So, my dear friends, I just read an article online about the media's effect on girls and body image. I article explained about how a child develops and how children, from the time that they are born start to base what they should look like by the way people react to them. It then says the as a child grows older and becomes aware of what societies standards of the perfect body are, they start to want to be like that.
The article gave some good stats to help my argument, 40% of 9 and 10 year old girls that were surveyed, had tried to lose weight. What child needs that pressure? The time that a girl spends watching TV and movies, has a direct correlation with how the girl feels about her body image. Reading magazines for teen girls or women also correlated with body dissatisfaction for girls.
The article also had another part to it about gender roles in the media and how the media presents girls as obsessed with boys, pink, shopping, clothes, dating, and other stereotypical girl qualities. The media uses these qualities to try to relate to girls. This even though it is a different topic, helps my argument because it shows how the media influences girls in other ways besides their body image.
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3 comments:
Jordan-
After reading the title to this blog, I knew that I had to comment on it since I’m writing a similarly themed paper. Except my topic is broader and deals with bias in the media as a whole, not just towards one specific group like you are doing about girls. I believe that there is bias in the CBS, NBC, and ABC news media groups, and that it should be stopped. I think that your topic is interesting because it addresses one group of people being targeted by the media and how they react to it. I’m having some trouble finding articles about my topic because unfortunately most newsmen deny that the problem exists. This makes it difficult to get both sides, but I’m sure I’ll be able to find enough. Yours is probably easier because it is a more current and popular topic to talk about.
JORDANA--
I just really enjoy reading all of your blogs, becuase your topic is just so interesting to me. I did not know that children base what they should look like on how the people around them look, but that makes perfect sense. The statistic about how 40% of 9 year olds have tried to lose weight made me feel really sad. It is so disgusting to me that they feel the need to lose weight when they are NINE YEARS OLD. They still have their baby fat for goodness sake! Now there are some girls that are into the obese standards and need to do this, but the majority of nine year olds are just fine. It's just so wrong to try and lose weight when you are still so young and are still growing.
Hey Jordan
I like your topic. I can't believe that 40% of 9 and 10 year olds have tried to lose weight. I wonder if that has increased more in the past years because when I was that age, I do not remember thinking of my weight. I did not really feel the pressure to be like the people on T.V. or in magazines. Also, the 9 and 10 year olds still have their baby fat since they probably have not grown yet. When they grow, they will lose most of it. What is the point?
Also, I wonder if teenagers would dress and act differently if the girls on T.V. were not obsessed with pink and designer clothes. Shouldn't people try be themselves without trying to act like people on T.V./magazines?
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