What do you see when you look in the mirror?
Issue date: 1/28/10 Section: Features
By Juliette Faraone
Staff Writer
What do you see when you look in the mirror? Current research shows that women and girls are much more critical of their personal appearance than men. Up to 80 percent of women are dissatisfied with their reflection, whereas men tend to look into a mirror and be either pleased or indifferent. What is the reason for this contrast? Why are women so much more self-critical?
One reason for this disparity in self-esteem is the media's affect on body image. Women are often judged by the media's beauty standard, and this standard of beauty is set considerably higher than that for men. Every day, women are assailed by images of the perfect face and figure. Third wave feminist writer Naomi Woolf calls this the "official body'. Frequent exposure to the official body in film, television, and magazines makes anything short of perfection seem suddenly below average.
Studies show that typically female magazines have over ten times the amount of ads promoting a change in body image than men's magazines, and over three-quarters of the covers of magazines geared toward women include at least one message about how to change a woman's appearance.
Television and modern movies increase the importance of a thin body as a measure of personal worth. In 2000, researcher Greg Fouts found that over three-quarters of American female sitcom characters are under weight, and only five percent are above average in size. What's more, "overweight" (in most cases average weight) actresses tend to receive negative comments from male characters about their bodies and many of these are followed by prepared audience laughter.
Sometimes, these types of things are quickly explained away, because with advertising, thin is "in." In 1980, the average model weighed eight percent less than the average woman-but current fashion models weigh just under twenty-three percent less.
In most cases, what's reported as the real misfortune is that many women internalize these stereotypes by applying the media's standard to themselves. Thus, they judge themselves by the beauty industry's standards and ideals. Women are seen to make comparisons and to compete with other women for male attention.
Women are smarter than that, though. Women know that images reflected in the media aren't always reality. They know that the models on the magazine covers have been touched up by computers, and in some cases completely done over. Does this affect perceptions of the physical beauty standard? Probably. Does it dictate the level of self-worth? Not if it isn't allowed to do so.
Instead of making it the focus to change the way media portrays "the official body," women can first look to themselves. One can hardly expect magazines to stop retouching photos overnight, but one can start valuing people for who they are rather than what they look like.
Staff Writer
What do you see when you look in the mirror? Current research shows that women and girls are much more critical of their personal appearance than men. Up to 80 percent of women are dissatisfied with their reflection, whereas men tend to look into a mirror and be either pleased or indifferent. What is the reason for this contrast? Why are women so much more self-critical?
One reason for this disparity in self-esteem is the media's affect on body image. Women are often judged by the media's beauty standard, and this standard of beauty is set considerably higher than that for men. Every day, women are assailed by images of the perfect face and figure. Third wave feminist writer Naomi Woolf calls this the "official body'. Frequent exposure to the official body in film, television, and magazines makes anything short of perfection seem suddenly below average.
Studies show that typically female magazines have over ten times the amount of ads promoting a change in body image than men's magazines, and over three-quarters of the covers of magazines geared toward women include at least one message about how to change a woman's appearance.
Television and modern movies increase the importance of a thin body as a measure of personal worth. In 2000, researcher Greg Fouts found that over three-quarters of American female sitcom characters are under weight, and only five percent are above average in size. What's more, "overweight" (in most cases average weight) actresses tend to receive negative comments from male characters about their bodies and many of these are followed by prepared audience laughter.
Sometimes, these types of things are quickly explained away, because with advertising, thin is "in." In 1980, the average model weighed eight percent less than the average woman-but current fashion models weigh just under twenty-three percent less.
In most cases, what's reported as the real misfortune is that many women internalize these stereotypes by applying the media's standard to themselves. Thus, they judge themselves by the beauty industry's standards and ideals. Women are seen to make comparisons and to compete with other women for male attention.
Women are smarter than that, though. Women know that images reflected in the media aren't always reality. They know that the models on the magazine covers have been touched up by computers, and in some cases completely done over. Does this affect perceptions of the physical beauty standard? Probably. Does it dictate the level of self-worth? Not if it isn't allowed to do so.
Instead of making it the focus to change the way media portrays "the official body," women can first look to themselves. One can hardly expect magazines to stop retouching photos overnight, but one can start valuing people for who they are rather than what they look like.
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