The Elephant Woman Research Paper

Society sets and governs unrealistic and unobtainable regimes, and more recently has led to conformity of women to this dominant idea of female beauty. We, as individuals are continuously reminded of our imperfections, from our large figure to uneven skin tones, wrinkles or dimples. The media continuously bombards us with unnaturally thin models and actresses or products that guarantee weight loss or perfect skin. The media has constructed the dominant idea of female beauty as a wonderful illusion. But, in reality, these airbrushed images of celebrities are unachievable and undermines a woman’s uniqueness and individuality. The value on appearance in a superficial manner has led to conformity, particularly in women who strive to fit categorised
Marie Claire featured a three page spread of airbrush, free nude photos of Australian model, Jennifer Hawkins for the ‘Love Your-Self Campaign’ supporting the Butterfly Foundation. The photo shoot supposedly revealed Jen, “one of the world’s rarest beauties with all her flaws”. Reist correctly states, Marie Claire inaccurately pins her ‘flaws’ as ‘impediments’ and immediately tags Miss Universe 2004 as ‘the Elephant Woman’ for owning hips. (Cite) Outrageous! Hawkins, size zero, pouncing around, nude with supposedly all her ‘flaws’ is meant to make me feel better? Well, no. It’s not like every woman possesses this slender figure. Magazines need to lessen their focus upon the “stereotypical thin, hot, sexy cult” and introduce more real, natural women.
They claim to have received tips from numerous celebrities including Miranda Kerr and Gisele Bundchen. Step 3 states “Avoid Carbs”. (Cite) Ridiculous and cliché! It angers me that magazines pretend to encourage natural beauty, healthy eating and exercise but in the same edition promotes physical changes, weight loss and cosmetic products to enhance and alter physical appearance. You hypocrites! You pretend to build confidence and self-esteem but instead, you drown us in fake images and useless products. Worldwide, the demand for cosmetic and plastic surgery and cosmetic products has dramatically risen since 2000. This clearly highlights the lack of confidence in one’s self and appearance, and the need for physical change to be accepted. Many cosmetic products supposedly guarantee flawless skin, anti-aging and revitalisation of skin cells. But, how is this