Media Effects On Women And Men

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Gabi Ene

J 211

Melissa Jones

Media Effects on Women and Men

Media portrayals of men and women are seen everywhere in the media. Television, books, magazines, movies, and especially advertising all use human bodies to display what beauty should look like. Even though many of us believe that the media is manipulating and have an unrealistic vision of the meaning of beauty, seeing such images over and over again can disregard that fact and start thinking that perhaps what the media shows us is beautiful and desirable. Models of men and women in the media are unrealistically impossible to accomplish without having the proper genes which a very small percentage of people worldwide have. Many women and men feel the pressure and desire to accomplish the image of perfection to the point where drastic measures are taken to be that perfect model.

To put it simply, the ideal beauty is being thin. Magazines and television exploits women and men to be sexually appealing and fit. According to the documentary "Killing Us Softly," Jean Kilbourne states that the average person spends about three years in their lifetime watching television commercials, many of which have the human body as the centerpiece of the advertisements. Some advertisements or commercials have nothing to do with human bodies, yet they use it because it sells and it is the most influential tactic that can sway a person to purchase the product. The average teen sees about 500 ads a day ("Christianity Today"). It can be seen on billboards, handouts, newspapers, window posters, etc. However, magazines are loaded with perfect body images. The Media Awareness Network, a Canadian research and support organization, found that magazines for women are ten times more likely to contain advertisements and articles associated to dieting than are men’s magazines, and three-fourths of the magazine covers have articles about improving and changing the physical appearance of your body. As a result, 53% of young teen girls have a negative body image. At age 17, the percentage increases to 78%. The message is clear: be thin and you will be sexy. But to understand that all of these models have been manipulated is beyond repair; girls especially are affected to be skinny.

This phenomenon can be seen as the "The Barbie Effect". Barbie and Ken have a glamorous lifestyle and ideal bodies. Barbie and Ken specifically glorified in their perfection in every aspect; their relationship is flawless, their bodies are extremely fit (with endlessly long legs) and are rich at a young age. It gives the impression that boys and girls can have that lifestyle. But this lifestyle is in fact is not realistic at all. Because of the media’s representation of beauty, eating disorders are at an all-time high. A huge 65% of girls and women are suffering through starvation or eating disorder behaviors. Other actions, such as cosmetic surgery have become more and more popular with women. Some even had over 60 surgeries because they don’t feel like one or two will improve anything.

Men are also influenced by the media’s representation of beauty. Strength is the key to influence men and boys. Having a wider chest with rippling abs is what the media shows what beauty is and what women are looking for in a partner. A study by Ridgeway and Tylka (2005) showed that men felt pressured by the media to look extremely masculine, especially from the waist up. In contrast, authors of article, "What about men?" stated a more recent study done in 2011 where men saw TV advertisements of "ideal" male images and advertisements with no appearance related whereas women’s related advertising is based on the women’s body form. Similar to women’s response to the media, men who looked at the ideal body had more eating disorders, muscle dissatisfaction, steroid usage and exercise excessively. It is obvious that both men and women are suffering from something that is impossible to accomplish because most, if not all, of these images are manipulated and photo shopped.

While television and magazines have influence on women visually, music plays a huge part on women through lyrics and lengthy descriptions on what women are to society. The hip hop culture is the biggest genre of music that focuses on women’s roles and bodies. In the documentary "Killing me softly" the speaker Jean Kilbourne explains that with the music about exploiting women comes with violence. Often time’s women are described as a "whore" or "slut" and have indirect expressions of harming women into submission. The name calling towards women dehumanizes, disrespects, and dishonors women. Through the labeling of women, men may feel like he has justification in harming a woman physically or mentally. Along with women’s degrading status in hip hop culture, men are especially a victim to explicit hip hop music. They may feel like they have to be violent to fulfill that status of a powerful and dominating person. The music itself is vocally strong and commanding. According to the article "From the Fringe" hip hop music is the fastest growing genre of music in the United States, in which as to why this type of music is becoming more popular, one possible theory is that it gives the youth, especially those who are going through identity issues have an idea what they are meant to be like and what they are supposed to look like. There is some hip hop music that offers a clean substitute to the morally corrupting hip hop music, but as long as the morally degrading music exists, society is still suffering with the problem.

What has been in the hot spot lately is the use of violence and sexuality in video games. Even through the focus of these games is to win, the physical aspect of the players are very similar to what the media describes ideal. The male players in the games are graphically tough looking, violent, and dominating. The Barbie figured women wear skimpy, tight clothes. Besides the highly sexualized body images we see, violence is a major influence, some would say glorify, in these games. An example of where this can be seen is in the video game The Grand Theft Auto. The series features violence towards prostitutes and road rage.

From the music we listen to, the television commercials and magazines and other types of media, perfection and what we are supposed to be like in society is affecting us everywhere. Since mass media has been invented, the effects of it are dramatic. One of the truths explains that nothing is new, and this truth is very applicable to the influence media has on women and men. Since the birth of media, we have seen the exploits of women and men in all forms, directly or indirectly and it still being exploited. Being part of this modern society, physical beauty is scrutinized even on models on runways. Perfection by the definition from the media is difficult to accomplish. Being impossibly thin, perfectly toned skin, and rippling abs are manipulated to the point where achieving that exact look is becoming our nearly impossible goal to achieve. The music and video games have an underlying message in the behaviors of men and women. Movements that are looking to change the media’s representation of beauty are becoming more active. Help for people suffering eating disorders are available, and rules for models that being below the standard, healthy weight can no longer model all show a positive outlook towards the future. As Jean Kilourne said, "change needs to happen by striving for a new culture, where the public is educated and think themselves as citizens, not consumers. What’s at stake is an ability to have an alternative—freely chosen lives." Understanding the effects of media will free us and strengthen us to become more aware of what is being at stake, our lives.

Work Cited

"Christianity Today." Her.meneutics. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2013.

"From the Fringe: The Hip Hop Culture and Ethnic Relations." Dr. Renford R. Reese's Homepage. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2013.

Hobza, Cody L., Karen E. Walker, Oksana Yakushko, and James L. Peugh. "What About Men? Social Comparison and the Effects of Media On Body and Self Esteem." Pyschology of Men and Masculinity 8.3 (2007): 161-72. Print.

Jhally, Sut, and Jean Kilbourne. Killing Us Softly 3: Advertising's Image of Women. Northampton, Mass: Media Education Foundation, 2002.

"Portrayal of Women in the Popular Media." World Savvy Monitor. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2013.