Feeling Beautiful

Prom is just around the thing and there is only one thing girl have been talking about: Pre-prom diets.  What is it about prom that makes girl want to look so much better than every other day? I have to admit that I am 100% guilty of the pre-prom salads and nightly gym sessions.  I have to say that between my friends and I, it is rare if at least one person doesn't bring up NEEDING to eat healthy, or expressing guilt before eating something delicious.  In reality, I can't think of one friend, or even one girl at ASL who has any sort of weight issue.  The Beauty Myth has me constantly questioning why my friends and I always want to be thinner and prettier.  It seems crazy that the source of all our insecurities could be from the media.  At this point, I am convinced that we, women, are the ones keeping the beauty myth alive.

In the chapter, "Beyond The Beauty Myth", Wolf talk about ways to get past the self-concious lifestyle that most women trap themselves in.  Naomi Wolf brings up several of the same questions I have about the beauty myth and where it is headed in the future.  She asks, "Can we extend that idea?" (the idea of the beauty myth) "Or are women the pliable sex, innately adapted to being shaped, cut, and subjected to physical invasion?" (270).  Wolf goes on asking questions related to the beauty myth and how women view themselves for nearly a page longer, which reinforces the ridiculousness of how women view themselves.  She asks, "Are women beautiful or aren't we?" (271).  My answer to that question is that if a women feels beautiful then she is beautiful.  I hope that all women can reach a point when they really feel beautiful in their own skin, and hopefully this beauty does not come about just because of a successful diet.

Advertising Gone Wrong

Since the turn of the century, advertisement towards women has had always had a very clear message.  Even in victorian magazines, "Glamour, he claims, was a main tool in the enlistment campaign" (62) for men to join the army.  Next, in the 1950's, even after women had just finished working several jobs for their husbands while they were off at war, TV ads were almost entirely based off the the stereotype of women being they housewife.  After all these years women are still being labeled in advertisements: "Women are deeply affected by what their magazines tell them" (70).  The fact that this issue is only getting worse makes me want to do everything in my power to reverse the beauty myth.

Advertising is always something I have been interested in.  I have always found it scary and exciting that a picture you see on TV or in a magazine can have one meaning on the surface and millions of other reasons hidden beneath it.  This is also one reason that I have been on the edge about advertisement.  This class has had me thinking about women, and now I have more of a goal for my future in advertising.  I would love to help reverse the beauty myth by creating ads that are in favor to women.  It would be amazing to see more commercials just like the Dove commercials that promote more than one type of beauty.  I would also love to involve humor into my commercials and find a way to mock the ridiculous ads that are all over TV and magazines.

Education

Education plays a huge role in both The Beauty Myth and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.  In The Beauty Myth, it is constantly reminded that women need to know about the stereotypes of women and how the media influences society.  Naomi Wolf urges the importance of speaking about the beauty myth: "For any one women to outgrow the myth, she needs the support of many women" (282).  This means that unless women are talking with each other about their insecurities they will not be able to overcome them.  A Vindication of the Rights of Women states that women in general need to be educated in order to be seen as virtuous in society.  Mary Wollstonecraft believes that "ignorance is a frail base for virtue!" (70).  It is amazing to me that two books, one from the 1990s, and the other from the 1700s can be compared on the same subject.  The sad part is that even virtuous and educated women are suffering from the effects of the beauty myth.  The biggest difference between these two books is that The Beauty Myth separates men and women, while A Vindication of the Rights of Women wants women to be exactly like men.

A Vindication of the Rights of Women has me thinking about how little progress has been made over hundreds of years.  The fact that this subject of women in society is still an argument makes me what to do as Naomi Wolf says and tell people about the issue at hand.  The other night I was showing my best friend from home pictures of ads of women that were completely offensive and degrading.  She was extremely interested by it and kept asking for more examples of how the media effects how women perceive themselves.  By educating my friend about this subject, I am already helping to remove the beauty myth from our culture.  Maybe by educating everyone, one day society could chance and women can be beautiful in their own ways.  

My Old Town

I grew up in Bergen County, NJ, a county that is known for having housewives with plastic faces and silicone boobs.  The town I lived in is right next to Franklin Lakes, NJ where the Housewives of New Jersey are from.  I just moved this year from a school called Ramapo High School where I went to school with several sons and daughters of people with superficial lifestyles.  At Ramapo High School, it was not uncommon to see girls walking into school with bigger boobs or new noses after their 16th birthdays.  My parents are not superficial people so it is surprising that we lived in a town for 17 years that was right out of a reality TV show.  Like many parents in town, they saw a good school district, safe streets, and a quick train ride into New York City for work.  Little did they know, walking into Ramapo High School was like walking into a firey-pit of judgmental people.  The girls were always expected too be thin, pretty, smart, and just overall good at everything.  My friends from home are the same people I was best friends with in first grade, so luckily we've all managed to stay down to earth.  As a whole, the girls at Ramapo look nice, but they are not nice at all and do not do nice things.  This is probably why they have been called "Ramahos" generation after generation.

The Beauty Myth and Killing Us Softly 4  remind me of how superficial my old school was.  It is really true that "Today, what hurts is beauty" (219).  Striving to be beautiful is what causes the girls at Ramapo to be so superficial.  What is even worse is that the girl who do not think they are pretty enough will become a typical "ramaho" in order to be visible to the boys at school.  The girls at Rampo truly personify what was talked about in Killing Us Softly 4. These girls make me wonder how much the media actually influences our society.  I would love to know if it is the superficial environment of the girls, or if over all their years, they feel their expectations for themselves are actually realistic and necessary because of the media.

Identity 2

While in Paris with my friend Jaclyn over break, we began talking about our names.  Jaclyn is not a very common name and Alex is an extremely common name.  This started to get me thinking about Jasmine and how she constantly associated herself with whatever names people called her.  Jaclyn and I then came up with the question: does your name have anything to do with who you are? Shockingly, Jaclyn, which  is the more unique name, is more shy than me and my common name.  Maybe over my years I have become more outspoken and outgoing because I need to compensate with always being one of several Alex's.

Jasmine's name seems to drive her through most events in her  life.  Her name depends on whichever guy is most prominent in her life and that persona is who she tries to be in that moment.  For example, when Bud refers to her as Jane, that is who she decides she wants to be: "Plain Jane is all I want to be. Plain Jane is a role, like any other" (26).  Jasmine sees each of her names as a role to be played and that is how she defines herself.

To answer my question (does your name have anything to do who you are?): I feel that your name gives you identity but does not show who you actually are as a person.  I feel that it was a weakness for Jasmine to view herself in the way that each of the men in her life viewed her rather than as an individual.

Who decides how women are viewed?

The Beauty Myth has brought to life several different stereotypes and realities about women.  After reading the beginning of The Beauty Myth, my question is, who decides how women are viewed? It appears that while men may expect women to dress and act a certain way, it is the women who keep these gender differences alive.  While some women dress nicely because they like to look and feel pretty, there are most likely women in the world who are dressing the way they do to get a head start.  The book states that their are more men than women using their looks to get ahead, but if I had to guess I would assume it was the opposite.  It is sad what a shallow world we live in but in reality, more women taking this survey my have just been too ashamed to admit that they have used their looks to get ahead.  "By the 1980s, the agents who head hunted anchors kept their test tapes under categories such as, 'Male Anchors: 40-50' with no corresponding categories for women, and ranked women anchors' physical appearance above their delivery skills or their experience."  This shows the double standard for men and women, and how even if males were trying to use their looks to get ahead, it probably would not make a difference.  

On the ABC show The Voice, the judges have their backs turned away from the performers so that they can be voted purely on looks alone.  A show like this give a fair chance for everyone and allowed the people with the best singing voices to make it the furthest in the competition.  What is so interesting about this show is that when a pretty girl comes on stage and the judges don't put their button because they did not love their voice, they are always immediately disappointed that they didn't vote for them.  It is as if the second they see they are a pretty girl, the fact that their voice was not as good as the other contestants is completely forgotten.  This is parallel to how attractive women in an office who may be doing sub-par work can still get away with having their job, simply because they are pretty.  As hard as people may try to have complete equality, as long as people can see, it will be impossible for people not to judge.  Knowing this, I find that it would be very difficult for women to completely reject trying to have a nice appearance.  This also means that both men and women are involved in how women are viewed.  

All or Nothing

Women are very complicated.  A lot of the time it does not make sense that we expect to have all the rights as men, yet expect to be treated different then men.  Jenna Marbles, a youtube celebrity, brought this to my attention.  Women expect to be treated as equals in the work place, but still believe that the man should pay for dinner.  Why should girls get gifts randomly just because they are the girlfriend in the relationship?  Yes, I'll admit, when I have a boyfriend I would be shocked if he didn't at least offer to pay half the bill.  But why is society so prone to believing that women deserve to be pampered when we have worked so hard to become equal to men in every way possible? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ7wT4CUprQ 

The women in The Handmaid's Tale are only used for sex.  The way the society in Gilead is set up is so women are only needed to get pregnant and have babies.  It is interesting how women in our society appear to have the luxury of having a job, being a wife, a mother, and still being pampered just because that is how women are supposed to be treated.  It appears that when women are seen as for only sex, all of those other  positive things in a women's life disappear along with it.  This explains why the women in Gilead are seen as objects.  Also, when the women in Gilead begin seeing themselves as only being used for sex, they begin to lose site of who they really are.  Even Offred, one of the strongest Handmaids, gives up hope and just let fate take control of her situation.  "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. Fat lot of good it did for her. Why fight?" (237).  Moira is completely overtaken by the idea that she is only needed for sex when she trades her dignity for some handcream and cigarettes.  "The food's not bad and there's drinks and drugs, if you want it, and we only work nights" (261).  Moira has completely forgotten that women have any other purpose besides sex, and therefore sees her situation as a positive one.  

This makes sense of why women feel the need to have all the benefits that men have and more.  This also proves why there is a double standard between men and women in general about sex. By taking everything away from the Handmaids, we see how important everything women have in our society is for their self-esteem and security.