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Beena's paper
Contributed by
foolish86
on
Thursday, 8th April 2004 @ 08:02:58 AM in AEST
Topic:
AmericanTragedy
|
Teen fashion has been around forever. With World War II ending, fashion magazines flourished and introduced a whole new trend-- especially for teenage girls. Not only did this new media open up endless possibilities of individuality, but it also inspired young girls to be with the latest trends, and ultimately have "the look." According to Gabriella Basten, author of the article "Designed to Fit In" in The Washington Times states, "teen fashion is nothing new. The American teen market was invented after the end of World War Two." (online). With all the glitz and glamour going on at the time, there was always a catch; there is always a price that needs to be paid. As time goes on we do see the toll, with the new trends set by role models of our youth and the flocks of girls who desperately desire to be like them. In today’s society, most teenagers feel like there is an "ideal person" or an "ideal way to look." Teenagers have been hammered into their heads with fashion icons and magazines showing the youth on how an attractive person should look, act or have. These influences make girls go to any extent to achieve what they believe is self-satisfaction. The one issue that stands out the most is the weight issue. Year by year, as models are getting slimmer, statistics show that eating disorders among young women are increasing as well. Girls desire to look like the models on the covers of magazines and turn to starving themselves and/or taking pills as the solution to their desire. However, this “perfect image” was not existent in the past. In history, women have been celebrated in numerous ways. They have always had a specific role specifically cut out for them. Either they were to stay at home and be the typical housewife as we call it today and cook and clean or they were determined, independent workingwomen, making a life of their own. But no matter what role these women were playing, they did have to maintain an image. In the early years, there was not that much emphasis on weight; however, they had to be presentable. Take Marilyn Monroe is a great example: she was a size 14-- a famous actress and model. The average actress or model today is no more than a size 4. "Twenty years ago, models weighed eight percent less than average, woman today weigh twenty-three percent less" ("body", online). These figures prove how powerful of a toll magazines are taking. These increasing percentages of less body weight are only stats on models which exclude the rates of those young and impressionable girls who have to be exposed to this everyday. They are driven to critical and/or even fatal methods to feel that they are truly "what they should be." Media plays a big role in everyone's life, and America portrays an "ideal image" through hip, stylish magazines and fashion icons causing teenage girls to desperate measures in their attempt to achieve the absurd idealistic images.
Fashion magazines affect the way teenage girls perceive themselves and their lives since the initial issues from the very first magazines released such as Vogue, People, Teen Vogue and Teen People. Vogue, which began in the 1900's, geared towards women’s lifestyles and of course, the latest fashion trends of the times. Magazines became a form of mass media; it is easy to see how and why it would cause such a revolution and affect the way a young woman would think. And it still does to this day, " 98 percent of females indicated that they read women's beauty and fashion magazines at least once a year. Of those who read them 28.5 percent indicated that they read at least once a month and 59.2 percent reported that they read two or more times a month" (Thomsen, online 15). These numbers are an indicator to the demand of fashion magazines. They shape our minds, imaginations, expectations and desires, which makes the youth crave for them and strive to be like what they see. Since there is such importance stressed on magazines, marketers take notice. They are aware of the demand and how many hands of impressionable teenagers these magazines fall into. Gabriella Basten states, "Marketers are becoming more and more savvy in tapping into this youth market, they use teenagers to spot trends and women's magazine" (Basten, Online). Every entrepreneur’s biggest concern is to get the product out there and sell. When readers flip through a fashion magazine, most of the pages are advertisements. They are bombarded with ads for all types of different products, which mosty aim towards girls and portrayals of images. "Every child wants to be cool. Flip through the pages of teen magazines and count the number of ads devoted to fashion, showing models with perfect bodies, skin and hair. It is easy to understand how these ads can have such a powerful impact" (Veigle online). Whatever it takes to sell something it will be done. The argument can be mad that the marketers are only trying to sell their products, but the real issue is how they are going about doing it, and not looking back at the harmful consequences it has on the youth society as a whole.
In order to sell ideas, companies use many different methods that appeal to the target audience of young girls. "Magazines ads target the wants of adolescent teenagers which gives them the feeling of wanting to fit in. Clothes play a huge role. Fashion--everyone wants to fit in and if a person is not accepted, a lot of problems such as bullying and self-esteem issues occur" (Thomsen, online). With this in mind, marketers know how to target the girls—they base their products off of what the girls’ believe to be their needs, which boosts self-esteems of young girls.
Many teenagers need role models, someone to look up to and adore. With a person to look up to in their lives, it gives them aspiration to be someone, make goals in life and achieve it. Even though role models can be a good influence, they also can prove to be very harmful. "At this stage of a teenage girl’s life they need role models. Unfortunately, too many of them choose fashion models or actresses as their role models. Posting pictures all over their walls and resort to dangerous methods to be exactly like them" (Thompsen, online). These young girls who are developing their minds turn to the thing that they have the easiest access to--media. They look to super models, their favorite actresses to give them guidance to help develop the person they want to be. These role models are portrayed as the statue of happiness, perfection, and acceptance, which makes every teenager wonder, “Who wouldn't want that?” Just as easy it is for the girls to look to the fashion magazines for help, it is that much easier for the marketers and advertising agencies to take advantage of that fact and manipulate whatever possible to do what they need. They use the thin and pretty celebrities, supermodels with the product, and/ or some over generalized tagline that plays with a teenage girl's mind and makes her mind wonder and start to think about how they might be happy or accepted, if they looked a certain way. There was a study done where groups of girls were shown two different types of magazines, one being a fashion magazine and the other of just an informative magazine. The results were, "Adolescent girls that see images of thin fashion models were more likely to report higher levels of body dissatisfaction immediately after exposure than those who saw non-fashion magazines" (Thomsen, online). Since the girls could not achieve the look of these icons, they became dissatisfied with themselves. Also with these "high levels" of body dissatisfaction this can only lead to deeper problems such as self-esteem issues. It could hurt a girl so much that she could possibly lose confidence and go into depression. Thus, justifying the pathogenic methods that they resort to. Another study has been done correlating with this issue of deeper damage by fashion magazines in 1995. The results were shocking; "Three minutes spent looking at a fashion magazines caused seventy percent of teenage girls to feel depressed, guilty, and shameful" (Body, online). With all this supposed perfection celebrated on the covers of fashion magazines by the most beautiful people, young women are lead to believe that if they are thin, or have the perfect hair that they will be beautiful, happy and accepted by their peers. "Teenagers are constantly buying teen fashion magazines, the images emaciated models appearing in magazines reinforces the idea, if you want to be accepted or happy you must be thin" (Thompsen, Online). Hence, climbing issues of young girls not being happy with who they are and in a pursuit of whom they believe they should be.
With all this in mind, it is obvious to see the various reasons why young girls would be driven to desperate measure to strive for, what they have been told is the answer for acceptance. The most prevalent issue that has the greatest attention is the weight issue. It almost seems like a trend. "Dieting has become so common that, to many people it has become a normal way of life" (Thomsen, Online). It seems like every girl has something on her body that she is just waiting to get rid of. New plans and ways are devised everyday to do this quick, efficient, and easily. These are referred to as pathogenic methods of dieting. These methods include the famous diet pills. That makes promises, which are never true and could end up harming more than helping in any which way. Other pathogenic methods are bulimia, where girls will eat as much as they want of anything and usually after every meal, or whenever they eat and then force themselves to regurgitate whatever they have eaten. Another way is various types of restrictive diets; girls will only eat a certain amount of calories through out the day, or certain types of foods--for example, all protein diets or the carbohydrate diets, which deprives them of the essentials they need on a daily routine. However, since "everyone does it" and they are receiving what they want, they take these take up methods and go through with them. "Recent research suggests that 2/3 of all high school females are on diets or planning on starting one some time soon" (Thomsen, Online).
It sounds crazy, but it is true that magazines play a big role with all their super thin models, dieting tips, and supposed quick and efficient ways of losing weight and looking great, which encourage young women. These deceiving advertisements motivate them to do whatever it takes to be thin and convince society that it is easy. They try all the different methods that are given to them, and start to explore a little on their own. Teenagers want quick results. They see the obvious choices such as bingeing and purging, where they can eat whatever they want and get rid of it just as fast. Even starvation, where the feeling of being hungry makes them feel better about themselves, even though they are depriving their bodies of food, they are getting results and some how a fulfilling feeling. In a brief discussion with Ansar Saleem, a student at Benedictine University, he states, "I get so hungry, but the feeling that you get in your stomach just feels so good. And when people say that you look like skin and bones, it makes you actually feel good about yourself, like your empty but yet satisfied." So as Ansar said, it makes her feel good that they she is depriving her body from food because the less food she has in her stomach the lighter she feels. Also, when people start to notice the body change, they begin to enjoy the feeling. They feel that they are getting what they want--the positive attention that all the supposed perfect people get. Even if it is not the right way, at least they are getting positive results. Just as they are getting positive reinforcements by quick results and magazine type bodies, they receive encouragement by their peers and makes it seem that they have been socially accepted and continue the methods they are using to get more positive comments and what they believe is self satisfaction. Then the continuous compare with ones peer pushes them to do more and compete to get the ideal images.
One of the hardest times in a person's life is when they go from childhood into adolescence. Teenagers entering into emotional, stressful, and confusing times and their bodies physically start to develop and form their opinions and try to establish whom they are. They go through various stages and turn to many sources for guidance. Since, pop culture plays such a big role in everyday life, even in the 1950's to 2004 teenage women turn to mass media to help them identify and receive acceptance. One of the most popular forms of mass media is, fashion magazines. Who illustrate a million different types of fashions and images? They help mold minds and subconsciously affect it to the extent that the way they portray something it is accepted. Since, they usually use certain body types to portray what a women should be and should look it drives girls to different extreme measures to achieve that. These measures can be anywhere from diet pills to bulimia, and all the methods are all either critical or even fatal, but they are so common that are not even second thought and are taken as, over obsessed teenagers that do not know where to stop. But if the one takes a step back and looks at the big picture, these girls, this vanity, eating disorders and this form of media is just another factor in the American identity. The great thing about America is that it always has new trends, new sensation, new anything that keeps the people interested and entertained and money under the belt. That is the funny thing, it has weird sense of contributing to the troubling issues that plague or nation everyday, and then goes on a mission to help it. And this issue of fashion magazines and eating disorders, believe it or not, is a factor and an active ingredient in the identity that makes America what it is. If it were not for these magazines—this media, we would not have pop culture, or something that makes us strive to make something out of ourselves. These actresses' fashion icons and fashion magazines from then and now help make the young generations’ identity. Each and every individual girl that reads these fashion magazines, has this thought process and unfortunately some even have eating disorders apart of the American identity.
The Perfect Image
By Mubeena Siddique
April 8, 2004
American Studies - Period 9/10/11
Copyright ©
foolish86
... [
2004-04-08 08:02:58]
(Date/Time posted on
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