missrepresentation :(

growing up, it was made clear by media that females are to look a certain way or else they're not pretty enough. i remember i didn't know how to fake smile for a school picture when i was in kindergarten or first grade, and the photographer was telling me to smile for him "like a barbie or bratz doll"...at the time i had no idea what that meant, but it is quite shocking that he would compare a 5 or 6 year old to a 20-something year old barbie doll. if i'm growing up surrounded by sexualization and objectification of girls, it is no surprise that i am insecure about my physical appearance, making me apart of the 78% of girls by 17 that are unhappy with their bodies. 

media portray women as basically nothing but a sex object to appeal to (mostly) men, which is apart of the huge problem. "men love boobs until they're used for their actual purpose". media has sexualized natural body parts like boobs to the point where we almost forget their actual purpose. breastfeeding in public is still a big taboo. there are many products where their goal is to make this natural process as discreet as possible. what is wrong with a mother feeding her baby? 

i think women are also apart of the problem... "girls support girls" is an untrue saying in today's society. girls are quick to judge other girls, even though they are insecure themselves. it's like a loop. when media pushes beauty standards onto their audience, those standards are practically ingrained. people feel insecure when they don't meet these high standards. these insecure people feel bad about themselves, so let's talk about that person over there who also is "ugly". 

as much as it hurts females, i think media also has a negative effect on males. parallel to the helpless dumb blonde, there is the super buff aggressive dude. when guys grow up seeing only this as a representation of what a man should be and act like, they are likely going to also feel the societal standards. and if men in media is shown to objectify women, can we guess what male audience members are going to think about women? 

media's reputation has once again been shattered by the misrepresentation of both females and males.