Before we get started, let me ask you a question first:
What is the first thing that jumps into your mind when you think of a girl or a woman?
Usually, when we talk about a female, we tend to describe and judge their looks first, before we further say anything else about them. However, this seldom happens when it comes to men instead. Today, even those who are considered beautiful worry about their body images to some extent sometimes and are much more critical of themselves than men. This sort of results from media. Media, advertisements in particular, changes people's cognition, not only women's but also men's. The media tells women what they should be and how they should look.
Attached below is a video showing women in advertisements.
What is the first thing that jumps into your mind when you think of a girl or a woman?
Usually, when we talk about a female, we tend to describe and judge their looks first, before we further say anything else about them. However, this seldom happens when it comes to men instead. Today, even those who are considered beautiful worry about their body images to some extent sometimes and are much more critical of themselves than men. This sort of results from media. Media, advertisements in particular, changes people's cognition, not only women's but also men's. The media tells women what they should be and how they should look.
Attached below is a video showing women in advertisements.
The video is somewhat shocking to me: the media portrays the women to be too perfect and thus women do everything they can to achieve these beauty standards. As a result, trying to achieve their idealized appearance, they go on a diet, lose weight, to get a slimmer body shape; or, wear makeup, get a plastic surgery, to become prettier. Some of the ways are very unhealthy. Here are some eating disorder statistics. But girls still worry about their looks.
I once asked a very pretty girl, actually one of the prettiest girls I know, about how she felt about her face. To my surprise, she listed a number of "flaws" on her face that need to be "corrected" and said she wanted to get surgeries on them so bad. She also mentioned she felt very insecure without makeup. After getting used to wearing makeup on a daily basis, she always put on makeup as long as she went out.
No one is perfect. If everyone looked the same, would people still think they are pretty?
It also shows how media objectifies and sexualizes women. What I find very surprising is that many advertisements compare woman to clothes, as shown in the video.