The images these models projects is unrealistic by camera effects, and
special techniques such as blurring the skin, hiding pores and the use
of an airbrush. This impossible
image is
known as the beauty standard in society. The impact must be immense
if more than half of eighth graders have been on a diet.
There is a difference as to how women are portrayed in magazines. More male magazines, women are in ads for cigarettes, alcohol, and cologne.
Female oriented magazines, they tend
to be promoting beauty products or cleaning products. In television
advertising, women are portrayed, very simply, as sex objects. They
are portrayed as objects, often sexual and, depending on the context of
the commercial, subservient to men. They are always the ones cooking,
cleaning, doing household chores, or taking care of the children.
Television presents these women very shallowly and their goals and aspirations
rarely reach beyond having a 'spic n span' clean house or the hair of their
dreams.
When young girls see these advertisements they want to emulate the models. They want to be Cindy Crawford
or
Niki Taylor.
So, 10 year old girls go on diets and begin exercising and then smoking
to suppress the appetite. For the first time in history the smoking
rate of girls now surpasses that of boys. 40-50% of girls smoke because
they see it as the primary mean to lose weight. The most popular
weight loss method is dieting with 95% of women dieting at some point in
their life. Dieting at a young age can cause dysphoria, depression,
anxiety and irritability and often leads into anorexia
and bulimia. Sometimes a womans desire to look good in the long
run ends up as an obsession.