their idea of the perfect body shape, ¹² and the pervasive acceptance of this unrealistic body type creates an impractical standard for the majority of women.

Some researchers believe that advertisers purposely normalize unrealistically thin bodies, in order to create an unattainable desire that can drive product consumption. ¹³ "The media markets desire. And by reproducing ideals that are absurdly out of line with what real bodies really do look like…the media perpetuates a market for frustration and disappointment. Its customers will never disappear," writes Paul Hamburg, an assistant professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. ¹⁴ Considering that the diet industry alone generates $33 billion in revenue, ¹⁵ advertisers have been successful with their marketing strategy.

Advertising's Impact
Women frequently compare their bodies to those they see around them, and researchers have found that exposure to idealized body images lowers women's satisfaction with their own attractiveness. ¹⁶ One study found that people who were shown slides of thin models had lower self-evaluations than people who had seen average and oversized models, ¹⁷ and girls reported in a Body Image Survey that "very thin" models made them feel insecure about themselves. ¹⁸ In a sample of Stanford undergraduate and graduate students, 68% felt worse about their own appearance after looking through women's magazines. ¹⁹ Many health professionals are also concerned by the prevalence of distorted body image among women, which may be fostered by their constant self-comparison to extremely thin figures promoted in the media. Seventy-five percent (75%) of "normal" weight women think they are overweight ²⁰ and 90% of women overestimate their body size. ²¹

Dissatisfaction with their bodies causes many women and girls to strive for the thin ideal. The number one wish for girls ages 11 to 17 is to be thinner, ²² and girls as young as five have expressed fears of getting fat. ²³ Eighty percent (80%) of 10-year-old girls have dieted, ²⁴ and at any one time, 50% of American women are currently dieting. ²⁵ Some researchers suggest depicting thin models may lead girls into unhealthy weight-control habits, ²⁶ because the ideal they seek to emulate is unattainable for many and unhealthy for most. One study found that 47% of the girls were influenced by magazine pictures to want to lose weight, but only 29% were actually overweight. ²⁷ Research has also found that stringent dieting to achieve an ideal figure can play a key role in triggering eating disorders. ²⁸ Other researchers believe depicting thin models appears not to have long-term negative effects on most adolescent women, but they do agree it affects girls who already have body-image problems. ²⁹ Girls who were already dissatisfied with their bodies showed more dieting, anxiety, and bulimic symptoms after prolonged exposure to fashion and advertising images in a teen girl magazine. ³⁰ Studies also show that a third of American women in their teens and twenties begin smoking cigarettes in order to help control their appetite. ³¹

Boys and Body Image
Although distorted body image has widely been known to affect women and girls, there is growing awareness regarding the pressure men and boys are under to appear muscular. Many males are becoming insecure about their physical appearance as advertising and other media images raise the standard and idealize well-built men. Researchers are concerned about how this impacts men and boys, and have seen an alarming increase in obsessive weight training and the use of anabolic steroids and dietary supplements that promise bigger muscles or more stamina for lifting. ³² One study suggests that an alarming trend in toy action figures' increasing muscularity is setting unrealistic ideals for boys much in the same way Barbie dolls have been accused of giving an unrealistic ideal of thinness for girls. ³³ "Our society's worship of muscularity may cause increasing numbers of men to develop pathological shame about their bodies… Our observations of these little plastic toys have stimulated us to explore further links between cultural messages, body image disorders and use of steroids and other drugs," says researcher Dr. Harrison Pope. ³⁴

The majority of teenagers with eating disorders are girls (90%), ³⁵ but experts believe the number of boys affected is increasing and that many cases may not be reported, since males are reluctant to acknowledge any illness primarily associated with females. ³⁶ Studies have also found that boys, like girls, may turn to smoking to help them lose weight. Boys ages 9 to 14 who thought they were overweight were 65% more likely to think about or try smoking than their peers, and boys who worked out every day in order to lose weight were twice as likely to experiment with tobacco. ³⁷
Suggested Citation:

Body Image and Advertising . 2000. Issue Briefs. Studio City, Calif.: Mediascope Press.

References:

1. Fox, R.F. (1996). Harvesting Minds: How TV Commercials Control Kids . Praeger Publishing: Westport, Connecticut.
2. "How to love the way you look." Teen People , October, 1999.
3. Peacock, M. (1998). "Sex, Housework & Ads." Women's Wire web site. (Online: http://womenswire.com/forums/image/D1022/ . Last retrieved April 14, 2000]
4. Dittrich, L. "About-Face facts on the MEDIA." About-Face web site. [Online: http://about-face.org/resources/facts/media.html . Last retrieved April 14, 2000]
5. Media Influence on Teens. Facts compiled by Allison LaVoie. The Green Ladies Web Site. [online: http://kidsnrg.simplenet.com/grit.dev/london/g2_jan12/green_ladies/media/ . Last accessed April 13, 2000]
6. Dittrich, L. "About-Face facts on the MEDIA," op. cit.
7. Media's Effects on Girls: Body Image and Gender Identity, Fact Sheet.
8. Ibid.
9. Dittrick, L. "About-Face facts on BODY IMAGE." About-Face web site. [Online: http://about-face.org/resources/facts/bi.html . Last retrieved April 14, 2000]
10. "Facts on Body and Image," compiled by Jean Holzgang. Just Think Foundation web site. [Online: http://www.justthink.org/bipfact.html . Last retrieved April 14, 2000]
11. Olds, T. (1999). "Barbie figure 'life-threatening'." The Body Culture Conference. VicHealth and Body Image & Health Inc.
12. "Magazine Models Impact Girls' Desire to Lose Weight, Press Release." (1999). American Academy of Pediatrics.
13. Hamburg, P. (1998). "The media and eating disorders: who is most vulnerable?" Public Forum: Culture, Media and Eating Disorders, Harvard Medical School.
14. Ibid.
15. Schneider, K. "Mission Impossible." People Magazine , June, 1996.
16. Dittrich, L. "About-Face facts on the MEDIA," op. cit.
17. Ibid.
18. Maynard, C. (1998). "Body Image." Current Health 2 .
19. Dittrich, L. "About-Face facts on the MEDIA," op. cit.
20. Kilbourne, J., "Slim Hopes," video, Media Education Foundation, 1995.
21. Media Influence on Teens, op. cit.
22. "Facts on Body and Image," op. cit.
23. Media Influence on Teens, op. cit.
24. Kilbourne, J., op. cit.
25. Schneider, K., op. cit.
26. Woznicki, K. (1999). "Pop Culture Hurts Body Image." OnHealth web site. [Online: http://www.onhealth.com/ch1/briefs/item,55572.asp . Last retrieved April 13, 2000]
27. "Magazine Models Impact Girls' Desire to Lose Weight, Press Release," op. cit.
28. "Facts on Body and Image," op. cit.
29. Goode, E. "Girls' Self Image Survives Effect of Glossy Ads." The New York Times , August 24, 1999.
30. Ibid.
31. Morris, L. "The Cigarette Diet." Allure , March 2000.
32. Shallek-Klein, J. "Striving for the Baywatch Boy Build." Silver Chips Newspaper, October 7, 1999.
33. "Body Image Disorder Linked to Toy Action Figures' Growing Muscularity," Press Release..(1999). McLean Hopital.
34. Ibid.
35. Schneider, K., op. cit.
36. Wax. R.G. (1998). "Boys and Body Image." San Diego Parent Magazine.
37. Marcus, A. (1999). "Body Image Tied to Smoking in Kids." Health Scout. Merck-Medco Managed Care.

Revised: April 25, 2000
Copyright 2000 Mediascope

“Age and Gender in Relation to Body Attitudes: Is There a Double Standard of Aging?” Sara Wilcox, Washington University

“In order to examine whether the double standard of aging exists in self-perceptions of body attitudes…” This article questions the relation between variables such as self-esteem, health, masculinity, appearance orientation and exercise participation and has any correlation to aging. Dealing mainly with the self-perception of older women and the idea that aging is a bad thing for women and can be a good thing for men this article points out that while women are influenced to do all they can about reducing the signs of aging these standards may have a negative effect on older women’s self-perception. It describes the process, hypotheses, results, and analyses of the research in detail. Some of the hypotheses made were “self-esteem would be positively related to ratings of appearance and that the relationship would be stronger among women than men”, also “health would be positively associated with ratings of attractiveness, and that this association would increase with age.” Along with various other hypotheses, this research tested, proved and disproved many predictions about correlations between variables.

Thesis: To examine whether the double standard of aging exists in self-perceptions of body attitudes. 

-         Describes the arguments behind the double standard of aging theory

Method: 

            Explains who was used in the survey/questionnaire

            Explains what was measured by the survey

            Describes the procedure used to conduct the survey

Results:

            Explains the correlation in the double standard of aging and self-perceptions

            Reviews hypotheses and their results, whether they were proved or disproved

            Along with any variance among results

Discussion:

            Discusses the findings of the study

-The results did not support the double standard of aging in self-perceptions.

“Predictors of Body Image Dissatisfaction in Adult Men and Women”

The object of this article is to relay feedback from a study “seeking to determine the prevalence of body image dissatisfaction in adult men and women.”  This article starts off by giving the reader the factors that were believed to have an influence on body dissatisfaction, they included(gender, self-esteem, media influence, and family pressure)  On the gender issue women showed a lower body satisfaction on average than men did.  It also claims that the longer or more you watch of media programs promoting thinness the more likely women were to feel negative about their body images.  After stating what the goals of the study were the article gives an account of how they went about the study, starting with the method.  This included 139 adults 94 of whom were females from ages 19-68. It tells the procedure used in the study including four different questionnaires; one for each of the factors explained.  The results showed that women were less satisfied with their bodies than men were and tells what combinations of factors contributed to this the most.  The results also showed that media had a strong relationship to body image dissatisfaction in women, and when pressured by a family member the person was more likely to have a poor body image regardless of gender. 

http://www.vamp.org/Gothic/Text/makeup.html

Makeup Tips for the Bleak

Done badly, Gothic makeup and dress can look painfully stupid. The following are some suggestions for how to do it well.

1. Whiteface should create the illusion that you really are that pale, and not that you have a bunch of makeup from Wallgreen's caked all over your face. Use a good base: not even the most gifted makeup artist can get the necessary coverage from inferior makeup. If you have dark skin, don't try to do whiteface unless you're going for a very stylized harlequin look or are willing to put makeup on all exposed skin areas. Try using a base just one or two shades lighter than your own color, and then put white powder over it. This will give you an ethereal, almost grayish cast.

After spending money on a decent base, take the trouble to apply it evenly. It's appalling how many Goths overlook something so basic and vital to their entire aesthetic. Equally bad and unfortunately as common is the tendency to overpowder and to end one's pallor at the jawbone. Such mistakes are just inexcusably stupid. Don't make them.

2. On the subject of eyeliner, liquid is better, but if your hands shake, by all means use the most expensive pencil you can afford. Cheap pencils go on faint and will smudge after an hour. Do something original with your eye makeup: cobwebs or bat wings drawn across the cheek look silly on anyone over the age of fifteen. On those under fifteen, however, such adornments are sure to attract the lecherous attention of jaded Goths in their late twenties and early thirties who will probably give you free speed if you prove sufficiently pliable.

3. Find a shade of lipstick not everyone else is wearing. Theatrical supply stores are the best for really deep shades of congealed-blood red. Apply it with a lip brush for a more precise and severe effect.

4. Strive for originality in your costume. For those doing vintage looks, realize that both the eighteenth century and the Victorian era have been done to death. The Twenties, Thirties, and Forties are largely untapped by Goths and have great potential. One could dress as an emaciated, opium-addicted flapper from the Aleister Crowley set or pose as the Black Dahlia, a would-be actress from the Forties whose gimmick was that she dyed her hair black and would wear only black clothing; her ghastly mutilation and murder remain unsolved to this day. Also remember that black is not the only color. Deep blues, grays, and greens, as well as blood-red, purple, and ivory, can be equally striking.

5. If you have scars on your wrists from suicide attempts, by all means display them proudly. The same goes for bruises, cuts, and track marks. Abscesses, however, should always be coyly veiled in filmy black fabric.

Your Gothic look should be as opulent, decadent, and original as possible. If you're not up to making the necessary effort to carry off this most high-maintenance of affectations, try wearing plaid shirts and listening to Nirvana instead.

http://www.vamp.org/Gothic/Text/umightbeagoth.html

You might be a goth if ...

• You pay 6 bucks for cigarettes that match your outfit
• You like to play dead in public
• You wake up still drunk at 3 in the afternoon with anonymous black
• lipstick on your face
• The shade of powder you wear is called "Sheet Of Paper"
• The Count was your favorite Sesame Street character as a child
• You wear long, velvet coats in the middle of summer
• You go to Denny's at 5 in the morning and think, "These are my people"
• You think dead flowers are prettier than live ones
• You refer to your age in mortal years
• You buy $15 fishnets and rip them on purpose
• Your combat boots cost more than it takes to feed a third world child
• for two years
• You've willingly undergone cosmetic dental surgery
• You own 16 or more Cleopatra c.d.'s
• You own even 1 Projekt c.d.
• You can't decide whether Morticia Addams or Lily Munster is prettier,
• then decide Wednesday blows them both away
• You were disappointed to find out that "American Gothic" is a portrait
• of two farmers
• You think of the hearse as a "family car"
• You own a glow-in-the-dark rosary that alternates between your neck and
• the rearview mirror in your car
• You fashion your eyeliner after a culture that's been dead over 2000
• years
• You have seen "Nightmare before Christmas" more than seven times
• Your purse is large, square and metal
• You argue on whether Poppy Z. Brite or Anne Rice has the more realistic
• view on vampires
• You and your friends take lengthy drives to visit non-local graveyards
• You spell Vampire either Vampyre or Vamphyre
• Your boyfriend complains that his ribs just don't stick out the way
• they used to
• Your girlfriend complains that you look better in her black, velvet
• skirt than she does
• You refer to others as "The Normals"
• You are happy when no one has ever heard of your favorite band
• Christians accost you with pamphlets on the street frequently
• You accost Christians with pamphlets on the street
• You and your boyfriend fight over who gets to wear the fangs
• This list made you depressed

http://www.gothicsubculture.com/

Advice for Parents

The majority of teenagers who become involved in Gothic move on to something else within a few years. Most find it appealing initially as a form of rebellion and as a way to gain social belonging. A teenager will basically try on the gothic identity to see if it fits. For most young people, Goth is a phase. Some do stay involved because they have found a group of people with similar interests and ideals. Those who are likely to become interested in Goth and remain involved in it will usually possess most of the following characteristics and traits beforehand: individualistic, reflective, artistic, introspective, emotionally focused and driven, sensitive, non-violent, moody. They are likely to have a distaste for authority, possess above average intelligence, and be social misfits.

There are elements of Gothic culture that can be destructive for those who choose that route. Teenagers are faced with the same basic decisions regarding drugs, drinking, smoking and sex in any youth social group. It is always an individual's choice to experiment with any potentially destructive forces gothic culture might expose him or her to. If a person is easily led and susceptible to the influence of peers, then it is possible for that person to be led into the destructive side of Goth. If a person is self-assured and has made solid decisions beforehand regarding sex, drugs, drinking, and so forth, they are less likely to become influenced by any negative aspects of the culture. Parents and adults in authority who set reasonable limits and keep communication lines open help any child, gothic or not, resist any negative or destructive influences.

I believe that two of the most important things to emphasize to all teenagers are: don't start smoking; and use condoms if you choose to have sex. These two issues should be addressed with children long before they become teenagers, long before they ever hear the word "gothic." Many parents want to turn a blind eye to the fact that these choices exist. Parents might assume that because of their own value system, their children would never consider smoking or having sex. Some adults expect that by simply telling youth that sex or smoking is "wrong" that it will discourage them from experimenting. Adults need to deal with these issues by providing facts and helping youth to understand the reality of consequences, not by using moral scare tactics or avoidance. Condoms and birth control need to be made easily accessible to all teenagers. Youth who end up growing out of a rebellious phase can be negatively impacted for the rest of their lives by the consequences that can result from starting smoking or having unprotected sex. Being gothic doesn't mean that a person will start smoking and having unprotected sex. It depends on the person. One's personality, parents and background are much more indicative of who is likely to smoke or have unprotected sex. However, these are areas that I believe merit a measure of watchfulness and attention when dealing with gothic youth, as well as youth in general.

And I Know

and I know why they hurt me
those boys
know from way back
when I was too young and too old to think better
from when I used to hold my baby sister in my arms
when she almost took up my whole body
say I loved her loved her loved her so much
and then squeeze her
just a little too tight
so I know the rush
of having something littlier than you in your arms
the way you can always feel those tiny bird bones
that move just under the skin
and know that if you were to press down
just a little harder
you would feel them break
like too thin toothpicks
or not even like twigs which are dry and brittle
but like the green backbones of leaves
that you would rip down and tear from the tree
and I remember
how if I wrapped around her just so
I could feel the squish of all those inside things
those things that wouldn't break like the little bird twigs
but ooze and rupture
pop and spread dark things everywhere
and I know like that how they would feel when they held me
and how they'd get all hot and high with the feeling
of what they knew they could do if they wanted to
and at any moment they could squeeze me just a little harder
and the life with everything else would etch right out of me
come without a sound like clear smoke through my mouth and eyes
and I know why they used to do those things to me when I was asleep
or they thought I was
how my breath and closed eyes
the heat slipping off me so gently
like liquid urging
would raise their pulse and temperature
and make they feel so big so strong
since then I couldn't even cry couldn't beg
and maybemaybemaybe
if it was real dark and they prayed real hard
maybe I'd never even wake up and catch them
never remember what they thought I was too busy dreaming to know

copyright 1995 by Ginger Pierce Davis

Research Project's

1: Academic research project(Interviews, Artifacts, Observations, Library work) (Longer project 6-8 pages) Organize information to answer a specific question.

2: Popular- relevant to groups outside of ECU. How does it affect people in their later lives, does it have benefits.

3:ECU- How is it relevant to ECU, what should students/faculty/staff know about what goes on.