For quite some time now, the media has been spreading a distorted image of what it means to be a woman. It has been defining in greater and greater detail what women should act, think, feel, and look like. They then portray a completely polar image of what is supposedly "ideal" and that is what screws with everyone's mind. A notion of mainly western beauty and lifestyle standards have been forged by the media and taught to increasingly younger and younger generations. The media then strays from those images and shows reality TV shows, movies, music videos, commercials that portray women as worthless sex objects that are constantly catty and over-emotional. The media portrays two contrasting extremes that only work to emphasize an unattainable goal and reinforce the outright impotence of women as a whole gender.
This representation of women has been the basis for the fundamentally outrageous generation that is being molded. The media has contributed to the hypersexualization of women that eludes from anything intellectual or non-superficial. Women are now seen as sex objects used solely for the pleasure of men. Our gender has become a joke. The media has aided both men and women to strip women of their integrity and has triggered a different mindset. Women begin to self-objectify by seeing themselves as a tool that can be sculpted to an outsider's pleasure, while men see women as unstable, anxious lesser-beings. Both men and women begin to have a mindset that begs solely for sex appeal, one being dominant and the other being the submissive.
Women are set to higher, seemingly unrealistic standards that are the measurements of their worth. There is a limited portrayal of what it means to be a woman and be valuable. These portrayals pressure women and girls to pursue and achieve a certain kind of beauty that condones worth based on appearance rather than merit or education. When there ARE women in power, the aren't taken seriously. Their intellect is set aside and their appearance becomes the course of the discussion. A white male in government once said that "People simply don't want to see the face of a woman on a dollar bill." Women, especially women of color, in positions of power are torn apart for their looks. An overweight, white, eighty-year-old male is perfectly fine on a dollar bill, but god forbid a woman on one.
When women and girls aren't able to reach photoshopped standards, they are not beautiful enough. They are not powerful enough. They are fat, they are ugly, they are worthless. If they try too hard to fit into the standards, they are sluts. If they don't try hard enough, they hate men. These criticisms are guided by the mass media, by everyone that isn't female, by the white male that states women are decorative and useless. https://twitter.com/linedhearts/status/600777024957886464
This scrutinization of women since birth is so prominent that young girls feel they need to start acting and looking like the girls they see on TV. Twenty-four-year-olds playing the role of fourteen-year-olds. They being to put on makeup and high heels at young and younger ages. When they get criticized, they say they don't do it to impress. That they don't do it for others.
It is one hundred percent okay for girls to wear makeup as they please, but what they don't realize is that the standards for what makes them feel beautiful and confident are already set by someone else. They may not be trying to impress someone, but the reason they feel confident and beautiful in makeup is because that is what they've seen and been told all their life. With makeup, they resemble models and celebrities more, they are closer to reaching that goal of what it means to be a perfect woman. Contour can help your face look slimmer and your boobs look bigger and that makes you feel beautiful because that is what you know to be a woman. The media has been selling these standards of "skinny with curves" to an extreme point. They will be quick to tell you that these standards aren't bad for your health and simply condone a healthy lifestyle, but forget that pushing these unrealistic body images is also bad for your health.
Women simply replicate the reality of a world they now know too well.
After reading all of this, the movie's slogan becomes all the more comprehensive. "You can't be what you can't see" is a perfect statement to tie together the film's argument. Like you said, women are simply replicating the culture they're used to. The way we act is not natural by any means. Like the teenagers dancing in "Merchants of Cool," we are trained to act a certain way. If we don't act in accordance with what's expected of us, we are simply ignored. Our worth relies on our ability to fit in with our culture. It's our job to perpetuate the feedback loop. It's no wonder, then, why women think it's normal to weigh ninety pounds. We think it's normal to wear makeup when we go to the gas station. We believe our only power is our sexuality. If we're not sexy, we're nothing. A classmate of ours said he "turns a cheek" to women who he doesn't find attractive. Again, the feedback loop perpetuates itself. He believes women should only be given attention if they're attractive. Otherwise, look away, look away. The expectations for women today are not just unfair, they're impossible.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the core of all of these problems lies in gender roles not only of women, but also of men. As Lorde says, men are expected to be the funny and careless ones. In our society we look down upon men who care for others and show compassion. They are giving the terms, "gay" and "soft" just for showing signs of emotions. Not only do they face the scrutiny of other men for these things, but also the scrutiny of many women. There is the saying that "nice guys finish last" in regards to women. As inaccurate as this may be I feel it sticks in the hearts of many men and compels them to behave as they do. Now, I am in no way justifying the mistreatment of women that occurs because it is to the extreme, but merely stating that pressure put on men to behave a certain way is a factor certainly in what occurs. While the mistreatment of women far outweighs the mistreatment of men, that does not mean that the mistreatment of men does not exist. We just do not hear about it for the reason that men are expected to be perceived as tough. From birth both men and women are conditioned by our society to grow up believing in certain things. Men face the reality assumption that they must look down on women. This completely wrong and a horrible thing as both women and men are equal, but it's the truth. If a man shows compassion for a woman especially in the teenager years he is judged by his peers. There is a term for it called, "caught feelings" implying that if men have feelings then they are not truly men. Men need to realize that their is more to women than just their beauty. That they must be treated with respect because they are fellow, equal human beings. If a man does not treat a woman with respect he should be judged not the other way around. We need to escape from the gender roles that society has given us and carve the path towards a better future. Men must no longer have to be the clowns and women must not be the crying beauties, they must all be whatever they want.
ReplyDeleteI have been trying to put into words what my thoughts were on this, and I think you did a really good job of it. The idea of women wearing makeup to "feel good" about themselves is something that that i have been thinking about. Women don't realize that in order to feel good about themselves they have to meet these other people's expectations. These are engrained in all our minds and are just part of how we think. Personally, I don't wear makeup at all, but i know many people who refuse to leave the house wearing makeup. They avoid going swimming in fear of their makeup coming off. I think it is just really sad that these girls have to hide behind dozens of products in order to leave the house. It seems simply absurdd, but the media is absurd.
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