Amy Kooiman

University of Wisconsin Green Bay

4/30/08

Pain in Beauty

The beauty industry affects people's thoughts about each other and themselves through ways women are expected to look. These influences cause women to think negatively of their bodies for the sake of wanting to look like their flawless idols. Because of these pressures the entertainment and beauty industry brings, everyone's freedom has been forgotten.

A congratulations card at baby showers are the first time one is expected to look a certain way. If one is expecting a female, the card will not only be typically pink, but will also have feminine items on the card, such as clothes or female accessories. A study by Grand Rapids Community College's Dr. Frank Connor shows that people only understand the sex of the baby by the colors they wear, such as pink (representing females) and blue (representing males). The pink baby would be caressed and held gently, whereas those with the blue baby waited longer to soothe a crying baby. Moreover, yellow babies confused people in which way they should behave for these children (Dr. Frank Connor, 2006 ).

As children age, they are to understand certain ways in which they are expected to behave. Disney emphasizes throughout its movies these right and wrong ways to behave. For example, in The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin, women always have big breasts, big and long hair, tiny waists, and the seductress attitude which is used to manipulate and distract men. These girls have a set role in which they must obey authority, unlike men, who are to save the women and even disobey the rules and are rewarded. Every one of these movies shows the woman getting in trouble and the male has to save her.

Fashion magazines, such as Vogue and Seventeen show on covers how to get the perfect tiny stomach, influencing excessive exercising, and acceptable behaviors. These magazines give models the flawless look using airbrushes, computer retouches, and heavy make up that give the girls the idea that perfection is beauty.

Make Me Beautiful and other like reality shows simply play the role of the fairy godmother though plastic surgery. America's Next Top Model discards the loser as soon as possible, showing that nobody except the winner is pretty enough. This pressures women to believe that if they are not as pretty as the runner-up, they require a lot of work (Walter, 2006).

Although aware, advertisers continue making women feel terrible about themselves for the benefit of convincing them that through the many things wrong with them, they can create a need for women to change their appearance. Advertisers then become the saviors by providing these needs. This million dollar industry is best described by Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent. He describes the media's function is convincing people of the correct values, beliefs, and codes of behavior. Women's pressures include that as beauty changes, women's bodies must too. Keeping up with the styles is difficult to achieve and unnatural, giving results of the inevitable failure to be beautiful. Women diet to look like their favorite celebrities, such as Twiggy and Mischa Barton. Insecurities even cause women to rid their “disease” by plastic surgery or experience physical costs of pain for beauty, like high-heeled shoes or tight jeans (Saltzberg, Chrisler, 1995). Tattooing and ear piercing could lead to infections and poisoning by toxic chemicals. The need for perfect bodies pressures them into unhealthy diets or eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. Such unhappiness and insecurities feeds into beliefs that with the perfect bodies comes the perfect lives. Unfortunately, this notion that rewards only come to the beautiful is more than an idea; in fact, television news person Christine Craft was fired from her job for being unattractive (Saltzberg, Chrisler, 1995).

Pressuring ideals that perfection only comes with thousands of dollars for beauty is the direction America is taking each generation of women. These industries psychologically and physically control women for the sake of financial gain for themselves. Only until society acknowledges women for their talents can women be free.

Biography

Saltzberg, Elayne A., and Joan C. Chrisler. "Beauty is the Beast: Psychological Effects of the Pursuit of the Perfect Female Body." Women: a Feminist Perspective (1995). 2 May 2008.

Walter, Natasha. "REALITY TELEVISION (90%); TELEVISION INDUSTRY (90%); ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS (89%); WOMEN's MARKET (76%); PARENTING (72%)." The Guardian 30 Nov. 2006. 2 May 2008.

Women's History Month. Dr. Frank Connor. Grand Rapids Community College, 2006.