Blog #2

The concept of cultivation helps me understand the impacts of the images of incredibly thin yet beautiful women in media; it affects society by hinting that beauty can only be attained with a small waistline and a full bust. The promiscuous TV shows and advertisements use only skinny gorgeous women to sell their products or shows, and with good reason. Society has grown to worship the flirtatious women who are not afraid to flaunt their “perfect” bodies. What effect does this have on women in society? Psychologist Eric Stice, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin teamed up with Diane Spangler, Ph.D., Brigham Young University; and W. Stewart Agras, MD, Stanford University to conduct an experiment on the effect of media on teenage girls.  The psychologists “randomly assigned 219 girls, ages 13 to 17, to a 15-month subscription to Seventeen magazine, which is the most widely read magazine among adolescent females, to a no-magazine control group and followed the girls for 20 months.” The group that was exposed to the magazine’s constant portrayal of slim beauty held more cases of self-dissatisfaction and depression than the group who was not exposed to the magazine.  Many scenes from television and movies also carry the same if not more extreme impact as magazine articles on women. The constant craze for a thin body and C cup model cultivates the idea that through implants and eating disorders a woman can attain beauty like the rest of the models. It is a serious problem that women are portrayed this way, from the Killing us Softly Video presented in class, the collage of sensual advertisements only heightens the problem. All in all, the cultivation theory helped me make the connections of the media’s effect on women in society.

"Whether you're thin, fat, small, dark, blond, redhead, you wanna be something else," said the world's first boldface supermodel. "I wanted a fairy godmother to make me look like Marilyn Monroe. I had no boobs, no hips, and I wanted it desperately."-TWIGGY

Courtesy of http://www.women24.com/FashionAndBeauty/NewsandTrends/Unhappy-with-your-body-too-20100407

The article

http://selfhelpmagazine.com/article/teen-body-image

Information and article courtesy of selfhelpmagazine.com