HomeHomeMay 2001
Greetings from the formerly frozen tundra! The ice has finally melted away from our many city lakes, the leaves on the trees are bursting, and tulips and daffodils have sprung up around urban and suburban yards everywhere. Here in Minnesota, we're experiencing another season of incredible beauty as Mother Nature makes small, subtle changes to our landscape each day.
Summer is just around the corner, and, in another annual ritual, beauty, fashion, and fitness magazines are reminding us that "swimsuit season" will soon be upon us. We need to get in shape fast! It doesn't matter who we are on the inside--the outside "packaging" is what we are judged on---the only thing that matters.
For women in our culture, the link between beauty and physical appearance is inseparable. For example, my 1970 edition of the American Heritage Dictionary describes the meaning of the word "beauty" as:
"A pleasing quality associated with harmony of form or color, excellence of craftsmanship, truthfulness, originality, or other, often unspecifiable property."That's a thought-provoking concept, but consider the second and third definitions given:
"Appearance or sound that arouses a strong, contemplative delight; loveliness: a woman who has preserved her youthful beauty." and "A person or thing that arouses such delight; especially a woman widely regarded as beautiful."Although my dictionary is over 30 years old, the definition of what is considered beautiful in America doesn't seem to have changed that much. We still associate the word "beauty" with women. The cover story of the May 7-14 edition of Us Weekly is about "Looking Great: How the Stars Stay Beautiful in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s". Naturally, this is all about female stars. There are no articles about "handsome male stars staying in great shape from their 20s through their 50s"!
In the same issue, "The Real Renee" (Zellweger) is featured along with a sidebar about "How she lost her Bridget Jones Pounds." Much as been made of the fact that this young, svelte 100 - 110-lb. star gained (and lost) 20 pounds to play the role. It's as though the entire country is breathing a sigh of relief that she lost the extra weight so quickly, and distanced her physical self from the 130 - 140 lb. Bridget character she played so well. And her career could well depend on her success in looking "better" than Bridget.
The movie business is notorious for being brutal to women. Just a few months ago, articles began to appear on news web sites all over the world about Kate Winslet's decision to go on a diet as a strategic career move. Yet there wasn't the same kind of media attention given to Russell Crowe's decision to gain (and lose) weight when he played 50-ish Jeffrey Wigand. He nearly won an Academy Award for taking on the weight, and the role.
Obviously our media are a mirror for the way our culture views women, and the message has been clear for many decades: our worth as women is based on our ability to remain youthful, thin, and beautiful as long as possible. It helps to be fashionable, too. Many tabloid magazines now have "fashion police" sections which dissect how well our stars wear their clothes. God help the unfortunate female star who turns out in public having a bad hair/fashion day.
What is the appeal of these magazines? Author Susan Douglas (Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media, 1994 Times Books, Toronto) explains it best:
"When I open Vogue, for example, I am simultaneously infuriated and seduced, grateful to escape temporarily into a narcissistic paradise where I'm the center of the universe, outraged that completely unattainable standards of wealth and beauty exclude me and most women I know from the promised land. I adore the materialism; I despise the materialism. I yearn for the self-indulgence; I think the self-indulgence is repellent. I want to look beautiful; I think wanting to look beautiful is about the most dumb-ass goal you could have. The magazine stokes my desire; the magazine triggers my bile. And this doesn't only happen when I'm reading Vogue; it happens all the time. The TV grilling of Anita Hill made many of us shake our fists in rage; Special K ads make most of us hide our thighs in shame. On the one hand, on the other hand--that's not just me--that's what it means to be a woman in America."Yet these images in magazines, and particularly advertisements, are taking their toll on the self-esteem of women and girls everywhere. Writer Jean Kilbourne discusses the problem in her book, Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel (1999 Touchstone Books, New York):
"The glossy images of flawlessly beautiful and extremely thin women that surround us would not have the impact they do if we did not live in a culture that encourages us to believe we can and should remake our bodies into perfect commodities. These images play into the American belief of transformation and ever-new possibilities, no longer via hard work but via the purchase of the right products.Women are particularly vulnerable because our bodies have been objectified and commodified for so long. And young women are the most vulnerable, especially those who have experienced early deprivation, sexual abuse, family violence or other trauma. Cultivating a thinner body offers some hope of control and success to a young woman with a poor self-image and overwhelming personal problems that have no easy solutions."
Kilbourne adds:
"A researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston found that the more frequently girls read magazines, the more likely they were to diet and to feel that magazines influence their ideal body shape. Nearly half reported wanting to lose weight because of a magazine picture (but only 29% were actually overweight). Studies at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts found that about 70 percent of college women say they feel worse about their own looks after reading women's magazines. Another study, this one of 350 young men and women, found that a preoccupation with one's appearance takes a toll on mental health. Women scored much higher than men on what the researchers called "Self objectification". This tendency to view one's body from the outside in---regarding physical attractiveness, sex appeal, measurements and weight as more central to one's physical identity than health, strength, energy level, coordination, or fitness--has many harmful effects, including diminished mental performance, increased feelings of shame and anxiety, depression, sexual dysfunction, and the development of eating disorders".What can be done about changing our culture? Consider the brave example of the people at New Moon, the "Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams". On May 16th, they are celebrating Turn Beauty Inside Out Day by celebrating inner beauty and media imges that "expand the definition" of what makes people beautiful. The May/June issue of this special publication also celebrates 25 beautiful girls, just as People magazine released their annual "50 most beautiful people" issue. Consider some of the reasons why we need Turn Beauty Inside Out Day:
Eighty percent of 10-year-old American girls diet.Today, fashion models weigh 23% less than the average female.
More than five million Americans suffer from eating disorders. Ninety percent of those afflicted with eating disorders are adolescent and young adult women.
Between elementary and high school, the percentage of girls in the U.S. who are "happy with the way I am" drops from 60% to 29%.
The number one magic wish for young girls age 11-17 is to be thinner. Millions of young girls, influenced by a culture that equates success and happiness with thinness, begin dieting to be accepted. All the above statistics are from The Body Image Project.
400-600 advertisements bombard us everyday in magazines, on billboards, on tv, and in newspapers. One in eleven has a direct message about beauty, not even counting the indirect messages.
Between 1996 and 1998, teenage cosmetic surgeries nearly doubled from 13,699 to 24,623, according to the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons.
And the New Moon folks are making a difference! On May 11th, 28 young girls from the U.S. and Canada will meet in New York with presentatives of various ad agencies to create Guidelines for Advertising to Girls. For more Information about this, contact Linda Estel: 218-728-5507 ext.10 or lindae@newmoon.org. Hurrah for New Moon!
We need to look within for inspiration and realize the beauty in our own lives. It really doesn't have anything to do with what we look like, but rather who we have been and who we are becoming. Our beauty is found in our individual human journeys--the people we love, the passions we have, the times when we have been braver than we ever dreamed we could be, the times when we have made a difference for the better in our families, careers, and communities. There is much potential for good in each one of us, and we mustn't let a culture which would have us believe otherwise diminish our belief in ourselves.
Instead of listing resources this month, we'll leave you with a challenge to join New Moon and "Turn Beauty Inside Out". Take time to reflect on the meaning of beauty and on your own self-worth. Celebrate the life you've been given and the wonderful person you already are.
We'll see you back here next month.
Teresa
tcallies@hotmail.com
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