Smooth Gap Definition

In Susan Bordo’s article “Never Just Pictures: Bodies and Fantasies” this is an article that is informative as well as interesting. Bordo mentions celebrity names like Alicia Silverstone and famous dieting products like Citra Lean to introduce the “thin” trend in today’s popular culture. The author explains how today’s society explores different media cites to acknowledge how individuals should appear in today’s world. Advertisements have also become a big part on the reflection of society’s beliefs. Bordo talks about body figures that were once considered normal, have become known as an abnormal appearance. Bordo wants to convince the audience that being thin has become an issue that must be addressed by the general public,

Since the rise of mass media in America throughout the 20th century, the idea of feminine beauty has changed significantly, especially women’s body shape. American visual media has always been guilty of promoting the current “ideal” women’s body shape, despite these body shapes being virtually impossible for the average American woman to achieve. By analyzing the way that the “ideal” women’s body shape in America has changed, it becomes clear how the media has always kept a tight grasp on the American woman’s individuality. Between 1900 and 1910, popular culture made way for the “Gibson Girl,” who was created by the iconic artist Charles Dana Gibson.

The company's recent campaign slogan, “the perfect body”, has rightfully uprooted much controversy regarding body image. Victoria’s Secret released an advertisement for undergarments with the slogan on an image of several underweight, busty, and tall models. This undoubtedly caused a disturbance among women with different body type’s self esteems. The making of the Victoria’s Secret Angels is an unnecessary and disturbing deploy to sell product; the company has no interest in benefiting society or

A female should not feel insecure with her body when she is comfortable in her own skin, whether or not she weights 130 pounds or 150 pounds at 5’5”. According to Rehab’s study of the evolution of the female figure over one hundred years, “the body shapes of the most admired models have remained consistently slimmer than that of the average American woman.” Due to the significant increase in mass media throughout the twentieth century of the United States, there has been a noteworthy impact on the popular image of women. A woman being dissatisfied with their body is a everyday trend around the world where as

So a couple of weeks ago on a Wednesday night, I had just finished my homework. Which lead me to think about the fact that I was able to successfully procrastinate on a project for three weeks finishing it the night before it was due. So I grabbed a celebratory box of doughnuts from the kitchen then I sat down on my couch. Let me tell you, I was TOTALLY prepared to watch keeping up with the Kardashians until I fell into a sugar coma. Yeaaahh, plot twist! About halfway through my second doughnut, a Victoria's Secret commercial came on. There stood women in beautiful underwear with flat stomachs and tan skin. I looked at my celebratory box of doughnuts - my coffee speckled skin, and the pouch the fat around my waist that some idiot decided to name "love handles" when there was nothing to love about them. Needless to say, I was disappointed. I was disappointed because I believed that this was society's way of saying "you're not good enough" Within the recent years the controversy upon what the average human being should look like, what they should weigh, and how they should act has grown due to the influence of

The ideal body image at each given time period has a very distinct correlation with the fashion trends at the time and the conservativeness of the culture. The ideal body image has changed so much. They have varied in height, weight, and size. The ideal body image in 1900-1910 was tall with large curves but a small waist. In the 1920’s the ideal body was small curves and skinny legs. In the 1930’s the ideal body had a large waist and large bust. In the 1940’s women were to have slender bodies with flawless skin. The 1950’s encouraged women to have long legs, big curves, and an hourglass figure. The 1960’s thought it was ideal to have long legs and a slender figure. The 1970’s loved the athletic figure with a slim toned body. The 1980’s told the population that it was best to be strong and thin. The 1990’s thought the ideal body was thin with long thin limbs. Now days in the 2000’s the ideal body image is tall, and thin, with large curves, and a small waist. It’s easy to see a pattern in these body types. The ever changing idea of perfect just shows us that there is no real perfect body. The ideas of ideal body types at the time were greatly affected by the fashion trends of that time. Which is partly why it changes so much. America isn’t the only country that has ideal beauty standards. The whole world has

The media group that retouches images skews the “normal” body image of people through many of its outlets, including models in advertising and magazines, and actors in TV and movie productions. “The average model portrayed in the media is approximately 5’11” and 120 pounds. By contrast, the average American woman is 5’4” and 140 pounds” (Holmstrom, 2004). This statistic shows how the media manipulates consumers into believing that because they are not what the average model looks like, they are not living up to a certain standard which implies that they need to look like that to be beautiful. Another research fact that shows a similar concept is that, “In the United States, 94% of female characters in television programs are thinner than the average American woman, with whom the media frequently associate happiness, desirability, and success in life” (Yamamiya et al., 2005). This association of female thinness and happiness, desirability and success makes consumers believe they must achieve this unrealistic thinness to achieve more ultimate goals and fulfillment in life. “The media also explicitly instruct how to attain thin bodies by dieting, exercising, and body-contouring surgery, encouraging female consumers to believe that they can and should be thin” (Yamamiya et al., 2005). This idealization of thinness in the media is seen so much, and is extremely harmful to women’s self confidence and is often associated with body image dissatisfaction, which can be a precursor to social anxiety, depression, eating disturbances, and poor self-esteem (Yamamiya et al.,

These pressures from social media outlets are always be presented in a variety of ways in attempts to appeal to everyone. Many of the ways perfection is demonstrated is having the perfect body size. “Media … help[s] to create the context within which people learn to place a value on the size and shape of their body." (De Encio) Once the outlet reaches a person and gets its point across, the person then comes to realization with their issue. Outlets such as America’s Next Top Model and stores like Victoria’s Secret exploit the importance of perfection in order to capitalize on the insecurities of society. The informative nature of these platforms are the reasons why approximately 42% of girls between the ages of 6 and 8 want to be thinner. This appalling statistic expresses the inhumane expectations in which society creates for itself. Man only realizes that all of the faults inside them are turning them into a perfection craving zombie, oblivious to everything else. Man created this laziness as a side effect to complete this taylor-made cycle. The infinite loop that perceives an

Like the thigh gap phenomena, the latter is largely based on how your body is structured- the only way you can achieve this gap is by having wide hips and outward angling bones (Stork, 2013). Although the new trend is, in my opinion, a little healthier as it promotes exercise as a way to achieve the perfect looking booty, young women are still using waist trainers in hopes that they will mould their waists into a slimmer figure. As for the women who want to achieve this body but, have naturally small breasts and butts, they often, resort to plastic surgery to achieve the society’s perception of beauty. According to Long Island plastic surgeon Stephen J. Greenberg,

Garner and colleagues also noted a trend toward noncurvaceousness from 1960 to 1979. The bust and hip measurements of Playboy models decreased and their waist measurements increased significantly. These findings are consistent with those reported by Silverstein, Perdue, Peterson, and Kelly (1986) who examined the curvaceousness of models appearing in Vogue and Ladies Home Journal from 1901 to 1981 and of popular movie actresses from 1941 to 1979. The investigators found that among the models appearing in Ladies Home Journal and Vogue, the bust-to-waist ratio dropped significantly.

In early childhood, when one bent down to pick up a toy and stood back up they were unknowingly squatting. As time went on people began to see that this everyday action also strengthened their calves and gluteus Maximus. Although squatting was already used by body builders as a way to exercise, it hit its ultimate height when women begin changing the plain skinny Jane into a curvaceous beauty with the exercise. In vogue magazine it states, “In music videos, in Instagram photos, and on today’s most popular celebrities, the measure of sex appeal is inextricably linked to the prominence of a woman’s behind.”

Actors and sport heroes are tall and muscular. Actresses and models are skinny with long hair and “perfect” faces. The images we see every day on TV, in magazines or in the movies are of people whom we are told are “perfect”-beautiful. The pictures are nearly seared into our brains to how our bodies should be or how our hair should be styled. If our eyes are not the “right” color we buy color contacts. If our hair is not the right style or color, we go to the salon to change it. And of course if we believe we are overweight we diet and hit the gym to our own end. In the 1960s a model by the name of Twiggy was a waif of a thing- tall, slender and pale, an immense juxtaposition between the curvaceous sex-icon known as Marilyn Monroe. She was considered beautiful. In the 1970s Beverly Johnson became the first black model in history to appear on the cover of Vogue magazines. Although race is another subject unto itself, Johnson opened the door for models of color. In the 1980s Christy Brinkley was the “All American” female- blonde hair, blue eyes and a big exuberant smile. In the 1990s models like Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington both with brown hair and brown eyes and a little bit more body to them were seen as the ideal woman. And more recently plus size model Ashley Graham brought about the attraction to larger derrieres and a full figure appearance (fashiongonerogue.com). Ironically, where

While it’s fashion week in London, the size “zero” models start to prepare for the big show by purging to be as thin as possible. Most models starve themselves in order to achieve the “waif”, stick-thin figure; it becomes so addictive, almost like second nature that it further leads to serious eating disorders. From recent studies, today’s model weighs about 23% less than the normal woman. Clearly, most models do not depict the average woman. Men and women all over the world follow the influences that the fashion industry provides. They believe that the fashion industry depicts on what society should be acknowledged as, picture-perfect thin.

Today 's society is constantly presented with misrepresentations of the ideal body image through the advertising of diet plans and supplements. Companies in the fitness industry scam people into buying useless products or services by advertising with individuals that have, what the mass media sees as, the 'perfect ' body composition. In addition to getting consumers to buy into a product or service, these companies also aid society with the spreading of this fake idea of what classifies as the perfect body. They portray a body image that is unattainable for most individuals in society, despite how many of those supplements being advertised they buy. The models used in these advertisements, are in most cases, starving themselves, enhanced via illegal substances, or are photo-shopped to the point where even they do not look like the model displayed in the ad. All this has led to many people wanting to strive for that perfect body, that in reality, is impossible to achieve. In order to show the affect these advertisements play in our society, I will be deconstructing multiple ads in the fitness industry, as well as multiple peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles centered around the impact media has on an individual 's self-image.

This beauty standard has trickled off the elite models and landed on top of the ordinary woman. In order to keep up with the increasing demand for extreme thinness, clothing manufacturers have been practicing vanity sizing, which involves “cutting clothing larger but labeling it smaller. Some in the fashion world claim a size 8 in the 1950s became a size 4 in the 1970s and is a size 0 today” (Borgman 78). However, some women don’t buy into this unnatural beauty standard.“Although there is ample evidence that many women are striving to meet a beauty ideal presented in the media, there is also evidence that women often recognize this ideal for what it is—unrealistic and largely unattainable for most women” (Engeln-Maddox 64). Ultimately, women have the choice of whether or not to accept the unrealistic thinness as beautiful or embrace their natural body