Hey, everyone. I'm writing this paper for my application to the Institute for Women's Leadership at Rutgers. I've just been throwing stuff on paper in a mostly coherent fashion. Any criticism (constructive, please!) would rock my casbah!
Countering the Attack on Womens Body Image
With their omnipresent commercials, billboards, and announcements, advertisers use reduction to make many implications about women. Their images insinuate that women must comply with the female genders social conditioning of passivity and weakness, sometimes to the point of invisibility, while equating them solely with sexual satisfaction. This social pathogen, however, can be remedied by those leading the raising of consciousness of it, and fighting to change it.
When isolated parts are used in advertisements, typically the breasts and legs, the objectification and sexualization are obvious. The womans body is cut to pieces, but this action is aggravated furthermore when the objectified woman does not even merit the totality of a whole body. There is a striking dearth of this kind of dismemberment with men, yet when it occurs, the male body part is associated with strength and sexual dominance. For women, this degrading association is compounded with the ideal of thinness which tells them not to become too big, too imposing, too noticeable, or too powerful. Women are not encouraged in this medium to become complete humans, engaging in all their potential.
However, this blatant disrespect for women and the female body does not occur in a vacuum; the effects are clear when 51% of 9 and 10 year old girls feel better about themselves while dieting, 45% of American women are on a diet at any given time, and 7 million girls and women suffer from eating disorders. A compassionate leader would battle those violations and their terrible consequences by the invading force of negative media with the same ferocity as she would towards a real-life invading enemy.
Ideally, the battle to disentangle female self-esteem from the destructive tendrils of negative advertising would begin with an immunization, of sorts. This will not, however, be accomplished solely through a governmental edict. In their homes, instead of criticizing their daughters about their weight, the greatest of leaders, the mother and the father, would teach their daughters to love and care for her body through healthy eating and exercise. In addition to encouraging her studies and engaging her about them at home, the parents would teach good nutrition. The intrinsic joy that she would derive from learning about healthy choices and joining a sports team or dance group, as well as the positive reinforcement received from the parents and instructors or coaches, would instill confidence in her from an early age. The constructive influences of sports is depicted in The Womens Sports Foundation finding that among a study of 30,000 girls, comparing athletes to non-athletes, the athletes were more likely to score well on tests, get involved in extracurricular activities, and attain a college degree. The strong foundation created by parents encouragement, and the involvement in school and extracurricular activities would be armor against the subtle criticism of commercials and magazine ads while maintaining that she has more to offer to the world than her body.
Taking the example from her parents, a daughter would become a leader in her own right. She neednt rely on governmental censorship when she learns to criticize the medias negativity, and teaches that skill to others. Learning to detect the faint insinuations of certain advertisements, such as whether that waif-like, heavy-eyed model pulling the strap suggestively off her shoulder is just selling a Versace dress or hinting at a drugged-up sexual encounter, teaches women to disregard these disparaging, vapid messages. The discovery that the role models forced upon young women by the media through constant exposure, such as Britney, Lindsey, and Paris, who hardly emphasis the importance of education, health, innovation and self-worth in a woman, is imperative to the search for constructive examples of female potential. This consciousness, besides creating more perceptive women, gives them the chance to institute change.
The power of innovation gives the opportunity for direct action. Anyone can become a leader against bigotry, from the manager of a store who refuses to stock the products or the owner of a magazine who refuses to run the ads of a company whose messages are demeaning. Women of all ages can take charge and organize sanctions against disempowering magazines, and create their own with reaffirming, encouraging messages. Companies will open their eyes when their wallets are shrinking, and become more receptive to requests for change.
Countering the Attack on Womens Body Image
With their omnipresent commercials, billboards, and announcements, advertisers use reduction to make many implications about women. Their images insinuate that women must comply with the female genders social conditioning of passivity and weakness, sometimes to the point of invisibility, while equating them solely with sexual satisfaction. This social pathogen, however, can be remedied by those leading the raising of consciousness of it, and fighting to change it.
When isolated parts are used in advertisements, typically the breasts and legs, the objectification and sexualization are obvious. The womans body is cut to pieces, but this action is aggravated furthermore when the objectified woman does not even merit the totality of a whole body. There is a striking dearth of this kind of dismemberment with men, yet when it occurs, the male body part is associated with strength and sexual dominance. For women, this degrading association is compounded with the ideal of thinness which tells them not to become too big, too imposing, too noticeable, or too powerful. Women are not encouraged in this medium to become complete humans, engaging in all their potential.
However, this blatant disrespect for women and the female body does not occur in a vacuum; the effects are clear when 51% of 9 and 10 year old girls feel better about themselves while dieting, 45% of American women are on a diet at any given time, and 7 million girls and women suffer from eating disorders. A compassionate leader would battle those violations and their terrible consequences by the invading force of negative media with the same ferocity as she would towards a real-life invading enemy.
Ideally, the battle to disentangle female self-esteem from the destructive tendrils of negative advertising would begin with an immunization, of sorts. This will not, however, be accomplished solely through a governmental edict. In their homes, instead of criticizing their daughters about their weight, the greatest of leaders, the mother and the father, would teach their daughters to love and care for her body through healthy eating and exercise. In addition to encouraging her studies and engaging her about them at home, the parents would teach good nutrition. The intrinsic joy that she would derive from learning about healthy choices and joining a sports team or dance group, as well as the positive reinforcement received from the parents and instructors or coaches, would instill confidence in her from an early age. The constructive influences of sports is depicted in The Womens Sports Foundation finding that among a study of 30,000 girls, comparing athletes to non-athletes, the athletes were more likely to score well on tests, get involved in extracurricular activities, and attain a college degree. The strong foundation created by parents encouragement, and the involvement in school and extracurricular activities would be armor against the subtle criticism of commercials and magazine ads while maintaining that she has more to offer to the world than her body.
Taking the example from her parents, a daughter would become a leader in her own right. She neednt rely on governmental censorship when she learns to criticize the medias negativity, and teaches that skill to others. Learning to detect the faint insinuations of certain advertisements, such as whether that waif-like, heavy-eyed model pulling the strap suggestively off her shoulder is just selling a Versace dress or hinting at a drugged-up sexual encounter, teaches women to disregard these disparaging, vapid messages. The discovery that the role models forced upon young women by the media through constant exposure, such as Britney, Lindsey, and Paris, who hardly emphasis the importance of education, health, innovation and self-worth in a woman, is imperative to the search for constructive examples of female potential. This consciousness, besides creating more perceptive women, gives them the chance to institute change.
The power of innovation gives the opportunity for direct action. Anyone can become a leader against bigotry, from the manager of a store who refuses to stock the products or the owner of a magazine who refuses to run the ads of a company whose messages are demeaning. Women of all ages can take charge and organize sanctions against disempowering magazines, and create their own with reaffirming, encouraging messages. Companies will open their eyes when their wallets are shrinking, and become more receptive to requests for change.
