Summary Of The Beauty Myth

The media often portrays men and women in a way that strictly places each gender into a certain role/ norm. As we viewed in class, advertisements of products that are for boys were completely different than the advertisements for girls. For instance, in a commercial aimed at a boy audience, the voices were deeper, the colors were darker, and it was overall more aggressive. On the other hand, the commercials directed at girls were a cute girl’s voice, pretty sparkly colors, and happy peppy music. Due to the fact that the media does this, it makes people believe these standards are true for males and females when they definitely are not. In addition, there are various advertisements of general products that empower men while degrading women. In most of the commercials we viewed in
The Beauty Myth, which is an obsession with physical perfection, confines the modern woman in an endless cycle of hope, self-consciousness, and self-hatred while trying to fulfill society's impossible definition of being flawlessly perfect. In this reading, Naomi Wolf explains how she spoke out about how these standards for women were unfair. In response to her opinions, she was told that her actions were “un- feminine” and “un-american”(Wolf). This proves how obsessed society is with being perfect, and fitting into the standard presented by the media. The media shows people what they think people will want to see, and it is sad that such false images must be portrayed to deliver a message. Wolf goes on to support a “woman’s right to choose what she wants to look like and what she wants to be, rather than obeying what market forces and a multi- billion dollar advertising industry dictate”(Wolf). The media is such a relevant part of everyone’s lives, and as long as they keep representing men and women in such separate, standard ways, society will continue to follow these ideas and