Mallory's Blog

Extra Credit #1: The Proposal

2009-12-14T01:59:00.000-08:00

The movie The Proposal features Sandra Bullock, Margaret, and Ryan Reynolds as Andrew. Margaret is a top editor at a top company in New York who all her co-workers loathe, but she is also only living in the U.S. on a visa, as she is a Canadian. When Margaret finds out that she is going to be deported from violating her visa her world starts to spin out of control as she is faced with leaving the country and losing her job. Her assistant, Andrew, walks in at the right moment and she tells her boss that they are getting married and are going away for the weekend to meet his family in Alaska. Andrew takes this opportunity to bribe her to promote him to editor if he agrees, in which she does. During their trip they have to learn everything about each other so that they can pass their test to see if they are really in love and getting married. The trip starts out rough and they do not get along. As the trip continues they both see that the other is not so bad and they start to fall for each other. She starts to see that Andrew is really a great guy who just wants a break and left everything to make it in New York, and Andrew sees that Margaret actually has feelings and is pretty fun and normal once you get her out of her element. Of course they fall in love and one of my favorite lines from the movie is "Margaret Tate will you marry me so that I can date you?"
This movie is great and hilarious and I would recommend this movie to everyone. This movie also has a twist to it, the role are switched between the man and woman. Usually it is the male character who is in charge and the women who is bossed around and only trying to get noticed, but in this movie it is the other way around. I think that it shows that men can be just as belittled by women as women are by men. I think that it also shows that women are not always the vulnerable, weaker sex. As Margaret shows in the movie, she is very demanding, high powered, and controlling, which are usually qualities of a man. I do have to say that this is only what happens in the first part of the movie, because the roles slowly start to change as she shows her true side. She starts to show her emotions more and that she is very vulnerable and that she needs to find that special guy to fill that void in her life. I think that Hollywood has to end it like that because that is just how women are suppose to be portrayed and men are the ones that come the rescue as in this case. Andrew saves her when she is thrown overboard into water where she cant swim and when she is going to be deported he comes and saves her from leaving.
This movie shows both sides which is rare in most movies. It really relates to the class and is a good representation of each side of the two stereotypes between women and men. It is hilarious and a great laugh for anyone.

Film Review #3 Dream World 3

2009-12-14T01:43:00.001-08:00

The2007 documentary, Dream World 3, shows that depiction of women throughout the music and music video world. The documentary mainly focuses on how music videos objectify women to nothing more than parts of their body. It shows how men treat women as their little play things and objects that they can do whatever they want to them.
The documentary shows how the different music video directors use different angles of shooting women so that men have the visual images they desire. The video will show just certain parts of a woman’s body or pan up and down it. This portrays the “male gaze” as we talked about throughout the semester. Because men are such visual learners, this can really hinder their view on women and how they perceive and learn to treat them. Another aspect that this documentary focuses on is fantasy life. This gives off a skewed perception to youth about what life is really like. You will see in the videos girls always around the singer like that is a normal thing. Also with fantasy men are able to see a variety of them played out. It seems like videos today are all about women half naked and in costumes like, cheerleaders or in bondage. The less dressed and erotic the girl looks the better chances she has at being in a video.
The videos also show that it is ok for women to be violated or abused. They often show liquor being poured on women, women being tied up, or yelling at women when they have done something wrong. This just shows the youth (which is who most of these videos are geared towards) that for guys it is ok for them to be violent towards women when they don’t get their way and for girls that you need to do whatever the guy wants because that is how you keep him.
Before watching this video I never really thought about the message it was sending out to the youth. Girls are going to grow up thinking that the only thing a man wants is her body and the best way to do that is to show it off as much as possible and let him do whatever because that is the only way to keep him. For the guys it shows him that women are just objects for men to play with and that they are not really human beings. It shows that women have no feelings and if they don’t do what you want them to then you can just violate them or be violent towards them or just get rid of them in general because they will have more women. This gives women a sense of a lessened value of self worth. I believe that this film was a good example to really wrap up a lot of the class and what we have been learning throughout the semester about the male gaze, how women are objectified, how sex sells, and the reason why so many women have a low self confidence about themselves.

Film Review #2 Lovely and Amazing

2009-12-14T01:04:00.000-08:00

The movie Lovely and Amazing was unlike any movie I have seen. It was very unusual in the way the writers wrote the movie and how the audience was supposed to understand the movie. Like I said it was very unusual so I will do the best I can in summarizing the plot.
The movie focuses on a family of women. There is the mother, Jane, the older daughter, Michelle, the younger daughter, Elizabeth and Jane’s adopted African American daughter. Jane is very self conscious about getting older and the effects it is having on her body. She is a very wealthy woman who knows what she wants to change about her body and does so. She decides to have liposuction and while prepping for surgery she encounters her surgeon who she has a crush on, and he reaffirms her contemplating thoughts on having the surgery.
Michelle is married and has a daughter of her own. She does not work but she is artistic and tries to make little chairs and sell them to stores, but most of the time is unable to. When meeting somebody she used to go to high school with, the audience figures out that Michelle used to be popular in high school and was considered so beautiful. At home he and her husband have a strained relationship because he feels like she should work and he doesn’t want to sleep with her. She thinks that it is because she is getting older and she is not attractive anymore. Whenever she is not trying to sell her projects she sends the day watching cartoons with her daughter and eating cereal. This seems like Michelle’s escape from the world. Eventually Michelle does decide to start looking for a job and winds up at a photo shop where a 17 year-old boy starts to hit on her. She gets the job and starts a little affair with the boy. Michelle is then arrested for statutory rape but is freed after a night in jail.
Elizabeth is an aspiring actress who has great potential but has the lowest self esteem about herself than any of the other girls. She doesn’t think that she is good enough and her body is not up to par for the movie image. She is always asking her boyfriend if he thinks that she is sexy and beautiful and he never completely responds to her in a “yes”. This just adds to her negative body image against herself. He eventually breaks up with her because she is basically too needy and is always asking and caring about what the movie business says. She also auditions for a part with a famous actor but does not get it because she is not considered sexy enough. The actor then calls her and basically wants to take her out. They have sex together and afterwards she stands in front of him and asks him to point out everything good and bad about her body. He is completely honest and it seem like she is a little hurt by it but tries to play it off.
Annie is an 8 year-old African American adopted by Jane. Like every little girl that age she is a little overweight and trying to get out of her baby fat. At the beginning of the movie she likes to eat a lot and when she gets in trouble she likes to justify that it was “the good kind” of snacks. As the movie goes on she starts to feel unconfident about her weight and comments on how she is fat. She doesn’t really notice her skin color compared to her sisters except that it is different. She does exclaim that her mother was a “crack head”, but that is all you here about her background. As the movie continues, you do see the influence that her family does have on her and she then wants to be skinny and straighten her hair so that she looks like her family.
This movie came to an abrupt finish and I felt like I was left hanging. It was almost like the story was not quiet developed and the audience was only shown a little amount of the characters. This movie was similar to Mona Lisa Smile in that it did touch on different women and different issues with each of them. This movie shows that women really care about what men think and that society plays a big role in how women perceive themselves. This is portrayed by the actress who gets denied because she is not sexy, the mother who gets liposuction to be skinnier, the older daughter who feels like she is unattractive and the youngest girl who feels like she needs to be skinny and white to be normal.

Film Review #1 Mona Lisa Smile

2009-12-09T10:26:00.000-08:00

Mona Lisa Smile was a movie that made for a class as Body Image vs. Reality. It touches on every perspective of different women and issues that they face in the time they are in. Although these issues are set in the early 19th century, they are still issues that present in today’s culture.
Mona Lisa Smile is about a young teacher, Ms. Watson from California, who comes to Wellesley a prestigious women’s college in the east. Ms. Watson is an art history teacher and very extrinsic and passionate about her work. She soon finds out that at Wellesley, the only reason women go to college is to by time to find a husband and get married and be the perfect wife. Wellesley teaches the women how to become the best wife, the best host and the best at being a lady. On the first day of class all of the young women have already read the whole book and learned all the art for the section. This shows Ms. Watson that these girls are as close to perfect as they come. As the class continues throughout the year Ms. Watson befriends and influences the class, but four girls especially.
The four girls that are central to the story are Betty, Joan, Giselle, and Connie. Betty is from a high class upbringing and is in the middle of planning her wedding, which she believes is the most important thing along with being the best wife. She is very set in her ways and dislikes Ms. Watson for her non-traditional ways. Betty gets married but soon realizes that marriage is not all it’s supposed to be and she finds herself trapped in what Betty Friedan would call the Feminine Mystique. She then realizes that her husband is cheating on her but her parents tell her that she just needs to be a good wife and keep her mouth shut and he will come back to her. Much to Ms. Watson’s surprise Betty leaves her husband and applies to Yale Law School. Joan is a very bright student who has all the potential in the world to be something great. She comes from the same upbringing and has the same ideals of what women are supposed to be. While taking the class Ms. Watson convinces her to apply at Yale Law School, where not very many women are accepted. Joan is accepted, but when her boyfriends asks her to elope with him she agrees and says that she understands what is in front of her but she wants to be married. Giselle is a young woman who tries to find out who she truly is throughout the movie. The only way she thinks this is possible is to date/sleep around with older men and sometimes married men. She feels this is the only thing that will complete her and make her feel better about herself and feel wanted and accepted by men. Giselle does finally realize that she is better than having to sleep around. Connie is a sweet girl but has self esteem issues because she is a little over weight compared to the other girls and she did not have the upbringing as the rest of them did. Out of all the girls Connie knows who she is and won’t change. She finds a man that is of high class and he loves her.
This movie related too many of the readings for this course. The one that I think it matched almost to a T was the Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. This reading was all about how women were suppose to act in the 40’s and 50’s. How they were supposed to be good wives and mothers and have dinner ready for the husband when he got home and how she was supposed to keep her mouth shut. I think that the direction and production of the film was great and it really showed what life was like in that time for women. The cast was great for the roles that they played. The movie portrayed the women as only good for one thing, being a wife. This is the struggle that women still have to face today, in that men still expect women to be the best wife possible and women are still expected to be also. Although this is theory is not that prominent anymore, it is still in the back of the mind of men and women.

Body Image Playlist

2009-11-29T17:49:00.000-08:00

#1: "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera. This song is inspirational because it says that she believes that she is beautiful no matter what anyone says and they can not bring her down

#2. "Unpretty" by TLC. This about a women who feels so unpretty and thinks that plastic surgery is the way to fix everything. It's understanding that if you do not feel pretty inside and not confident in yourself then you will feel unpretty.

#3. "Stupid Girls" by Pink. I really like this song because it brings out how ridiculous girls are sometimes. It talks about how girls are so concerned with looks and material things that they don't care about anything else. It inspiring beceause she says that these girls are "stupid" and being who you want is important.

#4. "Big Girl" by Mika. This song is about a man wanting a big girl and loving her and not needing a skinny girl. This is a positive message for women who may be a little larger and that not every man wants a skinny girl.

#5. "Im Not My Hair" by India Arie. This song is about how black women have to try to fit into society based on their hair. It also deal with black women being defined by their hair.

#6. "Doo Wop (That Thing)" by Lauren Hill and the Fugees. This song deal with women losing themselves in society and the trends of society and how women should have respect for their bodies. It also talks about men and how they fall into the down falls of society and they need to be true to themselves.

I feel like my taste in music hasn't changed all that much. I am all over the spectrum on music, I love rap to country and everything in between. I really enjoy all music.

Media Analysis Paper

2009-11-18T11:07:00.000-08:00

Negative Advertisement
In today’s society sex sells everything and is one of the most used tactics to promote products from hamburgers to perfume. Women are used as sex symbols to persuade men and women to buy the products. Men find these women attractive and are sold instantly and women see the men mesmerized by these sex symbols are become envious and want to buy these products just so that they feel they are in the same league as the sex symbols. Women are portrayed in so many different sexual lights in the advertising world. There is the fantasy women, the aggressive women, the underage girl, and the portrayal of women as objects and being controlled by men by the use of violence. The last of this portrayal of women is what I want to focus on for this essay. Women are being shown, in advertisements, of men controlling them in violent manners. This sheds a negative light to women in general and to the youth that look at these ads and see an acceptance towards this behavior.
The ad that I chose to exploit this appearance of men controlling women in a violent manner is a Dolce and Gabbana one. “Beauty pornography looks like this: The perfected women lies prone, pressing down her pelvis. Her back arches, her mouth is open, her eyes are shut, her nipples erect; there is a fine spray of moisture over her golden skin” (Wolfe 132). This is an exact depiction of what the woman looks like in this advertisement. The only difference is that there are four men standing around the woman and another one is holding her down by her wrists. The men are not smiling and have a look of dominance in their eyes. They know what they want and they are going to get it. The women looks like she is trying to fight back a little but has a look of submissiveness about her. What product is trying to be sold in this advertisement, I am assuming of course, is clothes. What is so ironic about this portrait is that there are not a lot of clothes being worn by the six individuals in the advertisement. I do not understand the purpose of this advertisement in selling a product; instead it is selling an idea. The idea is that women are just men’s play thing. This is clearly implying a gang rape of a woman with one man holding her down and the others watching on with lust in their eyes.
The woman in the ad, like stated above, looks as if she is slightly attempting to fight, but knows the role of being submissive. This shows vaguely that the woman is where she wants to be. Advertisements like these “trivialize and eroticize violent behavior”, says Jean Kilbourne of Killing Us Softly 3. This puts the idea into the head of young people that violence is ok and being men’s play thing is ok. Men want this kind of women, and not just any men, but the tall, dark, handsome, built men, which leads women to think to get men like this they have to lower themselves to violence and meaningless objects. “Men want objects and women who want to be objects” (Wolfe 144). This is the ideals that women have today in society, brought about by our media. There are not too many women that do not feel a need to be wanted or even lusted after. It is human nature, but what these ads are portraying is that it is at the cost of losing a sense of self worth and respect. Wolfe exclaims that, “young women who grew up with such violent imagery –are made to fear and distrust their own beauty and fell ambivalent about physically expressing, in dress, movement, or adornment, their own sexuality” (Wolfe 162). This is a prime example in the ways that violence and controlling affects the persona that women see in themselves. I think a main issue that individuals need to take into consideration is the audience that these ads are targeted towards. Although this ad was banned, there are still ads like it out there and are mostly in magazines for women sixteen years to twenty-five years old. This is also when women see the most physical abuse. By being exposed to these types of ads and seeing the acceptance of society, younger women are starting to fall into the trap of being submissive and controlled. This can be so damaging to one’s life and their feeling of self worth.
There is no need for advertisements like these in society today. The ads do not promote their product, but only an idea. An idea that a woman is only worth how much the man pays attention to her. This is so negative and hurtful to every aspect of a woman. It breeds a lack of self worth and settlement of control and possible violence.

Positive Advertisement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U
Positive advertisement is very rare in today’s society. Advertisements are all about selling products and what sells products better than sex appeal. Usually this kind of advertisement puts a negative light on to women and men’s perception of women. There is one company that is trying to reverse this negative light on women into a more positive one, and that is the Dove Company. Dove has launched a new campaign called “Evolution” and this will be the focus of this essay. This ad gives positive reinforcement for women to love the body that they have and that the reality is that there are not very many people who have the perfect body.
The Dove “Evolution” advertisement firsts starts off by seeing a woman come into the screen and sit down. She is an average looking women, nothing incredibly “special” about her. While sitting there make-up and hair artist comes in and in a fast paced video show that transformation to looking glamorous. She is next taken to a photo shoot to where she looks great and very beautiful. Then her pictures are taken to a computer screen where her neck is elongated, hair darkened, eyebrows raised, skin give flawless complexion and lips plumped up. The end of the credits says “No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted”. This ad is promoting a workshop for girls, put on by the Dove Company.
This advertisement sheds light on the reality of our view of beauty. As women we look at the glamorized women in magazines and on television and compare every little one of our body parts to theirs. In Naomi Wolfe’s novel The Beauty Myth, she states that, “’Ideal’ imagery has become obsessively important to women because it was meant to become so.” (Wolfe 59). This is so true and sad at the same time. Instead of rejoicing with the body that we have, we are complaining about every little aspect of our bodies. What Dove shows is that even a beautiful woman is not beautiful enough because she has to be touched up by the computer, so as a society we have this goal to be like people who are unrealistically beautiful and that do not exist. “By now readers have no idea what a real woman’s 60-year-old face looks like in print because it’s made to look 45” (Wolfe 83). This is the problem that society is faced with, impossible expectations by the media and their unrealistic view of beauty.
Dove has taken on the campaign to show that women are beautiful in their own body and that women should not try to live up to the beauty portrayed in the media, because it is unrealistic and impossible. Dove touches on the fact that because of this kind of media that is shown that is why women have such a distorted perception on what true beauty really is. This advertisement opens the eyes to women that any ordinary woman can look like a supermodel as long as there is make-up and hair stylist and computer to take away all the flaws. This advertisement should empower women to love the body that they are in and not compare to the fake posters of unrealistic women. This advertisement shows women that are super models up on billboards and in magazine and on television look just like the average women and there is nothing physically unbelievably beautiful about them. This ad should inspire women to live their lives proud to be a woman and look the way that they do and not compare to unrealistic beauty portrayed by the media.
The media and advertisements are so full of lies and unrealistic portrayal of beauty that it is hard for a woman to love the body that she has and not always compare it to the women in the media. Any woman can be beautiful as long as she has a staff that makes her that way. Dove is a great company who has taken on the task of inspiring women to be comfortable and happy about their own body. They have shown the hidden truth about the media so that women can see that these supermodels are just average women and look the same as everyone else. Dove has inspired and will continue to inspire the true beauty of women and their bodies.

Blog 9 Pop Culture

2009-11-16T09:31:00.000-08:00

Pop culture has influenced the way I view men and women. From pop culture women are supposed to be girly and always care about their appearance and have the desire to be sexy at times. When I look at women that do not portray any of these aspects, I feel like they are rebels and just want attention, when that is not the case at all, maybe they just didn't care that day. Men are shown through pop culture to be smart, strong, good looking, active, and always a hard worker. When I see men that are not like that I feel like the first thing that comes to mind is that he is weird or even worse that he is gay. Of course this is not the right attitude to have towards men or women, but because of media and pop culture i feel like it is a norm to have this perception.
Race and class is another way that pop culture has influenced my perception on. I feel like the pop culture has portrayed black men as being angry all the time and violent and only cares about women's bodies. Of course this is not accurate at all but that is how the media portrays it. I feel that the media portrays class as if you are rich then you will succeed in life and if you are poor you have no chance so don't even try.
When I am watching TV and I see something sexist I usually make the comment "is that necessary?" Of course it is usually about the exposure of women and not men. What is the worst is that society is just thinking it is the norm to have these commercials or sexism showing and nobody says anything. I feel like society is royally screwed up because they basically show porn on television and it is OK.

Blog 8

2009-10-26T21:15:00.000-07:00

The end of the book the Beauty Myth did not bring me closure. Wolfe says in the last chapter that we, as women, should just learn to love our bodies. I understand where she is coming from but throughout the whole book she told us how it is so hard to love our bodies because of society. If it were really as simple as learning to love our bodies then we would not have this problem in the first place. I wasn't the biggest fan of the book in general because I felt that Wolfe rambled on about what point she was trying to make, when she had already made it five sentences earlier. It just makes me lost in the book and forgetting what her original point was.
In comparing Valenti and Wolfe, I think I would much rather read Valenti. Wolfe makes great arguments and some of them are really interesting, but the language she uses is like reading a report because of all the cases and statistics that she uses. Although Valenti used lots of foul language (which was very unnecessary) it was easier to read as a whole.
On of the most interesting Body Outlaws stories I have read recently is "Sizing myself up: tales of a plus size model" by Kate Dillion. I think that it was interesting because it tells of how a women is so un-confident with the way she looks because that is what people tell her. She was a victim to what society told her was beautiful. Although she fell a little harder because she was in the fashion industry, but I think every women goes through a part in their life where you just can never look pretty enough or never be skinny enough. In reality nobody is that skinny and it is all just computerized. She went from being a totally underweight model to a plus size model and was never so happy with her self. I think that is very inspiring to show that being that skinny is not always happy.

(The top picture is Whitney from America's Next Top Model- the first plus size woman to win the contest. The bottom picture is of Kate Dillon herself)

Blog 7 Eating Disorders

2009-10-12T09:31:00.000-07:00

An eating disorder is a condition which affects an individuals eating habits, either as a result of their own doing or their bodies reaction to the food that they intake. The three major types of eating disorders are anorexia, bulemia and binge eating. I believe that the fashion industry and the media has had the biggest infulence on eating disorders. The media portrays that if you want to be accepted and popular, you are supposed to be thin and beautiful. In the article, Breaking the Model, by Graciela (Chely) H. Rodriguez in the book the Body Outlaws, describes a young latino girl who suffers with an eating disorder. She wants to be skinny because that is what the modeling agencies told her she had to be to be a model. She says that, "I feel the media's and society's images of women were more responsible. Like they do for so many girls, these images promised acceptance and happiness if I could only look like them." This quote was from a real teenager and just reinforces the media's influence on eating disorders. I do believe that food, appearance preoccupation and diet have become our societies new sacred rituals. That is the obsession right now. You can not watch 5 mins of commercials without seeing at least one to two ads on either weightloss, make-up or how to look tone. Society is teaching women everywhere that to be considered beautiful, you have to be thin. This is just corrupting women and their perception of beauty. That is why so many people decide that starving themselves and binging and purging is the best way to lose the weight and lose it fast. Because of the abundant economic climate eating disorders have rose. It used to be that to wear make-up you had money, or to be on a weight loss you had money. But now things are becoming less expensive and more readily available to the public. This is adding to women obsession that to be beautiful you need make-up and to be on weight loss pill. Again just adding to the obsession of eating disorders. Also women women can not control how pretty they are but they can control their weight, so that is why they turn to eating disorders like anorexia and bulemia.

Blog 6 "Cosmetic Surgery"

2009-10-05T09:44:00.000-07:00

In Debra Gimlin's essay, "Cometic Surgery: Paying for Your Beauty", she informs the readers that plastic and cosmetic surgery did not have the same purpose as it does today. It used to be used on soldiers that had got injured in war and in battles. It would help cover up the scars and try to maintain their looks from before their injury. Women caught on to this and wanted to start chaning the way they looked to the ideal women. This is increasingly growing into an acceptable norm now and many women are turning to plastic and cosmetic surgery.
I have mixed feelings about cosmetic surgery. There are some people who were born with a deformity of some kind, there are those who have had an accident and something on their body was altered. I think that if these individuals feel so unconfident about themselves and have a low self esteem then they should get the surgery. I will never judge those who have had cosmetic surgery because I will never know their true intentions for having it. That being said, i feel like not everyone needs surgery for things they can ultimately fix themselves, or reasons of just wanting to do to look like someone else or to be skinny when they are clearly not overweight. I think that physical beauty is too much of a focus in our society. So many people are trying to conform to what our society says is acceptable. Whether it be weight, breasts or flawless skin. i think that everybody was made how they were supposed to be made. If you want to be skinner, go to the gym and work out a little more. There is nothing wrong with curves. I think that it is an individual opinion on the idea. Women feel horrible about themselves because society feeds into us that we are supposed to look like the perfect women (Which only like 5%, or something ridiculous like that, of the women actually fit into that category), so we get the plastic surgery which just reinforces society that that is the way we are supposed to look. Its like which came first the chicken or the egg.

Midterm Paper #1

2009-10-02T03:57:00.000-07:00

Mallory Six

Body Image vs. Reality Paper 1

October 2, 2009

Disney Princesses

Beauty vs. Ugliness

Walt Disney Princess movies are wonderful and enjoyable at any age. Even with their predictable plots of forbidden romance, a trial that a princess has to overcome to be with their one true love, or a villain trying to destroy the princess, children of all ages, as well as adults, are able to watch these movies countless times with a joy brought to their hearts. One thing that every Disney Princess movie has in common is that the princesses are always beautiful women and their villains/enemies are always portrayed as ugly. Why is it the ugly or average girls always finish last? Why do the beautiful princesses always get the prince? These are questions that nobody thinks about asking, because that is just the ways it is. By analyzing three Disney Princess movies, the reader will see the comparison and contrast between the beautiful princess and ugly villain and why society has these physical features for such roles.

In general all Disney Princesses are beautiful. With their perfect hair, like Belle, flawless face, like Snow White and ideal physical shape like Cinderella. They remind audiences of Barbie and show that beauty “become[s] the defining criteria for our status and out worth” (Gilman 16). But why do all the collection Princess and Barbie’s depicts these image? One idea is that this is the way reality truly is. Disney teaches children the harsh reality of life, beauty rules. Movies, commercials and advertisement shows audiences that if you are beautiful then that is all you need to succeed. In The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf, she says that “women serve as aspiring beauties” (Wolf 66). Disney reinforces this ideal by making these looked-up-to princesses ideally perfect. Not only do they reinforce the reality of beauty rules, but they show that ugliness will always fail by always portraying the enemies, or villains, as ugly. In Disney’s Cinderella, Cinderella is gorgeous in all her features and her step sisters are considered ugly and annoying. Another layer that Disney uses to emphasize the dislike of the villains is making them be annoying and loud mouthed. Ugliness is not a likable trait in itself, but to add annoyance or being a loud mouth just reinforces the dislike. These ideas about how to treat beauty in society can be linked to Ivan Pavlov’s study with dogs. Ivan Pavlov would ring a bell whenever the bell rang the dogs would be given something to eat. Eventually every time the dogs hear the bell rung, they would start salivating for food. This is similar in the fact that every time a child watches a Disney movie and see’s an ugly person, they are always the villain. So after watching many Disney movies children start seeing every ugly person as bad. This then will not only stay within watching movies but will leak into real life, so that when a child sees an ugly person they automatically think of them as bad, or annoying, or not worth as much as a beautiful person.

In Disney’s Beauty and the Beast the whole story is based on looks and what people think about looks. Beast is not the necessarily the villain but is considered the ugly on in this story. Belle of course beautiful, as that is why she is named Belle, and the Beast named specifically because of his looks. The movie is depicting that the worst punishment is being something ugly. And Disney is also saying that if you are ugly and you know it, it would be best if you lock yourself away in a castle until you look good again. Again this proves that, in society, the harsh truth is that, if you are ugly you are not pleasant to look at, so you should just stay out of sight from the public eye. The movie gives the hard truth that if you are ugly, you do not belong in society. In the movie the Beast sorrowfully says, “She's so beautiful, and I'm... Well, look at me!” This just drives it home even more that ugly people do not think that they can even be loved solely based on their looks. This also adds to the idea that ugly people are un-rescuable. Society says that ugly people are almost not worth saving because beauty is the number one thing to offer and that is what they are lacking the most. Of course everybody knows that Belle eventually overlooks the Beasts physical features and falls in love with his personality, but the main plot is still that the Beast is ugly and an outsider because of it. The movie also gives the idea that if you are ugly, you do not belong in society, and you should stay out of sight.

Disney movies portrayal of ugly people being villains and the beautiful people as the wonderful princesses is really a matter of which came first, the chicken or the egg. Is the society the ones that say that ugly people are bad, so Disney just mocks it? Or do movies, like Disney Princess movies, put forth the action of disliking ugly people and tagging them as bad. Either way it is how society works, and even though children might not realize then, they are being programmed to think that beauty rules and ugliness fails.

The Definition of Beauty

Different Ages and Genders

Beauty is such a difficult subject to tackle because everybody has their own opinion of what is beautiful and rarely does someone have the exact same ideas as the next. With this statement alone, it is hard to understand how society has marked a certain kind of person as beautiful and others as not. Just because the magazines and television do not concede that these “non-beauties” do not fall in the category of beautiful, does not mean that they are ugly or not beautiful. I think that every women and man is beautiful in somebody’s eye. Just because I might not think they are beautiful, does not mean they are not. Who am I and the media to put a ranking on beauty? The formal definition of beauty is:

The quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest).

With that being in mind of the different aspects of beauty, I interviewed five people and asked their own opinion on what they thought beautiful was and why. Also I asked them to name a person who they considered beautiful. The first person I asked was Hannah, a 10 year old female fifth grader. Hannah thought that what makes a person beautiful is, “The ways their hair is. Their make-up matching their outfits. Their outfits.” (Six). The people she said were beautiful were Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez, because these girls fit into her category of her perception of beauty. Taler, a 19 year old female college student, said that characteristics of someone beautiful is, “Nice, caring, pretty smile, a positive attitude, and a pretty face” (Tiger). The person she picked that is beautiful is Carrie Underwood, because of her smile, face, and always looking happy. Zach a 23 year old male college student said that a person is beautiful is they, “love Jesus, pretty face, pretty smile and hair, and someone who doesn’t wear too much make-up. Someone who has a natural beauty” (Freeman). The person he said was beautiful was Jennifer Gardner. Leanne, a 44 year old female, says that beautiful to her, “is someone has inner beauty. There are a lot of pretty girls out there but to really be beautiful you have to be beautiful on the inside. Physical beauty can fade but inner beauty will last forever” (L. VanOrsdol). The person she thought was beautiful is Meg Ryan because she is not the most beautiful person but she has true inner beauty. Reid, a 42 year old male, said what he thinks beauty is, “someone who has a good attitude about themselves, keeps up with their appearance, and someone who has a good heart” (R. VanOrsdol). The person he thought about as a beautiful person is Julia Roberts, because of her upbeat attitude.

By interviewing these individuals or different ages and genders the reader is able to see some similarities and differences. Hannah, 9, sees just physical characteristics as being beautiful, probably because that is what television says is beautiful and the comprehension of inner beauty is above her head right now. Taler and Zach, both in college, were able to look in a little deeper and see physical features but also some inner beauty. For both of them, personality characteristics were first listed, which shows that physical features are not the first things that attracts them to the other person. Physical features were still important in both of their interviews. Leanne and Reid, both in their forties, went straight for personality and physical features were not as important. By looking at these interviewees and comparing their answers, there are similarities within genders of the same age group and differences between age groups. Younger children are not able to see the inner beauty of people yet and solely see the physical features like hair, make-up, outfits. This is probably because lack of experience dealing with people and getting their source of beauty from watching television. The college age adults were able to see more inner beauty, because they know that just have the physical looks, is not always attractive. Although they did have personality answers, physical looks were still important, because they felt that you still have to be attractive to be beautiful. The older individuals focused more on personality and inner beauty than outer. Most likely because they know that outer beauty will fade and that their personality is what will carry on with them forever. One similarity is that every one of the interviewees all chose women as the person they thought was beautiful. Most likely because the word beautiful is more of a feminine word and associated more with women.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there is no way of ranking beauty. That being said, women still constantly look to television and magazines to see how to become more beautiful to society. In Naomi Wolf’s The Beauty Myth she says that, “women […] admitted to knowing, from the time they could first consciously think, that the ideal was someone tall, thin, white, and blond, a face without pores, asymmetry, or flaws, someone wholly perfect” (Wolf 1). Who says that those characteristics are beautiful? There are many people who do not like blondes, does not see thin people as attractive, and wants somebody who is short. I believe that confidence is a beautiful characteristic and I believe that, “women want to embody it and men must want to possess women who embody it” (Wolf 12). I think that if women are confident in their appearance then that’s just makes them even more beautiful than they already are. There is not set guidelines on beauty, everyone is different, so realize that you are beautiful without adding or subtracting.

Bibliography

Gilman, Susan Jane. "Klaus Barbie, and Other Dolls I'd Like to See." Body Outlaws. Emeryville: Seal Press, 2003. 14-21.

Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991.

Blog 5 "Gender and Toys"

2009-09-28T09:57:00.000-07:00

What are your thoughts about gender and toys. Conduct some research about toys. How are boys/girls toys marketed? Do toys influence the way children play? Do they influence what children will become. Explain. Give examples. What are some of your favorites childhood toys and why?

As a child toys are toys. Boys play with boys toys, and girls play with girls toys. Children don't think about what toys are really saying about the different genders. But as young children gender stereotypes are already being pushed on to us. Pink is the color for girl babies and blue is the color for boys. It would be unthinkable to put a baby girl in a blue outfit, but why?

I have 2 little sisters and 1 little brother and the oldest one is ten years younger than me. So while watching them grow up i have been able to see the differences in the toys that they play with and how they play and have been able to compare the two. When looking at how marketing portrays girls and boys toys, there is a big difference. Commercials for girls toys usually consist of girls brushing the hair of their new Barbie, playing dress up and house in their play kitchen, or using play make up and jewelry to make them beautiful. Boys commercials are the complete opposite. They usually consist boys playing sports outside with other boys being active, getting their action figures and fighting them, or building their Lincoln logs or LEGOS. The commercials that the media shows, promotes the thinking of young girls and boys to be one way or the other. Young girls are supposed to be beautiful, love to take care of the house and simple and only care about looks and delicate things. Young boys on the other hand are supposed to be active and love sports, be manly by fighting their action figures, and be intelligent because they can build things. The media will never show a boy playing house and cooking dinner. And like in “Barbie Klaus, and other dolls I’d like to see,” by Susan Jane Gilman, you will never see Business Barbie, or Harley Davidson Barbie.

I feel like children's toys to influence how they will become. Maybe not as extensive but I still think that it does have an influence. Girls who play with G.I. Joe's instead of Barbies might not get the sense of beauty and really care about "accessorizing", therefore that girl might not care about how she looks when she grows up and then will be judged for not have the stereotypical look of a women. The same goes for young boys. Not only do girls see other girls in this view, girls see how boys are supposed to be by looking at their toys and how the media portrays them. And vice versa for boys. So this adds even more pressure to be like the media and our toys says children should be. As for my favorite toys, I fell right into the stereotypical girl. I had so many Barbies and the clothes and houses to go along. I had my stuffed animals that I treated like babies, because women had children and that is just what women did. Even thought i was the stereotypical little girl, i did eventually go through a tom boy stage and then back to a girly girl but probably not as much as when i was little. That is why I think that toys children play with do influence who they will be, but I still think that both boys and girls will have much more of a say when they are older.

Blog 4 Beauty Cult and Men

2009-09-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

Some of the benefits of guys putting on the "tough guise" persona is that they are powerful and confident. Guys are supposed to be the protectors and by putting on their tough look they are able to achieve that. Thier confidence goes up and they feel needed. And I believe that every guy loves being needed. The tough guise comes with positives as well as negatives. Like mentioned above the positives as more confidence in men, being more powerful and having a male complex about them. The negatives are that sometimes that behavior can be self-destructive and dangerous. With feeling that powersome men think that they are above everyone else. They can become the alpha male and think that they have to show everyone that they are the toughest guy. Sometimes doing this means beating up another guy to show that he is more powerful than another. Another is beating up women to show that men are more superior and women should be submissive to the all powerful male. By being this power driven sometimes men self destruct themselves. They are always putting on this front that to show any kind of emotion would be devestating to their reputation. This is not only self destructive but can also be emotionally destructive to close friends and family around then man.

Most people view "gender issues" as women's problems. Why? Because in most cases women are the only ones who are willing to come out and say that their is a problem with their gender situation. Whether it is harrassment at work or feeling horrible with they way they look, women are more open about this things and seek justice or closure or support. That is just the difference with men and women. Men may also have some of the same problems but will not be open about it because that is being "a sissy" and showing emotion. Men are programmed to keep all emotion related issues to themselves because that lessens their masculinity in some way. Men also are programmed to not have issues with themselves. Everyone thinks that every guys is happy with their body or their looks, so that makes it harder for them to oppose that. Women also have this ideal that every man is comfortable with their body and looks and that men honestly do not care that much about their looks. For men to come out and say that they think they are fat or wish they had a more toned body, is basically being a women in a guys eyes.

I think that men have some of the same effects that women do when trying to live up to cultures ideal of what each gender should look like. Guys are shown to be tall, dark, handsome, muscular, toned abs...etc. They are sterotyped just like women are. And women just like men gauk over the same culture inspired body type of the opposite gender. Men know that w0men like that and they try to achieve it because that is what a man is supposed to look like. Overweight men will stop eating because they want to be that perfect weight. Guys will over work them selves to get that perfect male tone for their bodies. They turn to steroids for more muscle tone. Emotionally wise men are looked down upon because they may be too skinny or too overweight or don't have the best complexion, or they are not ruggedly handsome. This has to play some kind of a role in what they feel about themselves and their emotional state.

I feel that in some way the media inspires change of what men are supposed to look like. A century ago if you were overweight that meant you were rich and if you were fit and skinny that meant that you were of lower class and had to work for your money. How we have changed today. You look at any advertisement for jeans or cologne or anything directed toward the male, you will see them most likely without a shirt on, toned abs, muscular arms, blemish free and have the ruggedly hansome look. The reason that the media can have this much of an effect is that they portray women as wanting this, and by seeing these guys in the media, women do have this kind of a standard for what they want in a man,physically wise, just like men do for women. Also if you ever notice the overweight men are always the but of the jokes or are just known as the "funny ones". They are not the ones that get the girls or are most popular. I don't think that men necessarily have it as hard as women but I do believe that they still struggle with the issues like women do.

Body Image Blog 3

2009-09-13T18:55:00.000-07:00

The recent readings through The Beauty Myth have been very interesting and comparable to real life situations. The general ideas that I have found repeated though out the reading is that women are never going to think they are as beautiful as the world requires. In the work place if women are not "pretty" they could not get the job, but if they are too "pretty" then they could get sexually harassed and would then get in trouble for being so "pretty". In the magazines women are airbrushed to perfection but women see the magazines and say, "Man, she is gorgeous and she's 40 and had three kids. I wish that I looked like that".

In the book The Beauty Myth critic John Berger says: "Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only the relations of men to women, but the relation of women to themselves." Women feel beautiful if men look at them. Women feel that the true judge of if a women is beautiful is if a man says that they are. This is how sexual attraction and body image functions as a social construct. I do believe that every man has a different perception of what beautiful is, but women believe that there is set guidelines of what is beautiful and they try to measure their body up everyday.

There was not a lot that was really shocking in the book so far. One thing that did stand out was the court cases that women have pushed for decades but have lost because a man has told his own story, which was probably inaccurate, and the judge ruled in his favor. The one thing that I can relate to is looking at magazines and saying to myself, " I wish I was that skinny" or "I wish I was that pretty". Even though I know that they are airbrushed and dressed up that is what women are "supposed" to look like and that is what men see and we are compared to on a daily basis.

The ideals of female beauty function as a form of social control in every day life. From ads in magazines to commercials on television to the desire to be sexy for a man to notice you. Advertisement prey on women and their low self conscience to sell their product. You can go buy anti-wrinkle cream, weight loss pill, face wash to make your skin clearer, make up to make you look more sexy. This controls women because we all fall into the trap and want to use all those products to make our skin softer or stomach's flatter.

These things limit woman's lives because that is the standard that women are held to. They are supposed to be beautiful or at least try and if they are not then they are criticized. If a women is not beautiful they may not get the job that they always wanted because there might be a more beautiful women applying for the same job. I do believe that women are given the freedom to dress, look and feel whatever they want, but social they are still being criticized just as much as ever.

Body Image Blog 2

2009-08-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

To me body image is how a person looks in the mirror and see's themselves but also how that same person thinks other view them.

I believe this is a very important topic to study because women need to learn how to feel confident in their own body and not strive to be this ideal image that may never happen for them. Maybe if we can learn to be more confident in our own body then there would not be so much depression in women and eating disorders.

Waves of Feminism:
1st: The first wave of feminism was giving women rights in general. The right to vote, to get a divorce, to be able to inherit money from individuals.
2nd: After being given all the rights, now they wanted equality. Women wanted to be equal with men. They wanted equal pay, equal work, etc.
3rd: Now that women had all the rights and equality, it was now time for an individual movement. Women wanted to get to their own goals in life and there was no big movement that was going to get them there, only themselves.

The standard of beauty has completely flip flopped over centuries. Once women were wanted to be larger and curvier because that meant that they were wealthy and had food. Also women were wanted to be pale because that mean they were not part of the working class. Now women are desired to be skinny and only weigh 120 lbs and to be tan and dark.

The definition of a body outlaw is one who does not conform to what society says bodies should look like. Ex. A women who weighs 200lbs going to a swimming park in a bikini.
Some examples of body outlaws in pop culture are:
Queen Latifah
Kirstie Alley
Jack Black
These are considered body outlaws because they are bigger than what society says they should be but they like the way they look

Introduction

2009-08-30T11:46:00.000-07:00

My name is Mallory Six. I am a junior and a pre-occupational therapy major. I am trying to fulfill my upper division electives and I heard that this was a very interesting class so I decide to take it.

For me the most pressing issues of body image that we, in the 21st century, face is that of women not having any confidence in their body. All women see through society, television, magazines, etc is that they are supposed to be skinny, fit, sexy. Although this is not a bad thing to be, but it is very unrealistic for many women, which makes them feel horrible about their body.

My expectations for this course is to learn how to me more confident as a women and learn that not everyone looks like movie stars and its ok not to look like that.

1. What do women really see when they look in the mirror?... Is there a warped view?
2. What do people think the perfect women looks like?
3. What are some of the best ways women can feel confident with the body they have?
4. What percent of women actually have the perfect movie star body?
5. Why has society switched from loving big women to loving small women? From wanting women to be pale to wanting them to be tan?