It's a normal occurrence; you're looking at the
television and a female pops up on the screen. Whether it's a commercial for
Victoria's Secret, or a scene from your favorite show, this woman is most
likely thin and has lots of makeup applied. Images in today's media portray an
unrealistic standard of beauty that can influence many women, and can
ultimately affect their opinion on beauty itself. To be beautiful in today's
society is unattainable; most women considered beautiful are far below the
healthy weight for their body and don't usually eat enough to sustain their
bodies.
In the
media, thinness is ideal and expected to be considered “attractive.” Images in
advertisements, television, and music usually portray the "ideal
woman" as tall, white, and thin, with blonde hair. What makes this worse
is that the media is filled with many of these women; which makes other women
feel it is okay to live up to this standard of beauty. However, in recent years with the United
States’ growing obesity rates, the ideal body has gotten smaller and smaller which has made
it harder for women to fit this ideal body shape. 
Other
than the problems with body size, the issue of women having to be heavily clad
with makeup is also another problem. On more of today’s TV shows, you’ll find
more females applying tons of makeup to meet the requirements to be considered “beautiful.”
The show that is a major culprit of this would be TLC’s “Toddlers and Tiaras.” This show follows young girls in
beauty pageants and also shows their crazy mothers as well. Few girls do the
pageants by choice; others are forced by their mothers who cannot give up the
face that they are no longer “stick-thin” and “beautiful.” The result of this
is mothers forcing their daughters into pageants so the mothers can relive the
glory days of the youth they once had. By ages 10-13 young girls already face
the judgment of others on their body, so television shows like these only do
harm. These young girls are put to the test in how much makeup they can put on to make then look as old and pretty as possible-to the extent of spray tans, fake teeth, fake nails and eyelashes, and even hair extensions. Some of these girls during compititions look nearly 20 years old! Whats wrong with looking natural and looking like your actual age?
Aside
from Caucasian women being stick thin, there is also the ideal that
African-American women should have a thin waist and a big butt. The rising
popularity of Rap and Hip-Hop music may be to blame for that, due to the fact
that in nearly every music video, there are scantily clad bodacious females
walking around, clinging to the arms of the artist, or making sexual poses in
the background. Thus creating the term: Video Hoe. A great example is the music
video for the song “Gold
Digger” by Kanye West. This body type is also brought to attention by female Rap and Hip-Hop artists like Nicki Minaj and Rhianna. In their videos, they are also dressed in scanty clothing that bring out their best "attributes."
Now,
these standards may never get any better and could even get worse, but that
doesn’t mean that you’re not beautiful. Everyone has their own definition of
beauty; whether or not you follow the stereotypical ideal of beauty is up to
you. But never let anyone tell you otherwise.
