Haley Athens, Campus Carrier Opinions Editor
The media socially constructs us at a young age, telling us what beauty and normal is, causing indirect effects that media has upon the American nation. These ideas socially condition us, and we have become buyers of the ridiculous ideal of media’s definitions of beauty and normalcy.
Women and men are socially constructed through film and print telling us the beauty standards for each gender. Film and print tell America how we should look and how our bodies should appear or be presented.
According to the male gaze, we look at the world from a camera lens of a man. Through media, we almost always see women physically and psychologically as objects. Because of this gaze old women are marginalized in society. Women are only valued when they are young (specifically in the age range of 19-30). Also, for a woman to be beautiful, not only must she keep up with her feminine architecture. Curves? No such thing. To advertising, a woman with curves is actually a woman who does not have hips, but hipbones. To be beautiful is to be sexy at all times, at every age. But women are not the only gender objected to the social construction of beauty standards.
Men are also stuck with the stereotypical male roles through film. The physicality of men is like the hyper-sexualization of women. According to films, men want power, and in order to attain this power, men must have bodies that will prevail. Also, the beauty standard for a male is to be masculine. That is the ultimate goal. In order to be masculine, homophobia must take place. Also, being a husband is seen as emasculating. This view did not take place until the late 1970’s since women’s liberation. To be married is to be undersexed. To be undersexed, is to fight the idea of beauty for a male.
According to the theory ‘pathology of the body’ by Julia T. Wood, media feeds us the idea that everyone has something wrong with them and no matter how good we are, we are not good enough. These beauty standards are impossible to attain. Along with the ideals of beauty that the media gives us, it also has an indirect effect upon us. It feeds us behaviors and ideas indirectly.
Media is memorable, whether they do it discreetly or not. We undergo direct and indirect gender messages along with adapting behaviors we so frequently see, hear or read.
According to the general aggression model, exposure to violence leads towards aggressive behavior. The more we are exposed, the more that we find it the normality. In media, there are .88 violent acts per minute. These aggressions are split between social and physical. For women, it is usually social aggression; with men, it is usually physical aggression.
Men usually define their masculinity through aggression and violence, like Brad Pitt in “Fight Club”. Girls define their feminity through social aggression, like Rachel McAdams in “Mean Girls.” The more aggression people are shown through a comical manner, the more they are adapted to understand that there is nothing wrong with aggression and violence.
In the music video “Love the Way You Lie” by Eminem and Rihanna, a very violent relationship is shown. It basically shows that no matter the abuse, the girl will always crawl back to the man. Though aggression might seem harmless in media, it indirectly tells the people of America that it’s normal and should be accepted. Next time you’re watching or listening to something about violence, think about the real message and if that message is okay.
Next time you are looking through a magazine or watching a movie, know that the standards of media coverage is a myth and provide goals to attain something impossible. Know that if you do not fit the ideals of media that does not mean you are not beautiful. Also, just because we can become subjected to social construction, does not mean we have to be buyers of their highly skewed ideas.