We’ve heard a lot about how the media affect women’s self images. And it’s true. For as long as I can remember, I have been surrounded by images of the “ideal” woman. Since early childhood, I have felt the need to measure up to this ideal. From playing dress up to dieting to losing a suspicious amount of weight in high school, every effort was put forth to achieve the glossy, elusive image of the perfect woman.
I’ve never been fat. Not even before I went hungry in pursuit of an impossible goal. I’ve never been ugly. Not even before I discovered makeup and Calvin Klein. But somehow I could never measure up to the image created by a combination of my own insecurities and the media’s suggestions. I know I speak for thousands of women on this issue.
I can say with complete truth that the images in magazines and commercials do encourage insecurities and eating disorders in predisposed women. While it isn’t fair to blame the media for every insecurity or eating disorder, there can be no argument that popular images contribute to both. Studies upon studies have mirrored this correlation. Isn’t it funny how excessively thin, “beautiful” women appear on both men’s and women’s magazines? They seem to scream, “Be thin, and life will be great!” I got thin. I got thinner. Life didn’t get any better.
It isn’t just men who perpetuate these images, either. Women’s magazines seem to show even thinner models on their covers. And we still buy them. I don’t know about other women, but I would rather see a picture of Tyson Beckford on the latest issue of Glamour than Kate Moss. I also know that men feel media pressure to look good too — but that’s another article.
I used to think the solution to all of these woes was changing the media. However, one of the most important things I have learned through journalism classes and life is that rather than changing the world we have to change the way we think about it. There is no miraculous solution that will make every insecure girl or woman feel better about herself. It would certainly be wonderful if the media portrayed more varieties of shapes, sizes, and ethnicity. But it would also be silly to think we could obliterate images ingrained in our culture. We purchase magazines because they give us a momentary escape from real life. We want the illusion they present. But it’s important to know that’s exactly what it is: an illusion.
Sure, those models might look like goddesses after three-week juice diets and air brushing, but in real life, they’re just people. They get zits. They have fat days. It’s impossible to reach a standard that not even the models themselves can achieve in real life. It’s a hard thing to realize, but I know it can be done.
Don’t get me wrong. I like magazines. I love the pictures. I also like how I look. But that’s only because I’ve realized you don’t have to weigh 80 pounds to be attractive. It’s perfectly normal to want to be sexy, and as I see it, if you’ve got it, flaunt it. But you can “have it” without shrinking yourself to the unnatural and oftentimes unhealthy weight we see on commercials, television and in magazines.
I’ve learned that it’s okay to thumb through the occasional fashion magazine, but you can’t let it become your magic mirror. It is possible to be a female, or a male for that matter, in this society, dealing with today’s popular media images, and still have a healthy self-esteem. You just can’t let the images define how you feel about yourself. Only you should have the power to do that.