Beauty Standards in the Media

Beauty Standards in the Media

Stephanie Bates
80460565
University of Texas at El Paso
Paul Hernandez
RWS 1302: Rhetoric and Writing Studies

Beauty Standards in the Media

Beauty Standards in the Media

Young girls and women are held at high standards when it comes to beauty and are more
likely to feel pressured to fit the profile of what media depicts as beauty. Being beautiful is not
easy to accomplish and many women will make drastic choices to be able to fit the ever
changing beauty trends and body ideals that change almost every year. Even though beauty
trends and body ideals are ever changing, they share the idea that being thin is beautiful and is
the ideal look for women to have. Media has a big influence on how girls view their own beauty
as well as others. Television, films, magazines and websites are full of women who are extremely
beautiful. This is hard on young girls because a huge proportion of their role models are
beautiful, which can cause them to feel ugly, even if they are far from that. These beauty
standards seen through the media alter women views on what is normal, healthy or beautiful.
These four question will further go into detail about the topic.
1.

What is the ideal female body?

2.

How are beauty standards being promoted?

3.

Are beauty standards unrealistic and unattainable?

4.

What negative effects do beauty standards have on young girls and women?

This review on literature review will go into detail about the controversy behind beauty
standards, as well as show the negative effects of beauty standards and how they impact girls and
women.
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Beauty Standards in the Media

What is the ideal female body?

The medias view of the ideal female body changes from year to year. The 90s was the
start of the thin ideal. Being thin was very popular for many years and was considered the ideal
female body type. Even though this body type is still very popular, a new body trend is being
promoted today, which is to be curvy. Medias definition of a curvy women is a women that has
an hourglass shape; a large chest, a small waist and a large backside. Celebrities that have curvy
body types such as Kim Kardashian, Sofia Vergara, Jennifer Lopez and Beyonc have influenced
this change in the ideal female body image. Many women have gone to great lengths to be able
to achieve the curvy look. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) 15.6
million cosmetic procedures, including both minimally-invasive and surgical, were performed in
the United States in 2014. The majority of those cosmetic procedures were breast augmentation,
buttock augmentations and liposuction. Breast augmentation is the most popular cosmetic
procedure done in the United States, the ASPS stated that a total of 286,254 procedures were
performed in 2014. Buttock augmentation such as buttock implants and buttock lifts are the
fastest growing procedures, a total of 18,000 buttock augmentation were performed in 2014,
which is largely due to celebrity influences.
How are beauty standards being promoted?
The promotion of beauty standards is spread through mass media. From television shows
to commercials to magazine advertisements to celebrity culture, media has a big influence on
how we understand beauty in the US. Beauty standards are hard for any woman to live up to and
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Beauty Standards in the Media

are hard to get away from since women are constantly being influenced by an endless amount of
images of models and celebrities that are labeled as beautiful or perfect. The main way
media promotes beauty standards is by cosmetic advertisement. The advertising industrys main
goal is to transform seemingly ordinary objects into highly desirable products with the help of
models and celebrities. The models and celebrities shown in advertisements all have the same
look, they are thin and attractive. Advertisements use of attractive and thin models is believed to
be effective in increasing sales, as well as increasing advertising effectiveness. However many
people disagree, Bower (2001) noted that attractive models could decrease advertising
effectiveness because it deflated the self-image of potential customers when they compared
themselves to models. The Journal of Consumer Research conducted an experiment where
female study participants were shown advertisements of beauty enhancing products, such as
lipstick, eyeshadow and perfume. After they were shown the advertisement, the participants were
asked how they felt about the product. The survey concluded that female participants focused on
the attractive models, rather than the product being advertised. The women felt the need to
compare their own beauty to the models shown. However when they were asked if they would
buy the product most of the women participating in the study said they would. Cosmetic
advertisements offer women the opportunity to live up to beauty standards so these
advertisements are highly effective, and result in more women buying beauty products.

Are beauty standards unrealistic?

At a young age girls are taught that beauty is very important and that they should always
try to be healthy, stay in shape and look pretty. However, many girls do not fit the beauty
standards that is being promoted in media because beauty is very narrowly defined. Beauty is not
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Beauty Standards in the Media

a term used in media to describe a diverse group of women that are different shapes and sizes,
the word beauty is used in media to describe a women who has the ideal look. These beauty
standards that are being promoted in the media are unrealistic and unattainable to most women.
A lot of young girls do not realize that the majority of images they see are digitally altered,
which in turn alters their views on what is normal, healthy or beautiful. Dove came out recently
with two campaigns, The Dove Self-Esteem Project and The Dove Real Beauty. Both campaigns
are committed to bring awareness to unrealistic beauty standards that are being promoted by the
media, It is so easy for our perception of beauty to be manipulated and distorted by the
media.(Dove, 2013). In 2014 Victorias Secret came out with I Am Perfect movement, which
sparked a big controversy. The campaign ads featured the Angels posing in the usual bra and
underwear, but with the phrase The Perfect Body going across the ad, shown in figure 1. Even
though people know that Victorias Secret is known for thin and attractive models and does not
show interest to diverse body shapes or sizes, this campaign ad still got people mad. Many

Beauty Standards in the Media

people felt that this ad was body shaming women and promoting unrealistic standards of beauty.

Figure 1. Shows the Victorias Secret I Am Perfect Movement.

Beauty Standards in the Media

Figure 2. Shows the Dove Real Beauty Campaign.

Shortly after the controversy with Victorias Secret ended, Dove came out with a new ad
poster for their Real Beauty Campaign, which looks very similar to the I Am Perfect ad. The
structure of the ad is similar; it has models posing in a bra and underwear, however the difference
is that Doves ad features women with diverse body shapes and sizes. The ad also includes the
phrase The Real Perfect Body, which is shown in figure 2. The reason for creating this ad was
to show women that the perfect body comes in all shapes in sizes, hence their body is already
perfect the way it is. Dove also made sure that people knew that their photos were unaltered,
whereas the Victorias Secret ad was. Both of Doves Campaigns, the Self-Esteem Project and the
Real Beauty Campaign, are working towards changing the way women and girls feel about their
body. Their main goal is get rid of unrealistic beauty standards by showing girls that images of
models and celebrities are digitally altered.
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What negative effects do beauty standards have on young girls and women?
The Medias promotion of unrealistic standards of beauty can lead to body issues, health
problems and metal problems. A majority of the models and celebrities displayed on television
and in advertisements are well below what is considered healthy body weight. When women see
images through the media, they often compare those images to their own body. Most women do
not have bodies like the ones that are portrayed through the media, which causes them to feel
ugly and they will begin to self -hate on their own bodies, this dissatisfaction with one's body
image can lead to low self-esteem, and even depression. (Hausenblas et al., 2013). Mass media's
use of such unrealistic models can influence young girls and women to make drastic health
choices. Eating disorders are more common among females and they usually develop during the
teen years and young adulthood, however they also can develop during childhood or later in life.
People who develop eating disorders usually have an obsession with their body weight and
shape. Their views on body image have been distorted to the point where they cannot see what
they are doing is harmful to themselves. The most common eating disorder is Anorexia nervosa,
people who have this eating disorder see themselves as overweight, even if they might be
underweight. They develop restricted eating habits, a relentless pursuit of thinness, a fear of
gaining weight and emaciation. Many celebrities and models have admitted that they have
suffered from eating disorders at one point in their life, having these people as body role-models
encourages this dangerous behavior and increase the risk of developing an eating
disorder.(Hausenblas et al., 2013). Another negative effect is self- harm, which also goes hand

Beauty Standards in the Media

in hand with eating disorders, most girls who have eating disorders also participate in self-harm
actions, such as cutting or attempted suicide.
In a survey participants were asked at what age they started feeling self-conscious of their
appearance. The survey collected that the majority of participants started feeling self-conscious
in middle school, where ages range from 11-15. Only a hand full of participants said that they
started feeling self-conscious during elementary school where ages range from 6-10. The
participant were then asked if the reason they felt self-conscious of their appearance was due to
celebrity and model influences and a majority of participants answered yes. The participants
were also asked what they were self-conscious about and the majority of participants gave
answers that were related to body image and shape. It is easy to see from this survey why
children and teenagers are the ones who suffer the most from the negative effects of beauty
standards. Children and teens have lot pressure put on them by the society and the media to fit
the unrealistic standards of beauty. This pressure can crush their own self-image, which leads
them to hate themselves and might cause them to do life-threating and life-ending acts.

Conclusion
Young girls and women are constantly being held at a higher standard when it comes to
beauty and are more likely to feel pressured to fit the profile of what media depicts as beauty.
Many young girls have a distorted sense of body image, which is due to the unrealistic beauty
standards that are being promoted through the media. Girls are more likely to develop lifethreating behaviors such as eating disorders, self-harm and suicide, due to their feelings of
unacceptance and failure because of their appearance. Campaigns such as the Dove Self-Esteem

Beauty Standards in the Media

Project, are trying to help reduced the number of girls that participate in life-threating acts by
showing them the reality of it all; that the images they see through the media are digitally altered.
By doing this more girls will learn to accept themselves and realize that there is more to them
than their appearance.

References
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Beauty Standards in the Media

Dove. Dove Self-Esteem Project. Retrieved 2016. http://selfesteem.dove.us/

Dove, Dove Campaign for Real Beauty Retrieved 2016. http://www.dove.us/SocialMission/campaign-for-real-beauty.aspx

American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Retrieved February 26, 2015.

http://www.plasticsurgery.org/news/2015/plastic-surgery-statistics-show-new-consumertrends.html

Tsai, Chia-Ching. The Effect of Physical Attractiveness of Models on Advertising

Effectiveness for Male and Female Adolescents. Adolescence. Vol. 42. 2007. Retrieved
from https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-172832262/the-effect-of-physicalattractiveness-of-models-on

Hausenblas, H. A., Campbell, A., Menzel, J. E., Doughty, J., Levine, M., &
Thompson, J. K. (2013). Media effects of experimental presentation of the ideal
physique on eating disorder symptoms: A meta-analysis of laboratory
studies. Clinical Psychology Review, 33(1), 168-181. Retrieved from Science
Direct.

National Institute of Mental Health. Retrieved 2016

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/eating-disorders/index.shtml
Self Harm UK. Retrieved 2016. https://www.selfharm.co.uk/get/facts/self-harm-and-

eating-disorders
Nicotra, Sarah. Stop the Beauty Madness. Retrieved 2016
http://www.stopthebeautymadness.com/

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Survey Monkey. Beauty Standards. Retrieved 2016.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/collect/list?
sm=azKVxpMKDL60Y3Sc7QkpxlKfTA62U_2FyWSvIYIWn8otc_3D

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