The Media's Depiction of Beauty?

Question

I was watching the Tyra Show today, and the topic of the show was anorexia. Tyra started off the show discussing the picture that was recently in all the tabloids, and how everyone was calling her fat. She talked about how she felt about the picture, and gave a very nice speech. She also had a panel of different sized models, and had a guest who's struggling with anorexia. I remember last semester, in one of my classes, we were looking at statistics on the prevelance of anorexia in girls aged 11 and older. I was shocked to see that anorexia is growing at a rapid rate in girls as young as 11!!! I just wanted your thoughts on the issue of banning thin models, dove commercial campaign's, etc...is the media and society making a positive step towards change??? or is it just a thing of the moment? or are these efforts not even inciting change at all?? How does this affect you?? Any and all comments welcome :)

Answer 1

I totally like Tyra's attitude about people who have the nerve to call her fat. I would call her PERFECT now. She was too skinny before.

Setting a minimum weight requirement for models is a must for two reasons. First, it helps protect the health and well-being of the models. Second, it helps protect the health and well-being of all young women.

My eldest daughter is 18. She's 5'4" and weighs 115 lbs. She's started telling me that she's fat. Me and my wife have been telling her for years that she's not fat (she's always skinny). We know she's being influenced by all of the rail-thin, sickly looking models she sees on TV and in magazines.

This may just be my flawed perception of the situation, but I feel that if healthier women were hired as models (example: 5'10, 150 lbs), more women would have the desire to buy clothing. My wife has put on weight in her middle age (so have I, of course), and I love her ever more. However, she looks at those pictures of the super-thin-models and tells me that she could never wear something like that and that the store would have nothing in her size. I am sure there are a lot of women out there like my wife.

Seeing all these ultra-thin models also have the negative effect of making women like my wife, who is still beautiful to me in every way, feel less beautiful because they look less like those too-thin models.

The media's depiction of beauty is a fabrication. Men don't actually like rail-thin women. We like healthy-looking women!!

Answer 2

I like the way Tyra is dealing with the tabloid issue. She is the appropriate person to deal with this subject and talk to the teens about it, given that she has been a slim runway model and now a normal looking beautiful woman.

It is very hard to deal with these issues. I have a 13 year old daughter. She is 5' 6" and weighs 145 pounds. She looks great, but she is always commenting about how fat she is and that she wants to diet and exercise. I tell her that it is okay to diet and exercise, but that she has to do it in a reasonable way. For example, I tell her that if she lays of the sweets, colas and chips, and eats more home cooked meals and exercises she will be fine.

We are hispanic, and we tend to have thicker thighs and hips, that's why I tell my daughter that no matter how much she starves herself, she will not be able to change her body shape, and that she needs to learn to accept that.

I believe that she is being influenced by the media, and their depiction of beauty. Since all they see on t.v. and music videos is slim girls like Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie and many more.

I truly believe that their should be a ban on thin models, because it is obvious that they don't like being that thin, that's why they have to resort to starving or purging, and it is not natural, or healthy for them to be doing that just to land a job.