Progress # 3 - Health Deceptions

In researching for my health proposal I found a website that blamed Women’s Magazines because they show images of women that are virtually unattainable; they create a culture of thinness. “Researchers report that women’s magazines have ten and one-half times more ads and articles promoting weight loss than men’s magazines do, and over three-quarters of the covers of women’s magazines include at least one message about how to change a women’s bodily appearance – by diet, exercise, or cosmetic surgery”.

As this website asks, are magazines pushing for self-improvement or self-destruction? Women’s magazines constantly send messages about dieting, weight loss, and beauty. Who is to say that women should always have to change themselves?

Because there is such an overwhelming presence of painfully thin women, real women’s bodies, the women who aren’t a size 0-6, have become invisible in the media. Jean Kilbourne argues that women take these stereotypes and base themselves off of industry standards. After comparing themselves to other women, they use their bodies to compete for male attention. “This focus on beauty and desirability effectively destroys any awareness and action that might help to change that climate.”

Source –
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_beauty.cfm