Stereotypes Role Models In Today's Society

The Beauty Myth Women cannot find strong role models in today's society without getting a false impression. Too often the role models are of women of unrealistic beauty. Take for instance the big screen: a bunch of skinny women with flawless faces, and not a spec of cellulite. Finding role models on the glossy pages of magazines and posters has become even more prominent. Gazing at these "role models" has become an act in which shapes the way women look and feel about themselves in today's beauty conscious society. American women base their lives on a myth, a beauty myth, which impairs their self-image and distorts their views regarding their peers. America stereotypes women to fit the myth by suggesting that they either have beauty
This year that number has increased to over 6 million, of which 335,000 are under the age of 18. The increase in numbers of plastic surgeries could be attributed and/or directly proportionate to the increase in extreme makeover shows. According to Charles Cooley, “a person’s sense of self is derived from the perceptions of others.” I will use Charles Cooly’s looking-glass-self theory to argue that mass media has created a social mirror for millions of women, the consequence of which is a “cosmetic surgery addiction”. Cooly’s looking-glass-self is defined as “a self-concept based on our perception of others judgments of
These kinds of shows, combined with the seemingly flawless beauty of Hollywood stars, forms the social mirror by which society judges itself. Under these circumstances certain women begin to see themselves as unwanted and not good enough. The answer to their feelings of unattractiveness is fulfilled by plastic surgery more often than not, and when their problem is not fixed by one surgery another is done until an addiction begins to form. In the year 2003, 4.3 million patients undergoing plastic surgery were returning patients. Cooly’s theory of the looking-glass-self illustrates why society is addicted to plastic surgery, and why this addiction is due to the media. The media projects images of people that are unrealistic and these images are what we feel we should look like. Women refuse to accept themselves for who they are and for what they look like because they don’t think that they measure up to society’s standards. The media shows its audience what’s considered “acceptable” and