Kayla Richards

My Body Project
4-29-2015

A Collage of Women in the Media:

This collage displays the different types of body images of women both negatively
exposed and embraced images. This project has not only opened by eyes but also helped me

stray away from forcing my daughter to feel as though she has to become a size to be perfect.
This project promotes aware of those who feel like their bodies are the only things they have
going for them. Our bodies are beautiful both inside and out and should be recognized as
such.As women we go through so many growing physical stages of our lives. We go through
stages of adolescent puberty where women develop breast and expanding hips. As adolescents
we are often times embarrassed with embracing this change but we learn that it is out of our
control. I Another important stage of growth women go through is pregancy. Womens bodies
are stretched and expanded in many ways. However, pregnancy is such a beautiful thing and it
is rewarding. I for one am experiencing my own body change with a little person growing inside
of me. As I notice the changes in body during pregnancy or any new stage of growth one should
not be seen or looked at as differently. Stages of growth help one step outside of their comfort
zone and adapt to a new level of life. I found my pictures online by typing in: Perfect Women,
Perfect Bodies, Ideal shapes, Negative Images, and Successful Men.

The perfect woman :

Society has its own idea of the perfect woman and what body parts it requires to make
her. In the media we look at women who are fair skinned, long legs, long straight hair,
slim/petite bodies. These ads tell us as a society what is expected of women. Its an
idea that has been created to oppress women and make them more into what the
patriarchy values. the images that are portraying "real women" or defining beauty are
not in fact real. It is hard as the viewers of images to determine what images are reality
and what are fabricated. To aspire to become like or compare oneself to the current
images in the media is an unrealistic and unreachable goal. Having young girls aspire
to be like these images is setting them up for failure. The media plays a large role in the
construction of gender roles and how to "do gender". Society looks to the media to form
its perceptions of traits and behaviors specific to the gender binary.

Images of women in ads:

These women are shown completely naked with nothing but their arms covering
themselves. They are portrayed as not only being completely exposed, but as also
being vulnerable, two things that are never associated with men in our culture. Men are
seen as strong and always in charge. By portraying women in the opposite light, these

ads support gender polarization where women are shown as being completely different
than men.

Negative Images

This image of the female body is not only negative but it is also discriminating. The
image infers that women are only good for there body parts and nothing else. How can
this be seen as a perfect woman when in fact she has no voice of her own. The image
suggest that women should not have a voice but instead use the body parts that they
have and they would infact be seen perfect .Advertisements these days seem to use

sex to sell everything; perfume, clothes, and even brands. I think that many of these ads
diminish women into nothing more than sex objects for men. In turn, men often use the
idea of women as sexual objects as status characteristics that they associate with
women. With this view, less is expected of women in school, in the workplace, and in
other aspects of life because women are not being seen for anything more than just sex
.

Societies Perception of Men in the Media:

In the images below you see examples of how the media portray men in clothing. Men
are viewed as strong characters in the public eye.
These men are successful business men.
These men are providing models of social behavior
Nothing about these pictures stereotype anything bad about males clothed this way.
These mean identify achievement.

I chose this medium because I was always aware of the oversexualizing of women in
images but I never realized what an impact a simple change in demeanor could make.
Almost all of feminine images in ads we see are forced into feminine poses, most being

soft, demure, but sexual. In a subtle way, I feel that some of the images I chose
revealed a certain strength that women have been denied.Women are expected to be
beautiful. Ads portray women that set an impossible standard of beauty, even for the
youngest of women. These models have skin devoid of blemishes, wrinkles or pores.
Their hair and makeup is flawless they always have perfect features. By using
photoshop to create these images, ads promote the beauty mystique. Women become
obsessed with their looks and achieving this impossible standard of beauty and,
therefore, contribute to their oppression by failing to focus on the other things that they
could be contributing to society besides their beauty.We have created a culture where
images like the ones in my presentation are seen as normal and natural. Society prefers
our women to look perfectionalized. How do we take a stand over these images? We
can create equal platforms for both sexes. We can learn to challenge the idea that
traditional images seen in the media are not always the most successful or the best to
use. Overall, I believe that the portrayal of women in these fashion ads objectifies and
devalues them. In our patriarchal structure women are oppressed and given less power
and opportunities than men. These ads are not empowering women, but telling them
how they are mere objects of beauty and sex and that this is their purpose in society.
How can we ever hope to break the bounds of the patriarchal structure when we still let
ourselves be exposed to and influenced by images such as these? Instead, we should
do our part to show all the things that women have to offer: our personalities, our
opinions, our ideas, our work effort, and so much more.
This project relates to module five in many ways. One of the videos regarding
misrepresentation was about a woman named Margaret Cho. I believe Margaret Cho

was discriminated against because of the size of her body. Margarets show was
replaced with the Drew Carey show. Drew Carey is also an overweight actor but
somehow he was not criticized for it. His show was able to air for a nice period of time.
When watching this video it helped me see just how many privileges males get in
comparison to women. Women are expected to hold such an ideal image while men are
likely to be successful regardless of their size. Women are expected to look perfect or
model like in order to hold such power of authority. Women are more openly exposed in
magazines and on television than men are. Men are still seen in their powerful authority
figures whether or not they have the ideal body weight of others. I chose images for my
collage that show women being exposed in negative ways and the ideal shape they are
supposed to have. It is sad that these things are taught to girls at a young age.
Secondly the article regarding Semenya showed true examples of how much
womens body images are obsessed over. In chapter Three of Womens Voices,
Feminist Thoughts, we learn the terms associated with gender differences. Masculinity
is associated with male. There were other women who were not willing to compete
against her because of the way her body looked and her athletic capabilities. So if a
woman has a body that is muscular then she is no longer considered female because of
gender categorization. Growing up we learn that males are the ones involved in sports
because they are the ones who have the capabilities. I believe times have changed to
where we recognize female athletes for the roles that they now play. Therefore a woman
wanting muscular frame or having major skills should not be recognized negatively.
Thats just like saying a woman should have a nice body or image but only This should

not be to the point where they are looking muscular because then they look more like a
male.
In doing this project I learned so much about society and myself as a person. I
learned that I am not one who falls victim in doing what society tells me to do or how to
act. If there is something that an individual would like to do and it is not recognized as
something that someone of his/her sex, it should be done to continue our efforts in
shattering gender norms. I hope that my readers are able to take heed to these norms
and decide against them by being their own person. We should promote more positive
efforts by as a community, we can work to advocate for women and educate others on
these types of shows that choose to depict women in degrading ways. Together, we can
encourage others not to support shows that do not respect or empower women. We can
practice these efforts by:

Encouraging community organizations and more family life

Increase physical fitness
Promote health and wellbeing for both women and men
Promoting positive judgements and behavior for both men and women