Women Viewed in Society

5 Pages 1342 Words

Melissa Cohen

In American Society today, thin equals beautiful. American women are judged by the

way they look. It can define who they are as people. {Who they are or how they see themselves?]
To get ahead in this world you have to

look the “right” way. [Why? Too cliché.] The standard of what women should look like is very clearly put to

them. It is posted on billboards, in the magazines they read, where they shop, and

especially on television. The media plays the most significant role in projecting these

unhealthy ideals about weight. [We switched dramatically from general notions of women to weight]

Image standards affect women of all ages, races, and

statures; their presence is inescapable. From the first lady to your own mother, women are

judged and judge themselves by these standards. [The question then becomes why do it? How have we been encouraged to follow these standards.]

These images presented to us by the media define what the ideal woman looks like.

Naomi Wolf writes, in her book The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against

Women; “advertising is a 130 billion dollar a year industry. The average American watches

30 hours of TV a week and spends 110 hours a year reading magazines. That adds up to

1500 ads daily” (45). Everywhere you look, there is a diet product or an exercise plan that

will get women on a track to being thin, these diet ads make it clear to women that if they

don’t lose weight they won’t become a better person. Losing weight is viewed as a prize

accomplishment, almost like winning an award. There are certain compensations you are

awarded for losing weight, “supposedly”. To a certain extent, this is true. People are more

accepting of thinner, better looking women than of heavier less attractive women. By losing

weight you are rewarded by being more accepted in society. Society makes it clear to

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