False Perfection- Unhealthy Images and the Real Problem

Hey guys!
Back in here for my third post already. Times flies, huh? I'm totally enjoying this little venture- it's so much fun to have a platform where I can express my views on this stuff, and to read the opinions of my friends and fellow authors on here. It's been absolutely fantastic so far.
Anyway, I had a hard time deciding on a topic for my post this week. Not because I wasn't sure what I wanted to say- exactly the opposite, actually. I literally have a page-long list of post ideas and it was so hard to choose just one. But that tells you that the one I did choose must be really important, right?

It is. I decided to write about body image in the media, specifically for girls and the way we get  pressured to be absolutely perfect 100% of the time. One of the things that really gets on my nerves is when models for magazines or photoshoots or advertisements or anything are photoshopped to a beyond-attainable point of so-called beauty. I mean, when conventionally gorgeous women have to be retouched and airbrushed and just completely redone with computer fakery, what sort of message are women and girls getting? That they're never going to be beautiful enough, because the images of "beautiful" women that they see are so fake and unrealistic. The amount of digital retouching that models receive make them literally impossible and set a just as impossible standard of beauty for girls.

A couple months back, Lorde tweeted these pictures of herself with the following statement:

"I find this curious- two photos from today, one edited so my skin is perfect and one real. Remember flaws are ok :-)"
I found it really impressive that not only did she feel comfortable enough in her own skin(literally) to go into the public eye big time without trying to be as perfect as possible, but also enough to point out her own flaws under said public eye. However, I also think this just goes to show how twisted society's image of women has become. After years of fake and unrealistic images, this concept of literal perfection has become so ingrained in people's minds that some idiot out there felt the need to take a picture of a confident, gorgeous-without-computer-fakery 17-year-old girl and then edit it to make it perfect, therefore sending her and other girls that what we can be on our own is never going to be enough.

Another example of this idealized concept of complete perfection was found in a controversy with Target a few months ago. On their website, an image of a bikini model was photoshopped to give her the trendy thigh gap that people are being told that they need nowadays. The picture, though, was messed up in an almost comical manner so that the cut that was made to make her legs perfect went up too high and it was obvious that it had been photoshopped. Target responded by saying "it was an unfortunate error and we apologize."

Yeah, right. If you take a close look at the photo above, you can tell that the thigh gap fail was not the only edit. Her arms and legs were also whittled down to toothpick proportions and her waist was edited to be thin and perfect.
Their intention was to photoshop this model and fix every so-called imperfection. They were intending to do the thing that upset everyone, which was to give this model a thigh gap. The only "error" they made was that they accidentally tipped off the public that their swimsuit model wasn't completely and utterly perfect. Their "error" was revealing to the public that, guess what, even their attractive swimsuit models haven't reached the unattainable standard of beauty that society has set up.
In a way, this goof could be viewed as a good thing. It taught everyone who saw it that hey, even this conventionally gorgeous woman isn't perfect. Even this woman who gets paid to pose for the camera in a skimpy swimsuit isn't naturally capable of the beauty standards that we're told to live up to, and that probably means that those standards aren't all that attainable.

The main part of this issue that bugs me is that it's not just in the heads of the advertisers and photographers and other people who take roles in this horrible promotion of absolute perfection. When someone is trying to sell something, either a product or a movie or a magazine, they use what they think will appeal to their audience. And then through some form of trial and error they figure out whether or not that really does appeal to their audience, and if it doesn't seem to, they try a different tactic. But if it does, they keep doing that same thing over and over and eventually even amp up the level a little more.

And that's the main problem, isn't it? In a way, it's really just a vicious cycle that no-one's been able to end through all these years. Media makers pick this image of perfection that they think will please their audience, and whether it pleases everyone or not, it's what they see and it gets stuck in their heads. But then the media makers do the same thing again and again and again, because they think it's what pleases us- and even if it doesn't appeal to all of us at first, how can it not? Maybe some of us still don't love it, but because it's what we see over and over, it becomes the norm. We get used to it. And so the media makers never stop, because their job is to sell, and after all these years, perfection has become the thing that does sell. It's a cycle that repeats itself and that will continue for a long time until somebody sticks their foot in the door to stop it. It'll go on until somebody says "no more" and puts a bump in the road. And maybe, just maybe then things will improve. Things might look up then and maybe people will attempt to change the ways that have become so set in stone over the years.

I just hope that, even if all of this doesn't change for years and years, people will start to see the error of these ways and begin to see the true meaning of beauty- the real things we should look up to. Like kindness and generosity and other things that are a little more attainable. And that, I think, is when things will start to change. I just hope it changes before too much damage is caused.

I hope I've managed to inspire you a little bit with these wild opinions of mine and that I haven't been too dreadfully boring. Until next time, lovelies.
~Oswin

Of Cardboard Boxes and Unhealthy Expectations from Society

Hey there you lovely people from potentially over eight different countries! (Yep, that's right, eight. One of which I didn't know existed until I noticed that someone from that country had viewed this blog.)

I'm gonna tackle a rather broad but also complex issue here, and one that I could write a book on- sexism, and, more specifically, the sexist standards that society and the media have set up for women. (This is a rather lengthy rant. You've been warned.)

There are so many stereotypes about women in the media, but what I want to get at isn't so much the specific stereotypes within media so much as the stereotype- society's expectations and everything that we're expected to be, and how those expectations are sustained by the media. We have to be pretty enough, smart enough. We have to be gentle or aggressive or sexy or quiet or whatever it is society wants us to be. The worst part is, if we have any two things we aspire to be that- gasp -don't both fit inside of one of society's pretty little cardboard boxes, then people will be poking us with their pencils and shouting us down until we conform into one single mold.

And that idea that everyone has to fit into one particular mold is only helped along by the media. I mean, come on, when have you ever seen a character in mainstream media who instantly reminds you of a real person you know? Almost never, because we feel the need to be the same as everyone else. TV shows and such don't write themselves- they're written by people, and that's why the majority of characters in the media are so extremely unrealistic. We're all so insecure because we feel this need to be squished into a box, so the people who write the media portray that in their writing.

When have you seen a celebrity who's simply comfortable with being who they are in front of the world and doesn't feel the need to change or enhance who they are with plastic surgery and fancy clothing and false personalities? Never, right? That's because all of this surgery and makeup and fakeness is brought upon us (sometimes by ourselves) to make us conform to one mold.

I think we can all agree that this is an issue for everyone, but especially so for women and girls. It makes me so mad when a little girl who's still trying to learn who she is gets pushed around and manipulated so she'll grow up to be exactly what society thinks a woman should be. If your daughter prefers "boyish" colors like blue and green, then the alarm bells go off. Smother her with purple and pink, otherwise she won't grow up to be like "other" women. Even if she does fit some of society's requirements for a woman, she has to stay exactly within that little pinprick-sized center of balance. She can't be glamorous and be into sports and enjoy being active. She can't be a good student and a social butterfly.

Y'know, it's kind of like when women were forced to wear corsets way back when. Someone developed this twisted mental image that all women had to look a certain way, and forced this device upon society that forced all women to conform, even though it was uncomfortable and literally oppressing. Not only is that an example to prove my point, but it also fits as a perfect analogy over the entire issue.

I guess I'll end this with a quote from one of my favorite actresses, Alice Eve from Star Trek: Into Darkness. Some idiot interviewer asked her a stupid question and she gave a great answer.

So yeah, this is exactly what I've been trying to get to through this entire rant. There's a certain list of requirements that we have to stick to. Because we're women, we get judged if we do anything that doesn't live up to society's expectations of what a woman should be.

Anyway, it's a complex issue and I don't know how to resolve it for you guys or myself. I was fortunate enough to be raised by parents who taught me that I can be anything that I want to be, regardless of my gender, but I know that wasn't and isn't the case for so many. Basically, I just think that no one should be told what they can't or should do just because of something they were born with. I think it's fair to judge everyone based on their merit as a person and not by their gender, or to dig deeper, their race or their culture or their financial class. I think everyone should be allowed to pursue their passions and be what they want to, regardless of any physical aspects or things they can't help otherwise.

I know this isn't so much an issue in the media as it is an issue in the whole world, but it's definitely one that is displayed in and is made worse by the media.

Hope you liked this little rant, and I hope I've inspired you a bit with my own opinions.
~Oswin

Wake Up Call

Rose Tyler in "Rose"

Hey guys! This is my first post and, as my AP exams are fast approaching, I will devote this post to sleep - and more importantly, though certainly less pleasant - waking up.

Now, I'm sure I'm not the only one who notices this, but whenever I see a TV show or a movie, when a character wakes up they're a little ball of radiant sunshine with perfect makeup and hair. Occasionally, I'll see a character wake up like an actual human, like in Frozen and in season one of Doctor Who, but much more often I see characters waking up unrealistically. Don't get me wrong, I understand most TV shows and movies are supposed to be fiction. Still, sometimes it's nice to see some reality in the characters.

All of these images in the media suggest that girls should be wearing makeup to bed and that it's normal to look perfect waking up. But let's be honest, if you wore makeup to bed you'd get it all over your pillow! Girls don't have to look good every single moment of the day, and I wish the media would realize this. Viewers don't mind seeing real humans occasionally! It helps audiences to identify with the character. Anyway, no one's going to be watching you while you sleep(at least I hope so), and if there was someone you should call the police and have them drag the creeper off to jail(ahem, Bella).

Anna from Frozen looking like an actual human
waking up in the morning

So, I guess what I'm trying to get at is that characters don't have to be perfect. No one's perfect and that's okay. Imperfections in a character just make that character seem more real.  But the media often is telling us that it's not okay to be imperfect, not okay to look and act the way we are. This is a harmful message. And though, most people probably don't feel insecure about the way they wake up, these images do make us feel insecure about our imperfections, and that is not okay.

-- Captain Sarah Jane