((Body Images in the Media))

I think that the way women are looked at in the media is that we are all perfect- perfect face, perfect body, perfect everything! In the media, women are often and usually used to sell a product and if someone is going to be used to sell a product- typically a woman, they have to be absolutely perfect and nothing less. But guess what, were not and no one is. No company or business is going to want an overweight, old, or an ugly woman or person in their ad, that is selling their product. No fat, no wrinkles, nothing but perfection. I think that women are being targeted in the ‘media world’ the worst. The woman in the ad is supposed to look good so she makes the product look good and attract attention to it. A woman has to be perfect because that’s what everybody wants to think that’s what women are. For example, when you look at an ad- it can be for anything, an alcohol ad, perfume and always with clothing ads with women, they always look perfect; no bags under their eyes, no body fat, tan, pretty, young, everything. But, HELLO?!? It’s called Photoshop!! Nobody looks like that! All of those ads are retouched so that the person selling their product looks perfect. Even Barbie, it is said that if Barbie were to be a real live person, she would be 6 foot, 100 lbs., she would wear a size 4 in jeans, she wouldn’t be able to stand up because her top is so heavy! Barbie’s measurements would be 39"/19"/33". The average woman is 5' 4", weighs 145 lbs., and wears between sizes 11-14. An average woman’s measurements are about 36"/30"/41". Compared to Barbie, that’s a 7 inch difference in height, 45 pound difference in weight, and about 8 sizes difference in jeans! So I’d hope that you would never plan on borrowing her clothes. But that just goes to show how media and the world today wants women to be.