Advertising affects the way women see themselves.
(If you are, or have ever known, a woman, this is probably not a shocking statement.)
Since the modern form of advertising began, it has been dictating who women are supposed to be, from their clothes, to their hair and makeup, to their personalities. As author Susan Grayson stated, "Girls and young women learn they must adhere to standards of comportment, physical presentation, and appearance...or face disapproval, even social failure, ostracism, rejection.” Scientists and researchers have noted that in this age of constant advertising, comparison is inevitable. Simply put, the faces and bodies girls see in magazines tell them who they are supposed to look like, and who they are supposed to be.
What kind of messages have you received from the media about how girls should look and behave?
Too often, not meeting these media standards causes women and girls to deal with guilt, shame, and low self-esteem. These pressures are often exacerbated by the existing western beauty standards, particularly surrounding body shape and weight. Weight is an especially prevalent theme, with the popularity of diet culture and the standards imposed upon straight-size models. Rader Programs, a clinical treatment facility specializing in eating disorder treatment, revealed a number of upsetting statistics:
Seeing larger and curvier girls on the pages of magazines benefits women by showing them that it's not necessary to adhere to one specific body type; that's just unrealistic. Models who wear larger sizes give girls images to look up to of women who aren't just the stick-thin ideal of recent years. There is of course an underlying problem in the fact that society is so saturated with content that tells women who to be instead of letting them choose; the ideals placed on women are demeaning, dehumanizing, and restrictive, and in a perfect world those restrictions wouldn't exist. But while they still do, seeing models who aren't skinny widens the realm of what women are shown they can look like, and makes them feel more accepting of the bodies they have.
69%
of girls in one study reported that magazine models influence their idea of a perfect body shape.
4 out of 5
US women report being dissatisfied with their body.
47%
of girls in 5th-12th grade said that looking at ads made them feel like they should lose weight.
