Missrepresentation
the video we watched in class, Missrepresentation, showed how women and girls are portrayed in the media. it talked about how they are sexualized and seen as objects, and even with news reporters, if they are female, the things that are being focused on is what they wear, or what they look like. I see tings like this everywhere on media. On snapchat, there are little newsfeeds that people can look at, and all they focus on are female celebrities including the kardashians, Ariel Winters, or Emily Ratajkowski and all that is talked about is how much of their boobs are showing or if they break the fashion rules". Ive noticed things like this much more recently, that are much closer to home. This portrayal that women should look a certain way and act a certain way has come to be something very prominent in my life. My sister has been a model since her sophomore year, and she has been enjoying it. Ive recently been thinking about going into the industry but something came up that has made me rethink about the idea. My sister, Aine, graduated n 2016, and instead of going to college she took a gap year to continue pursuing her modeling career. She was told by her agency that she was going to go to New York and possibly some high fashion cities in Europe, so she based her entire year around thee plans. She went to LA for a couple of weeks and got signed with an agency down there, and when she returned she planned on going to New York, and she even left another job because she planned on going down there. When she talked to her agent she found out that she wouldn't be going to New York, or any cities in Europe. Why? Because her hips were 3 inches too big. Now if you know my sister, then you know she is already very skinny, and her agency told her to go to any of the "A Cities", like New York, Milan, Paris< London, ect. she would have to get her hips down to 35 inches. Now, there was another girl in the industry had hips that were just one inch too big for these so called A cities. SHe lost the weight she needed to, an ended up being physically unhealthy because of it. If Aine had lost that 3 inches, she would be having some serious health issues. The fact that I know my body has the same meaurements as hers makes me wonder if its worth it, because I know that if I allow myself to join this industry, it can be all too easy to get caught up in the world of it. Because women are meant to look a certain way, with perfect measurements has created a fake reality, with the worlds top models not even representing what the vast majority of our population looks like. It creates fake expectations in other girls head's that cannot be reached by many people because of their bone structure, and can cause things like eating diorders and depression. It makes them feel like they will never be good enough for the world because they do not look like that tiny tiny minority portrayed to them. It has proved to be quite the dream crusher.
Wow, this is really interesting. I didn't know that model world was this tedious when it came to having their models all look a certain way. I knew that all the models had to have almost all the same body type, but I did not know that in order to eventually become a super-model, they would have to have a certain body type, that in the end is all the same. It's really sad to think that the super-models are really all the same and nothing differs them from another super-model because their agencies are forcing them to all be the same. Model agencies are forcing women to have these eating disorders and any other disorders they are diagnosed with because they are trying to be what our society sees as "beautiful."
ReplyDeleteThis is a shocking story to me. I have always known that the modeling industry can be extremely brutal to women, but I think this really hit me because it is closer to my life than most stories like this are. Its awful to hear about any girls put in that situation but when its someone you have seen in person it's even more repugnant. I was also surprised that there are exact measurements women have to fit into. I suppose I should have been able to figure that out, but it still came as a shock to me. I though there must be at least some part of it based on talent, but this makes it seem as if it is literally just if the girls fit into the cookie cutter. This is a terrible thing to promote because people should be celebrating differences not trying to find all the women that will fit in the exact same mold.
ReplyDeleteI think your analogy to a cookie cutter is perfect for this terrible situation. Now knowing that a woman is measured to see if she has "perfect" numbers is completely insane--though it came as a shock to me as well, I'm not very 100% surprised. If you look at the models who are featured in these big cities around the world, their bodies all look the same. Fashion Week in New York and cities around Europe that feature some of the "hottest" lines of clothing all have models that are extremely skinny and lengthy. But knowing that Roisin's sister was only three inches "too big" is not only maddening but shows how ridiculous the industry has gotten. What's going to happen in the next ten years?
DeleteI feel like I see scenarios like this all the time, where girls are constantly scolded and judged for their body and how they could "lose a pound or two" or "gain a few." Especially with the rise of social media, girls are constantly being told how the should look instead of what makes them unique. The problem I feel, is that their is one body type that is considered beautiful/acceptable. Hearing that story about your sister further pushes me to believe that women are meant to look a certain way, and when the don't, they are punished and looked down apon by some, especially in the modeling and beauty industries.
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