THE MYTH OF BEAUTY – REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN WOMEN’S MAGAZINES

 

 

 

 

She is skin and bones, her eyes are wide and bright, her hair is glossy, her teeth are whiter than white and her complexion is flawless. She is a representation of the everyday woman – not quite- as she is the magazine girl.

 

{mosimage}Do you know her? Because I don’t, and I am not quite sure I want to either.

 

In the preface of her 1963 book, ‘The Feminine Mystique’, by Betty Freidan, wrote: “There was a strange discrepancy between the reality of our lives as women and the image to which we were trying to conform”. Although the vast majority of women’s lives have been changed beyond any feminists imagination, the disparity between the medias view of women and women’s real lives is still in some ways present. Women’s magazines are extremely revolutionary, oppressive and somewhat old fashioned. Open up your average glossy mag and what do you see? ‘How to be better in bed’, How to please your man’, ‘My night of lesbian sex’ and ‘How to drive you man crazy, in and out of the kitchen’. Although there are many articles about careers, independence and equality, it is severely contradicted by images and representations of adapting their looks, weight and sexuality to please a man. In other words, Get thin and get a boyfriend!

 

{mosimage}Today’s culture is cursed by its obsessive scrutiny of ‘image’ and its preoccupation with the construction and maintenance of the ‘correct’ appearance. Like for example, the beautiful and talented Keira Knightly was recently quoted as saying, ‘ I love being airbrushed (in pictures) as it takes away my blemishes and acne’.

 

Being so pretty and having a body to die for, it is sad to see that even the most beautiful, feel they aren’t perfect enough for the media. It is also making us ill-literally. An estimated 25 of women aged 15 – 30 suffer from anorexia. A further 4% suffer from bulimia. These are gradually becoming the biggest killers, after Cancer and heart attacks in the UK. Other illnesses such as body dimorphic disorder, self harm and binge eating are also affected by the media pressure. According to many surveys done in last 10 years, listed appearance worries as the main worry causing the illnesses.

 

Anorexic information charity ANRED, have blasted magazines in the past saying, “Magazine pictures are electronically edited and airbrushed. Many celebrities they use are underweight, some anorexic ally thin. So it’s hard to know what we should look like. They are presenting images which say, You are not acceptable the way you are. The only way you can become acceptable is to buy our product and try and look like our model, who is 6 feet tall and wears a size 4 jeans – and is probably anorexic”.

Feminists in our past, fought for women to be able to enjoy and express their appearance, however, magazines seem to be the lowest , and most common denominator of this attitude. They seem to be hijacking the right to feel comfortable with yourself and creating this unrealistic, image of a person you must look like.

 

{mosimage}Don’t get me wrong, I am the biggest reader of contemporary magazines there is, and I love nothing more than sitting for hours reading Vogue, Elle, Tatler, Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan. It is because I read these (being  a fashion journalism student) that I have come to realise that the representation of women in these mag’s are becoming more unrealistic. The glossy magazines feature glamorous women who have worked damn hard for what they have achieved and deserve to grace the cover of Vogue.

 

However, in contrast you have images of a woman so thin she could break, and captions alongside saying, ‘New face of 2005’, ‘Fashion icon’, ‘How to get her look’, and ‘A body to die for’. Many fashion trends featured are aimed purely for the stick thin and are there to make readers want the item. Any readers who want to wear this look need to either 1) Forget it 2) Go on a fad diet and become one of ‘them’.

 

{mosimage}This causing many to do option 2) which is why so many young women are dying of bulimia and anorexia. Many magazine try and change the whole conception that ‘you have to be thin to be in’, by having features that celebrate the womanly curves. However, to advertise this subject, they put a size 8 pop singer with no clothes on, with only digitally mastered daisies covering her modesty (You know who you are) Why not put a naked Charlotte Church, Martine McCutcheon or Nigella Lawson on the cover? God no, because that would be too real for this magazine but surely they should put the readers first?

Gossip based magazines are the worst when it comes to contradicting themselves when body image is concerned. Celeb based ‘Closer’, Reveal’, ‘Now’ and ‘Star’, are always putting ‘shocking’ new pictures of celebrities on their front covers.

 

{mosimage}One minute a woman is classed as ‘Grossly thin’ and pictures of the mentioned woman are plastered all over the magazine saying she is a bad role model etc. Then a week later, the named woman is rumoured to be pregnant or ‘getting a bit porky’ because of an unflattering angle or simply a little bump where her stomach is. The mixed messages of the readers, especially young, female readers, are dangerous and giving out completely mixed messages about body image. The have continuous features on how a celebrity went from being obese (when in fact she was a mere size 14) to a slinky size 6. The diets claim to make you lose 2 stone in a month and promise instant weight lose. This cannot be the safest way to promote weight loss and body image.

 

Although I am aware of the false images and representations that these magazines portray, it doesn’t stop me wanting to go out and buy the new ‘it’ boots that Kate was wearing. However, I don’t take any notice of the women represented ion the front covers, but I know many young girls / women who do. Far too many girls suffer and are unhappy all because a cosmetics company wants to sell more make up. Magazines need to own up to the responsibility that they have and recognise the power they have over young women. They also need to realise what the average woman wants and what she looks like. She isn’t a size 0, and has glossy hair, bright white teeth and a perfect body. Nor does she need to be reminded that she doesn’t look like that. Make images more realistic and concentrate on what women are interested in and that will give you a correct portrayal of the woman of today.

 

 

 

QUOTES

 

‘Wearing make up is an apology for our actual faces’ – Cynthia Heimel

 

‘Every woman knows that, regardless of all her other achievements, she is failure if she is not beautiful…The UK beauty industry takes £8.9 billion a year out of women’s pockets. Magazines financed by the beauty industry teach little girls that they need make up and train them to use it, so establishing their lifelong reliance on beauty products’. – Germaine Greer

 

‘You will soon be able to take a pill and, in 20 – 25 minutes, non-synthetic substance will colour your lips. Five years from now, you will be able to put a drop in your eyes to change their colour.’ – Dominque Moncourtois, International Creative, Director, Chanel

 

‘We’re all brought up on fabulously glamorous Vogue models, and we don’t realise that they don’t look like that in real life. It is just that the photographers are terribly clever. Women are constantly presented with a false image of beauty that nobody can attain, not even the most beautiful, unless you’ve got an entourage of make up, wardrobe and hair backing you up…I really resent the pressure put on women to alter ourselves…Either people like me or they don’t. And if they don’t because of how I look, then they’re shallow twats.’ – Amanda Donohoe, Independent on Sunday, March 2001

 

 

By Kyrsty Hazell