Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Thoughts on Morals
Today, we were discussing the two essays, “Women’s Magazines Flip Past Feminism” by Alex Kuczynski and “How Boys Became Men” by Jon Katz. Each author was the same gender in which they were writing about. I agree with Kuczynski’s article in that magazines are more focused on body image, pleasing your partner, and how a family should act. The magazines only focus on one cookie cutter image, but in the world today, everyone is different from one another; they can’t always fit into that one perfect image. I believe that if the magazines didn’t focus on body images and sexual relations, then women wouldn’t be so self conscious; instead women could focus on other issues whether it is political or economic. Jon Katz’s essay is the opposite of Kuczynski’s essay because Katz is talking about the stages of men. Katz explains that at a young age boys are taught to be tough and to be a “man” not a “sissy”. Boys would rather fight each other than express their feelings through words. It seems as if both essays are trying to express that no one is the same person and each person has their own personal feelings. I have to be honest though because I do read those convincing woman magazines, but I have come more accustomed to ignoring some of the topics dealing with body images. I get to the point where I stop caring about what other people believe what the best body or the perfect makeup is suppose to be. What does everyone else think? Are these stereotypes true for everyone? Do you fit into any of these stereotypes?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I think that the perfect image of a woman is more influenced by the media, fashion industry etc. While men's image of being "tough" is more influenced by men themselves. Their fathers encourage it, their friends. I do think a lot of guys try to be strong and show less emotion, but then again I’m not a boy so i can't say for sure. There are a lot of girls that get sucked into wanting to have the perfect body and make up etc. It's like you either have to be extremely skinny or a Victoria's Secret model. And I think that even the most confident women try to put themselves into that stereotype, because it’s what were told is right. A lot of the time I do try to ignore women’s magazines, but then sometime I do try different makeup and hair styles because there’s a part of me that wants to be like them, because that’s what I’m told I need to be.
Women are portrayed through the media in different ways. Not all are bad, though. Along with Mishi, I also enjoy reading women's magazines, such as Seventeen. I know, I can sense the sigh of annoyance. But, I read it because it is one of the only magazines that promote positive body image. In many of their issues, there is a spread about what clothes are good for your body type, from petite to curvy all over. Also, at the end of each issue there is a piece promoting their Body Peace Project which helps young women come to accept and love what they were born with.
Also, although there are many men who act out in violent ways to express their anger, there are many others who do not fit that stereotype. These men, like John Mayer, write songs or poetry or even journal to get their feelings out. This may seem like a femanine way to deal with their problems, but I think it is the most healthy, femanine or not.
Television shows such as “How to Look Good Naked,” commercials about the influence of media on little girls, and the controversy about too skinny models being banned have helped ease the pressures of having the perfect body for many women. These new ideas that have started to become more and more main stream are working at tearing down the harmful images that had been building for so long. Years and years ago, big was beautiful. Since then, more athletic bodies have become beautiful. As long as this concept isn’t taken as being bone skinny, it is a relatively healthy ideal. Also, some women are naturally just that skinny. People need to stop comparing themselves to others. There is about a one in fifty trillion chance that someone in the world has the exact same genes as someone else, excluding identical twins. Realizing this, no girl should ever feel the need to look like anyone else because no matter how much she spends or how hard she tries, she will never ever look like anyone else without serious and dangerous surgery. Even then, it is extremely unlikely. Science makes sense all the time, even if society doesn’t like it.
In reference to men, men are heavily influenced by their friends. When all of my now ex-boyfriend’s friends started drinking, he felt like he had to drink if he still wanted to be part of the group. I didn’t approve of this for many reasons, one of which was that real friends would never threaten to leave a nine year friendship over something as fruitless as drinking. Long story short, he decided that drinking with his friends was more important than anything else in his life. What makes this interesting is that all of his friends were completely against drinking until this past summer. A few of them decided that it was okay to drink now that they were college students. Of course, this idea was enforced by media images from movies and television shows. Thus, men are influenced to join their friends, but their friends are swayed by what the media says is right- instead of what they always believed was right.
The same applies to the promiscuity that is seen throughout high schools across the states. Students complain about the “face to face, leave some space rule” without thinking why that rule truly exists. The teachers know that nothing that bad will happen because of grinding, but they also know how much fun dances were back in the day. Teenagers don’t need to rub all over each other to have fun. Basically, students are simply too lazy to learn how to actually dance. A few decades ago, everyone knew specific dances- similar to the way everyone today knows the Cuban shuffle. Unfortunately, the idea of sex is spilled across all aspects of the media world. Teenagers, young “men” especially, feel the need to check off certain items before leaving for college. Women tend to be more reserved about such items, but when they find the “right” guy, anything goes. How many women have had abortions at our school? How many men are considered “players?” How many underclassmen couples are seen doing nasty things in the halls between classes? Yet, how many high school sweethearts stay together through college? People need to think about how the media is influencing their decisions. Also, people need to think how those media driven decisions will affect their future.
Post a Comment