Morgan 1 Kadie Morgan Instructor: Malcolm Campbell English (1102) March 25, 2014 Is Medias Definition of Beauty Turning

this Generation of Women into Skin and Bones Do you remember when you were in middle school and you had the glasses, the braces, and probably a pimple or two here and there. Wow, those were the ugly days for most of us and what made it even worse was when picture day came around the corner. Oh, how we all dreaded picture day. Picture day was the one day out of the school year when you probably had one more pimple appear the night before. Or maybe you forgot it was picture day and didnt apply makeup that morning. Well the good thing is, for ten dollars extra you can have all those zits and blemishes taken away! I know we all remember this because especially as girls we all begged mom to pay the extra ten dollars so we didnt end up in the year book as the girl with zit city on the side of her face. This my friends is known as airbrushing or another familiar term might be photo shopping. Photo shopping did some amazing works for us ugly kids in the seventh grade but how does it affect us in todays time? How does photo shopping work in the real world? In the real world many people use airbrushing for many things like advertisements and commercials. The media is all about making people look their best. However, airbrushing doesnt just make a woman look skinnier on television it also makes the women at home feel ugly, overweight, and unattractive. In fact, according to Micah Issitt, (the author of Point: Airbrushing in Advertisements Is Detrimental to Body Image ), air brushing is one of the number one causes of eating disorders within girls today. Point: Airbrushing in Advertisements Is Detrimental to

Morgan 2 Body Image states that, Airbrushing in a dvertisements is the process of using photo manipulation techniques to alter the appearance of individuals appearing in advertisements, (Issitt 1-4). The Mayo Clinic states that, Eating disorders are a group of serious conditions in which you're so preoccupied with food and weight that you can often focus on little else (Eating Disorders). Overview of Eating Disorders Today, states that 90 of cases of anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) occur in females. It also states, that approximatel y 15% of women experience an eating disorder at some point during their life ( "EDV - Key Research and Statistics."). The three major types of eating disorders are obsessive-compulsive eating, bulimia, and anorexia. The NEDA states that, Anorexia Nervosa is the inadequate food intake leading to a weight that is clearly too low and Bulimia Nervosa is frequent episodes of consuming very large amount of food followed by behaviors to prevent weight gain, such as selfinduced vomiting ("Types & Symptoms of Eating Disorders"). So, is it true? Is the media and airbrushing the cause for eating disorders among women? Point: Airbrushing in Advertisements Is Detrimental to Body Image says yes! Issitt stated, Airbrushing in advertisements creates unrealistic standards of beauty that contribute to body image issues, eating disorders, and depression (Issitt 1-4). Micah Issitt stated that air brushing is used to make models and celebrities look thinner, prettier, and flawless for advertising or commercial use, but what is this saying to the world? It is telling young girls that to be pretty they have to have a waist measurement smaller than the circumference of a human head. It is telling these girls to be thin like this celebrity and that model, but in reality no one can possibly be that small and look that good, even the person in the picture (Issitt 1-4). In Seventeen Magazine Demi Lovato speaks out about her eating disorder by stating, Eating disorders often stem from feelings of low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, or in my case, being teased and

Morgan 3 ridiculed for my weight. I also believe that a big contributing factor to these feelings is the pressure thats out there to meet impossible standards ("Demi Opens up About Eating Disorders"). Ever since Twiggy the world has seen the definition of beauty to be in the size jeans you wear. American culture towards body image changed in mid 1960s when the fashion model Twiggy was introduced. Twiggy was the new and improved version of skinny and beautiful. The promotion of Twiggys frame was attributed to causing eating disorders such as anorexia for other young women during the 1960s and eventually into the 1970s (Redar). This is when Eating disorders started to appear in America. With that said, we all would love to be a size four, but we know thats not realistic. I know that, and you probably know that but why doesnt the media? The media is throwing things out to the public left and right about women with the super slim bodies, perfected hair and flawless skin. Clothing stores are publicizing it, weight loss programs are publicizing it, beauty supplies are publicizing it and even restaurants are publicizing it. Hardees has made commercials with very thin girls on the beach eating hamburgers and most of us know that they probably didnt really eat the hamburger and we know that even though she probably works out, her body probably had some photo shopping done to it. Continuing on this topic, How about all the weight loss programs that we see on television? Is it fair to the consumers to advertise someone who has done the diet and participated in the commercials and has lost weight but not the amount of weight that the producers make it out to be? Is photo shopping okay when it comes to weight loss commercials, since it doesnt really matter how true the picture is since the consumer will lose s ome amount of weight anyway? Once again, the answer to perfected girls in advertising usually relates to photo

Morgan 4 shopping also known as airbrushing. Since the pre-digital era, glamour photos have been airbrushed by skilled photographers to remove imperfecti ons on the skin (Tang). However, photo shopping is wrong in so many ways. Women look at these models and wonder why they dont look perfect when eating a hamburger. They wonder why when they do eat these things that the models promote they gain weight instead of lose or when they do try that diet they dont lose weight so they result in starving their self. In the end commercials and advertisements leave women and young girls with a low self-esteem, which may lead to starvation to reach the size of the models, or even worse. Is media and air brushing the cause for eating disorders among women? Well because of magazines, and television defining this perfect image of beauty, girls as young at five years old have started watching their figure. Dr. Nicole Hawkins studies show that after only three minutes of looking at a fashion magazine, 70 percent of girls feel depressed, guilty and shameful of themselves (Bailey ). Not only are these commercial ads and magazine ads directed towards the older girls, but eating disorders are evolving through little things like Barbie dolls. Mattel Inc., which manufactures Barbie, has decided their current model of Barbie is too fat and needs to become thinner (Bailey). Now you cant photo shop a doll but by making her body look smaller it is making girls as young as seven wonder why they cant be that tiny. Whether we like it or not the media is corrupting women, young and old, to think that the only definition of skinny is a size zero. In the article "You Can't Airbrush the Real Thing: How the Media Affects Women" Bailey stated that, The media should show a variety of images, not images of perfection, said Dr. Hawkins (Bailey). Next, think about this. How about those stores who have posters of models showing off their newest fashion line hanging all over the store windows? Lets be honest, most of these store only sell certain sizes and if they do sell a wide

Morgan 5 range of sizes the sizes run small. So when young teenagers or young adults walk in they see all these skinny young people showing off the clothing and most of them wish we could look like this. As Americans we should stop supporting clothing stores like this and find the stores who support all sizes. For instance, we dont know whether for sure that Abercrombies photographers use photo shop but they only sell sizes up to a size large. They also have young men and women walking around the store during certain times of the year wearing nothing but bathing suits or bikinis. Now as most girls walk by and drool over the men models other girls are walking by and wondering why they cant be as tiny as the girl models. When in reality those girls probably have to do some extreme exercise and maybe even starve their self to get that job, because Abercrombie doesnt sell clothes for fat people. Abercrombie made a statement one time that only skinny people should be allowed to wear their clothes, hence the reason their sizes run small. What kind of message does this give to the population of young girls? To wear the popular clothes you have to be a small size and if you are an extra-large, well you have to go somewhere else. For instance there is an article about American Eagles brand Aerie skipping the photo shop step in their advertisement. Even though in years past Aerie has photo shopped their models, now they are saying that Aerie Real is as real as it gets! In its press release regarding its ad campaign, American Eagle brand Aerie's chief marketing officer said, "The purpose of 'Aerie Real' is to communicate there is no need to retouch beauty, and to give young women of all shapes and sizes the chance to discover amazing styles that work best for them"(Marder). Now this is the type of stores that we should be supporting. Stores like this speak to young girls, promoting that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. Growing up I have wondered why I couldnt have the perfect body, with the long legs and the long torso, but I know I wasnt alone. I know of many girls who have felt the same way I

Morgan 6 did. One of my closest friends is in the process of battling an eating disorder because she was tired of being fat. My little sister who is twelve years of age looks in the mirror and tries to suck in to see how tiny she can make her stomach. My sister is five feet and one inch tall and is fit to a tee, yet she still feels like she needs to lose weight. When we go shopping and she cant fit that extra small anymore, she doesnt buy anything because she feels fat. As women most of us are like this. We see an outfit on a manikin, who I must say is probably clothed in extra small sizes, and fall in love with it until we put it on, then most of us are let down because we feel too round to pull off those horizontal strips or too shor t to pull off those high-wasted jeans. All in all at some point in our lives, whether a girl is big, small, tall, or short, she is going to feel the need to be as skinny and tall as that Victoria Secrets model. So why do we feel this way? What promotes this feeling in young girls today? Is the media and airbrushing the person to blame for eating disorders among girls? Are they the only ones out there to blame or are there more out there? After having a mindset that the media was the main causes of eating disorders I decided to research more. As I researched I found that the media is one of the most likely causes for eating disorders but they are not alone. Sources say that genetics can play a role within eating disorders, as well psychological factors, interpersonal factors, social factors, and biological factors (NEDA). The Mayo Clinic breaks it down further into three groups; biology, psychological and emotional health, and society. Under the society column the Mayo Clinic stated that, The modern Western cultural environment often cultivates and reinforces a desire for thinness (Eating Disorders). Therefore we see that once again media and the worlds view of beauty plays a role within eating disorders but there are also many other factors. The Mayo Clinic next

Morgan 7 mentions biology, and this is talking about the genes and the genetics that make some people more vulnerable to developing eating disorders. They stated that when someone in the immediate family battles an eating disorder it makes other people in the family more likely to establish one as well. The last group that was mentioned was the psychological and emotional health group, this is reflecting people that may have low self-esteem, perfectionism and impulsive behavior and troubled relationships (Eating Disorders). The Mayo Clinic does a good job at backing up my statement that media is one to blame for eating disorders within young women but it also helps state some new ideas that also contribute to eating disorders as well. For example, lets talk about Sara Hornbacher. This is the name of a young lady that grew up learning to diet. When she was little her mother would always influence her to watch her weight and to fast from day to day. By the time she was fifteen she was overly obsessed with her body and by the time she was sixteen and weighing eighty-eight pounds she started to see deformity within her body image. Sara soon thought it may be time to get some help, so she visited a doctor who told her she needed to weigh at least one-hundred and twenty pounds but Saras mother told her that at one-hundred and twenty pounds she would be considered fat. Unfortunately, Sara isnt the only young girl influenced by a parent to be skinny. All over America there are young girls growing up around their mothers stating that they need to lose weight and they need to get in shape, and lets remind ourselves how influential every mother is whether good or bad. Now, not every situation is like Sara and there can be other influences other than the mother. However, when someone walks around always obsessing over weight and body image, people especially children are going to notice. Sara stated that people need to accept their genetics, "Some folks are going to be apple-shaped, and some folks are going to be pearshaped. If your expectation is that you need to be a thin hourglass when everyone in your family

Morgan 8 is a pear, well, you're going to be disappointed, frustrated and constantly feeling that you're not OK". All in all Sara is a good example of how hard battling an eating disorder, genetic makeup, and an influential parents can be (Harmon). All in all, many Americans would agree that the media and air brushing has a huge effect on girls and causes eating disorders along with the feeling of depression and low self-esteem. I would have to say yes, with all the research that I have conducted the definition that the media has given beauty is putting a negative effect on the way women view themselves. But they are not the only ones to blame. I feel that they play a very big role but as a researcher I have to take in all the facts and look at the topic from a broader view. So even though the media is one of the main causes of eating disorders, there are also many more. However when it comes down to the topic of the media and air-brushing and its effect on eating disorders, we as Americans should do our part to put a stop to false advertisement when it comes to beauty and perfection. We may not be able to make a difference in everyones self-esteem or home life but we can help change the medias definition of beauty.

Morgan 9 Works Cited Bailey, Brianna. "You Can't Airbrush the Real Thing: How the Media Affects Women." UVU Review. . Utah Valley University. (2010): n. page. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. Beverly. "Body Image & the Media: An Overview." (2013): n.pag. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 10 Feb 2014. "Demi Opens up About Eating Disorders." Seventeen. Ed. Demi Lovato. Seventeen, 2014. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. "EDV - Key Research and Statistics." EDV - Key Research and Statistics. State Government Victoria, The William Buckland Foundation, Perpetual, Centre of Excellence in Peer Support, Tuesday July 30. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. "Factors That May Contribute to Eating Disorders. National Eating Disorders Association. NEDA: Feeding Hope. NEDA, 08 Aug. 2013. Web. 08 Mar. 2014. Harmon, Rod. A Craving to Lose. News Bank (200). Issitt, Micah. "Points of View: Airbrushing in Advertising." (2013): 1-4. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 10 Feb 2014. <http://web.a.ebscohost.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/pov/detail?vid=3&sid=66358c30-e00a-46ca8769-24f8fb5a0926@sessionmgr4003&hid=4209&bdata=JnNpdGU9cG92LWxpdmU=Ballaro, Marder, Andrew. "Does It Matter That Aerie Skipped Photoshop in Its New Ads?." Motley Fool: To Educate, Amuse, & Enrich. 25 Jan 2014: n. page. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/01/25/does-it-matter-that-aerie-skippedphotoshop-in-its.asp&xgt;. Redar, Madisen. "Cultural Changes." Body Image: Influence On American Women (n.d.). "Eating disorders". Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic (2014).

Morgan 10 Tang, Denny. "Airbrushing- Natural Smooth Skin." 2007. <http://www.photoshoptutorials.ws/photoshop-tutorials/photo-retouching/airbrushing-naturalsmooth-skin/>. "Types & Symptoms of Eating Disorders." NEDA: Feeding Hope. Rader Programs, Eating Disorder Center, Eating Recovery Center, Rogers, 8 Aug. 2013. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.