Beauty and the Beast
In some African cultures,
beauty in a woman is classified as being curvy; the female ideal body which
many people called “figure 8.” The figure 8 in some African culture perception is
that lady that is moderately robust, wide hips and breasts. I think this
phenomenon came about because of what the men want to see in their women. The
robust figure signifies wealth and healthiness; it means that an individual is
well off enough to care for herself. I am not implying that the cultures think
being wealthy bring out the idealized figure 8, but rather, the cultures
unconsciously link the two together; as they imagine that and with the hunger
situation that plague some African countries, it is apparent that bias opinions
would arise. All I am contending is that hunger leads to the skinny figure that
the Western cultures preferred which some African cultures disapproved of as
they link the figure to hunger and poverty. The robust figure however is then
considered as wealth and many cultures prefer wealth including the Westerns.
With the above paragraph
and how beauty is evaluated in the contemporary society, especially, the
western communities, it is clear that there are discrepancies in perception of
beauty in society. Many functions organize our thought as an individual or
society, some of the few are families, friends, cultures and the big function;
the media. Media can reach far and wide and the enormous appealing presentation
they present to individuals lure people in. I will be explaining the reasons
why I agree against the media like magazines’ perception of beauty, especially
women beauty which have affected many girls, ladies and women’s well-being. The
impacts of media create dissatisfaction which leads to eating disorders or severe
changing of features of the body through surgery.
My thesis statement is that; the contemporary
magazines describe beauty as something physically attainable, as in the physical
features of women’s bodies which impact the self-concept of this gender.
I will be using Jürgen Herbermas The Public Sphere
and Nicholas Garnham The Media and the Public Sphere to counter and
explain my argument.
Magazines are public spheres from which we acquire information;
they are a “realm of social life” which made it easier for opinions to be
formed across masses. For this proposal, I will focus on the ideal form of beauty
that magazines like Cosmopolitan and Vogue portrays that affect women of various
type and society in general. I will be explaining these using three examples.
Example 1: Although Graham explain his argument using
media and politics; society works like politic too as they use deceptions in
acquiring interest. I think unconsciously, we as a society recognize that
magazines’ opinions are flawed however, we still adhere to it. So like McLuhan
also noted, the medium is the message which is how well media organise their
stories like a “political agenda, how well media reflect the existing balance
of political forces, effect of actions in particular on voting pattern.” The
voting pattern on this essay is how well we society believe and accept
magazines’ ideologies. The general form of beauty portray to the society in
general is to be physically attractive and skinny. I often wonder where these
ideas came from and why does people cultivate in it. It is however clear from
Herbaman’s view that the media magazine is “accessible to all citizens, private
individuals have the opportunity to assemble to form a public body.” This
public body creates a homogenized of ideas as everyone consume and reading
about the same thing. Though everyone is entitled to their own opinion but
media operates systematically, and repeated presentations of data can influence
even the most rigid individual. So the public body form as people read and reread
magazines which have various options for ladies to get the ideal body. As a
result, women begin to diet, exercise, practice Botox and surgeries on behalf of
media’s opinions in order to attain the media’s body image. The magazines then became the free market of
ideas and solutions and people began to admire and treat skinny people as the
goal, the symbol of the magazine’s illustrated beauty. We society give the
magazines the authority that made their ideas universal. Many times, I was
commended on how beautiful I am because I am skinny. I often disagree that it
is better to have some weight. With this essay, I realised that I might have
also been brainwashed by African culture that have the perception of having
some weight. I personally disagree with those who commend me by weight because I
imagine beauty to be more than just the body; in my experience I have learn
that beauty is multidimensional. It is not a single factor which is what media
is illustrated.
Example 2; Black girls and Media,
The coloured girls are
among the minority of the society and just like everyone else, they organize
themselves like the general society; they cultivate the same information from
magazines. In August 2008, L'Oreal was accused of 'whitewashing' the Beyoncé Knowles
in an advert by digitally lightening her skin. Another example is her 2011 photo
album; “Beyoncé’s skin got a make-over for the art on her latest album, and
some say she's doing it to appeal to a wider audience.” So maybe the problem is
not just media but celebrities who represent media in many ways. Though, it is
great accomplishment for Beyoncé but the damaging message sent to little black
girl is not to be overlooked. One of my dark-skin girlfriends told me she
wishes to be lighter as it will increase her chance of success in the society.
It is the same as what the quote imply “appeal to wider audience,” and wider
audience is success as my friend implies. I am also guilty of this thought; I
as well as many dark-skin girls want to be lighter, paler so we could be seen
as beautiful and be accepted more in the vast society. This is the public image
that many black girls tried to adhere to; many including some of my cousins
bleached their skins to become whiter, conforming to the media and society. In
this way, the magazines succeeded in insuring the existence of private
individuals (bleached women) by assembling them in public body (conforming)
Habermas. These women then transmit the needs of media to the environment in
order to transform media agenda into rational authority within the medium of
the public sphere, Habermas.
I always wonder that
maybe because the majority of the population is light-skin; maybe that is the
reason why media tries to homogenise the society. All I mean is that if
majority of world’s population is black, would the situation be reversed or it
is just the availability of the media that change the image of beauty. I will
be explaining in more detail on my final essay.
Example 3: the Caucasians and Media
I believe the notion of
being skinny is the dominant ideal among white women and also, I have notice
that many white ladies undergo surgeries to make their lips fuller, hips wider
and buttocks higher. In a study by Sylvia et.al, they noted that “both boys and
girls suggested that the images portrayed by fashion magazines influence their
preference for thinner, more attractive individuals over obese individuals.” So
the problems begin early in childhood and as we grow, we begin to become the
product of what we are mediated to just like I am with my African ideal of
beauty. Our social relations “are constructed in mediums in any way we see
ourselves and it increase in the aspect of how we view identities that are
constructed through mediated communication,” (Garnham N.). This is like McLuhan’s
theories about media, as it is the extension on how we view ourselves
individually, socially, mentally and physically.
The well beings of many
women are disrupted in terms of their self-perception, appearance and
acceptance. Black girls were disrupted as magazines plaster famous black celebrities
on magazines covers as they digitally lighten the skin; this made many black
girls wanting to bleach to be lighter despite the warnings that the chemical
they used can damage their melanin. And for white girls it about being skinny similar
to Barbie dolls, having fuller lips, and fuller breasts against what they are
naturally blessed with. This is how disorders like anorexia and Bulimia
increase. Generally, it seems that the
women accept these public opinions because they want to; but how many of them
are really satisfied. I will be addressing the issue on the final essay and
also what society as well as many celebrities does to counter and contend to
this opinion of beauty by the public sphere, magazine.
The reason I titled this
essay beauty and the beast is because, I want to analyse what beauty is among
different people and that the beast is the media with its alluring opinions
that is degrading the self-concepts of many women.
References
Alanah
Eriksen: 17 January 2012
White out of order!
Beyoncé is looking several shades lighter in promo shoot for her new album
Sylvia
H.; et.al. Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention (2004).
Beauty and Thinness
Messages in Children's Media: A Content Analysis
Vol.
(12), Pg (21-34) DOI:10.1080/10640260490267742
By
Yasmin Alibhai-brown 18 February 2011
Why
I believe Beyoncé is betraying all black and Asian women
Michael
J. Feeney, Nancy Dillon, New York Daily
News, Tuesday, January 17, 2012,
Beyoncé
taking heat for new pale-skinned photo promoting latest album
Jürgen
H.; The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article In Stephen Eric Bronner and
Douglas M. K. (eds.), Critical Theory and Society: A Reader, pp.
136-42. Translated by Sarah Lennox and Frank Lennox. New York and London:
Routledge, 1989.
Nicholas
Garnham.; The Media and the Public Sphere. Pages (14, 360-373).
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