Hello, good morning? I wrote beside the definitions the parts i would cite.
Women today are judged on their body image more than at any other time in history. With celebrities like Beyonce, and Angelina Jolie showcased on magazines, commercials, movies, advertistments, etc, women feel they need to be physically perfect. We live in a society that reflects the media. Individuals are no longer judged by their mentality, or on their content of their character, but simply their appearance. Perfection now means to be thin. Beauty no longer is based on ones inner self, but on the size of their assets, fullness of their lips and the size of their waist. Women are constantly losing themselves to idealism. The true meaning of beauty is now lost.
The survery I conducted focused on two groups of females. One being 16- 21 and the other 45-50. My hypothesis was: Young females in the age group of 16 to 21 feel pressured by the media to conform to societies expectations of what beauty is compared to woman in the 45-50 age group do. After interviewing three females between the ages of 16-21, and two women whose ages ranged between 45-50, proven my hypothesis was correct. My first question asked: In society, women are pressured to be beautiful. With the media showcasing skinny models, and lighter skin woman, it causes females of different sizes, and complexions to question their beauty. Are you completing satisfied with how you physically look? All the females between 16-21 stated yes, while the 45-50 groups both stated no. The survey revealed that the parts of the body that caused the most unhappiness for females between 16-21, included body size, facial features, and their breasts size. The women surveryed were of diversed backgrounds. No one stated they were insecure or would change the color of their skin. This proves younger females are more concerned about their weight, size of assets (breasts) and facial characteristics, rather than their skin complexion.
In today's society women are continously exposed to body perfection and cosmetically enhanced celebrities. The next question asked was: Would you ever have a cosmetic surgery to enhanced or improve something about you? In the age group 16- 21, 66% of them said that they would go under they knife to correct something about themselves they didn't find attractive. In the age group 45-50, both females stated they would not go through with surgery. In addition, younger females feel the need to be physically perfect, compared to older women who are more comfortable with their size.
In today's glamorized society, females can easily witness fallaicous and digtally corrected celebrities on television. This distracter question was to find out how many hours of television these females watch: How many hours do you watch television a day? Females between 16-21 watch 1-9 hours of television per day, compared to the older group of females who don't watch television at all. It becomes the obivious that the reason why females between 16-21 are more insecure is because of the false beauty advertistments displayed by the media. Whereas 45-50 years old are more occupied with work, taking care of their children, etc, and don't have the time to be drawn to the television.
Dictionary.com defines beauty as: "Often, beauties. Something that is beautiful in nature or in some natural or artificial environment (will cite)." I asked these females what beauty meant to them. They had the option to pick from: Beauty means flawless, beauty means voluptuous, beauty means everything and beauty means being true to yourself. Majority of the females between the ages 16-21, believe beauty signifies being flawless. The women in the age group 45-50 begged to differ. They consider beauty as being: an individual who is secure in their own skin, despite their flaws. Based on the definition chosen by the 16-21 age group, they see beauty as artificial, while females between 45-50 years view beauty as being natural.
Lastly, the media isn't the only source that has a negative impact on females. Women are targets to mental and verbal abuse, as well as bullying. This could also result in a woman becoming insecure about her physical appearance. The next question focused on what caused these females to be unconfident: What caused you to have a low self-esteem? Majority of the females in the 16-21 category said the media was the reason they were lacking confidence, compared to the females in the 45-50 group that stated their family and friends harsh criticism and bullying, led to them to be insecure.
Based on my results my hypothesis was proven right. Females between the ages of 16-21 feel pressured to conform to socities high expections of beauty compared to females between 45-50. The results from my survery demonstrated females ranging from 16-21 felt subdued by images portrayed by the media, suggesting "beauty is everything," while women ranging from 45-50 were more secure about their physical appearance, due to their maturity. In addition, the survey I conducted proposed younger females will go to great measures to be perfect, even if that involves cosmetic surgery. They are more vulnerable in regards to being attractive and beautiful, whereas older females are more comfortable in their own skin.
Next question
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, conformity is an "action in accord with prevailing social standards, attitudes, practices, etc. Individuals feel pressured to act or behave a particular way, to meet societies expectations and principles (cite). In relation to the article, I was once forced to give up on my ambitions of becoming an actress simply because my family and friends thought that was a poor career choice. In society, becoming a doctor; teacher or lawyer is viewed as an accomplishment. Setting a goal to become a singer, actress or artist, seems impractical. Therefore based on the people's opinions in my life, I abandoned my dreams in hopes to impress society, rather than myself. This resulted in me having to cope with depression, which led to me alienating myself.
When having to give up on one of your aspirations, you feel the need to withdraw yourself from society. It leaves you to believe that no one understands your purpose, or meaning. This is what occurred in my life. I lost who I was, yet when alienated I found a better vision of myself. Through my emotional isolation, I became aware of my desires and wants. A new chapter in my life began, since I was overflowing with insightful ideas. My time of alienation allowed me to explore my every need. This led to my conclusion that journalism was the career I hoped to engage in. My dreams of a better world could be heard through my perceptive writing.
This is an example of how the pressure to conform could result in alienation, and then eventually in social change. In the beginning I changed my career path to impress the ones around, which resulted into my alienation. From being alone, I came up with ideas and discoveries about how I could leave my mark in this world by doing something great. My ideas could cause social change, since it can open up individual's eyes, to realize we depressingly need to modify our world for the better, for we are in the need of change.
thanks soo much for your help
