Through analysing the sexism, racism, and power hierarchies in media, we can assess how the sexualization and objectification of women plays a major role in shaping the way adolescent girls view their body image. Many girls view hundreds of thousands of advertisements in their childhood to teen years. Each of these advertisements perpetuates some image and messages that are picked up by those who view them. These pictures serve to sell a way of living, thinking and being, while reflecting ideologies that may be unintended- or completely intentional.
In the article, "Pretty Unnecessary: Taking Beauty Out of Body Positivity" by Lindsay King-Miller, she deconstructs the way most people typically think of the word "beauty", and provides an in-depth analysis of the way that word creates unintended double meanings.
“While I’m in favor of encouraging women to feel confident and happy, I worry that today’s body positivity focuses too much on affirming beauty and not enough on deconstructing its necessity. Spreading a message that everyone is beautiful reinforces the underlying assumption that beauty matters.”
I agree with her whole- heartedly, when we tell girls they’re beautiful, we are telling them that beauty is important, that being beautiful is a good thing, that it is the source of happiness and approval. Instead of telling young girls they’re beautiful, why don’t we- as a society- encourage them to learn and build by complimenting their intellect like we do with boys?
The video depicts one girl's development from toddler to teenager. She wanders curiously through nature, examines the plants and animals around her, creates an astronomy project, and builds a rocket with her older brother. But all along the way, she hears many all-too-common refrains from her parents: "Who's my pretty girl?" "Don't get your dress dirty," "You don't want to mess with that," and "Be careful with that. Why don't you hand that to your brother?" These statements are subtle, but the advertisement suggests that they can ultimately discourage girls from pursuing traditionally male-dominated subjects in school.
There are many more advertisements and companies supporting the idea of body image positivity than there has ever been before. Companies like Dove are well known for their female empowerment campaigns and focus on the female body.
"For the most part, I think that Dove's products are innocuous," Kilbourne told Huffington Post. "It's soap and body wash. I do have an issue with products like cellulite-firming cream [which Dove sells] -- it's just one more way to create anxiety for women. But it's not like they're selling feminine hygiene sprays."
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| Unilever owns several companies, including Dove, and while all of their product lines share the same image...I do think that the intentions behind the advertisement are more positive than negative. |
I believe the issues arise when Dove tries to use beauty as a source of empowerment for young girls, granted that they are a beauty product company- prolongation of the idea that beauty is the center of what will make us happy --seems quite misguided. Companies are driven by money, some argue that Dove is only concerned with the success of their company and keeping their mother company, Unilever, happy. However, I would dissent saying that large companies cannot be globally recognizable without focusing primarily on making a profit.
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However, when you compare a company like Dove to Victoria's Secret, its hard to ignore the advertisements definition of diversity and beauty.
Regardless of Dove's intention behind their ads, I would much rather be surrounded with images attempting to encourage body positivity, than ones that blatantly show that diversity is beautiful- but only if you're impossibly thin.
The Victoria’s secret advertisement is only unique because it has 2 darker women in it, ignoring the obvious fact that a large majority of VS models are white—they don’t even have a dark black woman in an advertisement about loving your body.
I pulled this quote from the chapter on Body Messages and Body Meaning by Gunther Wykes,
"Women are buying their gender identity but it remains described in accordance with the masculinity at the heart of patriarchy and the corporate power of the beauty industry. Screened images do little to ameliorate that inscription."
Despite what most companies believe, women hold the buying power in households for more than a majority of the things that are purchased. The corporate power of the beauty industry controls the images women see in advertisements, that permeate our subconscious.
What I did not like about the Dove advertisements was that the women were still bearing a lot of skin, in their underwear. Why must we hyper-sexualize any advertisement with a woman in it, could the models not have been physically and identifiably unique dressed in clothing?
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| This advertisement for AXE body spray features a man using body wash and a woman spraying whipped cream on her chest. |
The obsession with weight and beauty in advertisements is creating an influence over a generation of girls, teaching them to value their physical exterior over anything else. We don't see men sexualized in this way, not nearly as often or as much as women.
The sexualization and objectification of women in advertisements and media play a major role in shaping the way adolescent girls view their body image. Through the sexist degradation of women in advertisements, the racism in these advertisements and the power hierarchates in society today which control these advertisements-- we can't help but notice that girls are being taught that physical beauty is all that matters while ignoring the importance of intellect and education.
Works Cited:
Susan Bordo -- "Hunger as Ideology" from Unbearable Weight and Maggie
Wykes/Barrie Gunter --"Conclusion" from The Media and Body Image
Pretty Unnecessary: Taking Beauty Out of Body Positivity
https://bitchmedia.org/article/pretty-unnecessary-beauty-body-positivity
https://bitchmedia.org/article/pretty-unnecessary-beauty-body-positivity
Here's What Bothers Me About the New Dove Ad
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