Cari,+Duke

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Abstract: The article talks about how women are effected by media when it comes to the way they look and their weight. The media has influenced women and girls of all ages to become thinner and to buy products that would help them to lose weight or items that would help them to look better. The media uses models to help sell their products, the models are to show other women that they can also look thin and what the media considers beautiful. The article uses the barbie doll as a reference to why women can not have the perfect look. Because of the media and models, young women and older women are influenced to try and lose more weight. The problem is that with all the dieting and the different types of methods girls are using to lose weight, they are more likely to become depressed and lose their self esteem.

Discussion Questions: 1.) How much of an effect does the Barbie doll actually have on little girls? Do you think that it is right for people to make these dolls knowing that the body of a Barbie doll is unattainable?

2.) Is it fair for the media to convince women and girls into thinking that they are not good enough just to promote their products?

3.) Why are people in society pushing so hard to achieve the perfect body image? Is this media's fault for depicting images of females that aren't realistic?

4.) Why is it so important in society for women to be so thin? (the articles in magazines have a lot to do with dieting and exercising).

 5.) " The barrage of messages about thinness, dieting and beauty tells "ordinary" women that they are always in need of adjustment—and that the female body is an object to be perfected."    Why does media objectify the female body?

Dukes Response: It is sad that the issues with weight and beauty are starting at such a young age. Women and girls trying to get the perfect barbie doll body is pretty much impossible. I believe that it is true that people think that having the perfect body will lead them to the perfect life. I believe so because majority of the celebrities that people see and idolize on tv are slim and beautiful. The media has a negative effect on women because the standards of looking beautiful and being slim are pressured upon women the most. I also agree that no matter what women always find something about them that needs to be fixed or worked on.

Cari's Response: I find it difficult to understand how the woman body can sell products that have absolutely nothing to do with the woman body. It's upsetting to me that people actually buy products based on the body of a woman depicted to promote the product. I find it especially degrading because the body and the face of the woman models on advertisements are usually not in its natural state. Meaning that the editors edit everything of the picture, such as the thinness of the model's body and the pore-less state of the woman's face and the perfectly proportional face. Media is making women want to be something that no body is, perfect. Although the article makes a point about how the advertisements make people feel insecure about their looks and therefore will most likely buy their products, it has a negative effect. The negative effect is that it makes people lose their self confidence and sometimes to the point where they become anorexic. It's disgusting how there is a study on how one out of four college women college students have bad eating habits, such as skipping meals or fasting, because the media has a huge role in this problem. I found the Barbie doll reference to be very interesting because it makes me sick knowing that there are people who make these Barbie dolls that little girls own. These Barbie dolls are unrealistic in body proportions and will never be attainable. I hope that the real human body will be depicted in media soon since it was stated in the article that it is clearly not.