Many women of all ages feel insecure about their body. whether it be because of their weight, their figure shape or another ‘imperfection’ (often something no one else notices but them).
A large part of this female insecurity dilemma is blamed on the media. After reading countless articles on how the media portrays unattainable ideas of beauty that make women feel insecure, I felt it was time for these women to consider this:
If a magazine has the power to make you feel uncomfortable, then isn’t that an insecurity you clearly had before (and the mag triggered it)?
— Digital Princess (@MohammedBanMohammed) May 5, 2024
Now many will argue that those insecurities originated as a result of the media, but if you’re taught about different bodies from the start and how that you should love yours (as long as it’s healthy), then there wouldn’t be room for those insecurities to fester. If you’re taught that the models in magazines are photoshopped and that their look is not naturally achievable, then there’s no reason for you to be upset that you can’t achieve it. Unless you’re a complete idiot of course and, despite knowing the images in magazines are photoshopped, still aspire to look like what you see.
Even guys, who are bashed for having unrealistic expectations when it comes to women, realise these looks are unattainable:
“I don’t get upset when a stand up comic is on TV and start a campaign about how TV is forcing us to all aspire to be as funny as a stand up comic. Beauty, like humour, is subjective and what someone else looks like should have no impact on how you think you look.
“My Mrs is constantly comparing herself to this photoshopped girl or that girl that’s been in make up for 10 hours. It makes me so sad. I know I don’t speak for every bloke, but I KNOW that these women are photoshopped and I know that the women didn’t look like that when they first came in that morning. I’m not expecting anyone to actually look like that.” – A Facebook comment in reply to the tweets above.
You can also argue that the media still choose to use one body type to portray beauty and that is like saying other body types aren’t beautiful. Or, you could think of it like this:
A man (let’s called him Bob) has a preference. That preference is Body Type A, a slim frame with a tiny waist. You are Body Type B, a curvy fame with junk in the trunk . Does this mean you’re not beautiful?
Maybe not to Bob, but Tim over there thinks you are sexy as hell. On the other hand, Bob may actually think you’re beautiful, but you’re just not his preference.
My point here is that if the media doesn’t associate how you look with its idea of beauty, why are you bothered? If you feel you’re beautiful and you know other people do too, why does it matter that your body type is represented in magazines? If you had your idea of beauty and were making a collage, would you stick girls who didn’t fit with your idea on it? No, because that’s not what you see as beautiful. They probably are beautiful, but not to you. Just like other bodies are beautiful (and usually more so than these barely existent twigs), just not to the media. They don’t fit with the media’s idea of beauty, so they don’t get to be part of the collage. It’s a little frustrating, but I think people are overreacting about how deep their choice of ‘favourite body type’ is.
Having spent enough time starving myself as a teenager, I personally don’t think you can blame the media’s choice of favourite body type and image editing as the cause for eating disorders. I think that the majority of hyperactive teenage girls (and boys) know these images are photoshopped. I can’t say what causes eating disorders specifically, but at that age there are much more prominent factors than the media. In fact, I think it’s pretty naive to put such a complex illness down to a simple thing like a picture in a magazine. Puberty is a complicated and stressful time where your body changes and your hormones rage. You’re bound to feel a little unsure about these changes and, along with other factors such as stress and life events, that seems like a more sensible trigger to me.
Another argument is the way the media treats women compared to men. When I posted these thoughts on Facebook, someone pointed out that when men go grey, they’re referred to as a ‘silver fox’, but women are the target audience for a number of dyes that “even cover greys”
In general, women are naturally more invested in beauty products than men. Women tend to be more insecure about how they look and are therefore more likely to buy the product, so targeting them with dyes and other beauty products makes sense. It’s just business.
You don’t see men complain as much as women that they don’t have the tanned, toned abs you see on models in magazines, so why are we blaming the media for women’s insecurities? I personally think they come from somewhere else with a lot more emotion involved. If you comment on a woman’s appearance, they’re likely to over think it and take it to heart where it evolves into an insecurity. If you comment on a man’s appearance, he’ll think about it for a bit and usually forget by the next day. Women seem to be much more susceptible to the cling of negative emotions and I think this is what breeds and feeds the insecurities. Women are often in secret competition with their friends also, whether it be about who’s losing the most weight or something else.
These insecurities don’t stop at weight though. I realise weight is something you can change if you want to (most of the time), so let’s say you have huge hips or you’re big boned making you feel massive compared to smaller girls. You can’t change that. The sooner you accept it and make it work for you instead of feeling insecure, the happier you’ll be. I have tiny tits. Like tiny. I used to dream of having bigger boobs, but I learnt to accept and even be happy that I never would (without surgery). For one, small boobs are perkier, and a huge pair of knockers would look ridiculous on my petite frame.
I personally think it’s important to be taught about different body types early on and that you shouldn’t compare yourself to others, especially what you see in the media. That women may look flawless, but her image has been edited to portray that standard of beauty. Plus, if you’re a model you’re more likely to take better care of your appearance and how you look because you’re in the public eye and people notice and are focused on what you look like. Most people want to look their best in public, whether it be because of fear of what others would say or their own standards of how they want to look. However, some realise that both these things (fears and standards) are things they can change themselves and feel perfectly confident going out barefaced and natural, which is something more people could do with channelling.
So there it is: why you can’t blame the media for your insecurities. Remember, these are your feelings about your body. You have complete control over them. How can you blame someone else for how you feel about yourself? I believe that’s what they call dodging responsibility.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As long as you’re healthy, there’s no reason not to accept and love your body and its flaws (if they even are flaws)!
