Warning: Dangerous Body Image Ideals
All Things Consider — By Lexie Tourek on November 18, 2011 at 12:30 pm
Was the womyn in the image above photoshopped? Does it matter? Norway thinks so. Their government is thinking of implementing a policy that forces advertisements using photoshopped images of models presenting unrealistic beauty ideals to contain a warning label.
Norway’s Equality Minister on the plan:
“‘We have to reduce the pressure the beauty ideal generates,’ said Equality Minister Audun Lysbakken, as he presented a government plan recommending ‘dialogue’ with advertising agencies.”
The Equality Minister, among many others including feminist groups and UK Liberal Democrats, sees the danger in growing numbers of youth’s body dissatisfaction, citing the rising numbers of female eating disorders, as attributable to unrealistic images. Media images of bodies may be getting more twisted too: a study of PlayGirl centerfolds from 1973 to 1997 showed that males bodies became increasingly muscular as body fat plummeted.
The idea of the ban is heart-warming, but I think it’s only a small step towards the beginning of a cultural reframing of how we view bodies. When I was a Girl Scout in elementary school, I remember learning about eating disorders– how screwed up expectations of models are and just how unrealistic or dishonest most ads are (I think of this video). Anyway, in Girl Scouts, the womyn explaining this cultural phenomenon told us that our role in combatting media’s exploitation of beauty was to just “talk back” to images we saw. Whenever we saw a really skinny model (or really muscular model), we were supposed to say “Yeah right, that’s impossible” or “Baloney! She couldn’t survive.”
I feel like Norway’s move is just a grown-up version of this Girl Scout game. It’s somewhat empowering, yet lacking in offering counter-images or even just respect for the people portrayed in these images. Additionally, this policy would foster an attitude that lacks respect for models in advertisements, which really doesn’t do much good for creating acceptance of all body types. If we believe so much in the power of the media to influence how we view our bodies, then why not harness that power? Maybe policy that forces a broader representation of body types or incentivizes companies/modeling agencies to have more diversity will create more body acceptance.
By: Lexie Tourek
(Photo courtesy of sxc.hu)
| Share and Enjoy: |
|
Tweet |
Tags: advertisements, body image, Health, media, Norway, photoshop, women
Subscribe
13 Comments
i think this is a great step towards progress!
kinda like the warning labels on cigarettes. yes people still smoke, but it is now perceived as “bad for you” rather than “cool.” i think the media had more to do with changing that original image of cigarettes than the warning labels, but nevertheless it is a step towards progress. it also addresses the issue straight on, something that most people might have been unaware of, or did not care much about.
Lexie,
I love how you are thinking! I think the media does have a lot of power and that we can use incentives to promote all types of bodies. I wish they showed the youtube video in your post to everyone!
However, I think we should also ask ourselves as a community the following question:
What is it about the images in the media that make us want to be different than who we are naturally? How do we view ourselves, and how much are we judging our own body on the basis of a media ad? Why are we judging ourselves?
My point is that regardless of what changes are done to ads, if we do not change internally how we think and how we view ourselves in relation to those ads and to other people, we will always keep judging ourselves. Perhaps this is the root of the problem? Just a thought.
Hey Chips,
Thanks for commenting! I think that you ask a really provocative question. And it gets at what our ideals of beauty are as a community and how they’re decided.
If we aren’t judging ourselves about what is physically attractive (ideally) – how do we negotiate value in other types of beauty (kindness, humor, intelligence, etc.)? Is there a way to tell whether or not these attributes are intrinsically beautiful or full of worth without some type of judgement (against an other or an idea)?
Maybe the alternative is to define beauty as everything – even the things that we think are ugly and evil.
Lexie,I agree that a warning label about what one is about to see, really doesn’t address the issue. Beauty and physical attractiveness comes in many varieties, why not show real men and real womyn with real bodies; scars, wrinkles and every other imperfection in ads. The media is the message, and what we see will linger much longer in our implicit and explicit memories than what we are told. Norway should be applauded for beginning the conversation.
I think you’re right, Lexie: Norway’s proposed policy is a small step in the right direction but not nearly enough. The key thing is having women of all body types in major and minor roles in movies, TV, advertisements, and everything else. You see this more than you used to (as with Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove_Campaign_for_Real_Beauty – which is great but could be improved on, I think), but even when women with bodies that don’t conform to the ideal do show up in the media, they tend to be minor characters or to have personalities that ostensibly are tied to their bodies (think Melissa McCarthy’s crude, masculine character in Bridesmaids).
I’m not exactly sure how you go about breaking down the current system and introducing these new images and ideas, but I suspect it would take a new, young generation breaking into these industries and making a point of changing the representations of women in them. I don’t think government policy, even policy more ambitious than Norway’s proposed law, could bring about this sort of thing, but it would be wonderful if there were a nonprofit or a network of nonprofits dedicated to organizing this change.
And here’s another small example of diverse representations of the sexes, straight from the Vienna metro system: http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/11/18/u-bahn-priority-seat-symbols/.
The other commenters have me thinking that thinking about body image as a concept is destructive (even when it’s about positive body images).
Maybe there’s a way for all of our ads (media) to be hyper-reflective of ourselves, like mirrors. In some weird, sci-fi techno world, advertisements, movies, etc. would be live action role playing sorts of things.
Thanks for commenting and for links!
Damn that video was really visually cool. And go Norway!!!!!
Even though it’s only mentioned in passing, I applaud the author for bringing attention to the way in which men are equally exposed to unrealistic body ideals through advertisements. Creating a healthy body image is just as important for boys as it is for girls in fostering healthy lifestyles and encouraging self-love! I don’t think we should view this as a “female” issue.
Thanks!
I totally agree. I’m taking a men’s health class right now, and there so many interesting/messed-up issues relating to men and body image issues – steroids, muscle dysmorphia, and body fat, to name a few. Also, we read this article that talks about differences between different types of masculinities and body image issues…
Why do we want to set forth “ideal” body types? We want skinny, curvy, muscular, willowy–by putting forth one we exclude the others. What we think is our ideal body type says something about who we are and how we want to live, which, as you noted, has several deleterious effects.
Would we rather say, “be healthy”? Yet this in a sense is also demeaning because the measure of judgment becomes the access to food and exercise and hospitals which, let’s be real, is a combination that only a slice of America and the world can achieve.
Is it possible to not care about body images at all?
Hey Carlen,
I don’t think it’s possible … yet. I think to get over a lot of body negativity that is present in American culture, we need to find body positivity – acceptance – love.
I don’t know though … I do think it requires a holistic approach in understanding ourselves as humans beyond a physical body … beyond simplistic comparability.
Thank you so much for commenting … really thought provoking ideas!