Appearance

People usually say, "looks don't matter, personality does". Let me just say that that statement is totally false. Honestly the first things someone sees in a person is their appearance. For example, when going to a job interview they would most likely turn down someone who is unclean and messy looking. Our society tends to judge people more on their looks. I'm sure that one time in history no one cares about how one looked and focused on personality. Due to media, we automatically have instant judgement on how someone is supposed to look depending on gender and race and many other factors. This is where stereotypes come into place. This is why women have the need to be pretty and what not so that they can fit the expectations and standards of many men. Self esteem becomes an issue as well.

Expectations

In my opinion women feel the need to fit men's expectations. 

We tend to not think for ourselves anymore. What happened to 

that "independent woman" alter ego that we all used to think we had? 

Just because a man says something negative to a woman or because

a man likes certain types of ladies, we try to fit our character into this

made-up factory built barbie image. Some men want perfect girls and they

have impossible standards that most woman can only achieve by plastic surgery 

or something. Honestly, if men want a "perfect" girl, they might as well just go 

to a toy store and buy a Barbie instead. This photo shows how much plastic 

surgery a woman would have to undergo if she were to fit the "Barbie perfect" expectation. 

It really does seem ridiculous when you look at it in this way. 

Models/Celebrities and Photoshop

We always see these beautiful celebrities and models on the cover of our favorite magazines. 

Girls and women of all ages tend to feel insecure about themselves because they wish that they

could look at least half as great as these celebrities. But the truth is, all of these people are not as perfect 

as they really look in these magazine covers. Believe it or not, these celebrities and models have flaws 

and imperfections as well, the photographers and editors just edit the photos with massive amounts of

photo shop. I just feel that the media should stop photo shopping these 50 year old women to look

10 years younger. It gives a false look at all of these celebrities and gives normal women like us low

self esteem and does not give us the confidence that we really would like to have. 

Media Affecting Female Body Image?

Is the media affecting the body image and self esteem of females? I would have to say, of course it is affecting women of this century. Long time ago people used to see the more over-weight people as wealthy, high class, and beautiful. For example, Marilyn Monroe was not stick skinny but she was seen as a beauty icon! Nowadays it is all about being skinny to the point where you can see a woman's rib cage and spine! On television and magazines we always see the "popular" girls having a small figure where as the "losers" are just average sized or over-weight. We rarely see plus-sized models anymore. Super models these days have to be stick skinny and under 100 pounds most of the time. What the media shows, women will believe and think that is the only way one should look; that being thin is the only definition of beauty. I really do believe that the media is sending out incorrect messages to women these days, and young girls especially will be more vulnerable to these messages. Beauty should be defined in all shapes and sizes.