Question

How are contemporary female bodies typically represented in advertisements, television, movies, and print media? How do these representations influence the way girls feel about their bodies and the way they dress?

Answer 1

Contemporary media often presents a narrow and unrealistic standard of female beauty, reinforcing stereotypes and influencing girls' body image. Redesigning media to promote diversity and focusing on qualities beyond appearance can combat these negative effects.

Step-by-step explanation:

Contemporary representation of female bodies in advertisements, television, movies, and print media usually conforms to a narrowly defined beauty standard that presents women as being thin, white or light-skinned, beautiful, and young. This homogeneous portrayal is significant because it reinforces stereotypes and sets unrealistic beauty expectations. Such representations affect how women and girls perceive their bodies, influencing their body image and how they choose to dress.

Feminist theorists argue that these depictions contribute to the gender socialization of young girls, emphasizing the importance of appearance over other qualities. Constant exposure to idealized images through mass media leads some adolescents to disordered eating and dissatisfaction with their own bodies. The influence extends further into adulthood, as media portrayals often showcase a gender imbalance in significant roles and characters.

Redesigning an advertisement to convey healthy messages about body image involves changing images to include a more diverse range of body types and altering content to focus on qualities beyond physical appearance. Moreover, an awareness of how societal norms regarding gender and sexuality influence daily routines can lead to more intentional practices that don't perpetuate harmful stereotypes.

Answer 2

Answer and Explanation:

Contemporary female bodies are typically represented in an almost unachievable manner for most girls. In television, movies, and print media, especially when it comes to advertisement, women are more often than not very skinny. Their skin usually presents an unrealistic tone, a sort of glow that does not exist naturally. They look happy and try to sell that very idea - that being happy is a consequence of looking like that. They are flawless, perfect, never looking tired or messy even during a workout at the gym, for instance.

Even though we know such representation is not consistent with real life, we are so frequently bombarded with those images that it becomes almost impossible to not embrace them as true. For that reason, girls get to grow up comparing themselves to those photo-shopped, filtered pictures only to find themselves utterly inadequate. It is not uncommon for young girls to develop eating disorders in an attempt to achieve that "perfection" on display. Their self-esteem is affected and lowered by impossible beauty standards, which leads many girls to develop unhealthy relationships with themselves and others.