Hello!!!! I have created this blog because I am taking a Gender for Women Studies class and this is my project! My project consist of writing about cultural, social or political commentary through blogging. I have never blogged before, so I thought that blogging instead of doing community service would be a new way for me to do class work. So, since this is my blog, I am going to get comfortable, and let my thoughts flow freely. Sorry if I offend anyone, but I don't think I will!
i think i am going to focus my blog on one central theme. i think this theme will be how women are portrayed in the media. i think i, and many people could probably write a few books on this topic, but im just going to blog around ten hours about this subject. i am a very organized person, so i think i will come in each time i blog and write about one central thing/ idea. Hopefully i can blog for about an hour each time, so this will only consist of 10 blogs. (maybe a little more if necessary)
i think the first thing i want to talk about is something everyone sees everyday. No, im not talking about the TV. Im talking about magazine covers. Think about it, every check out line you are in, you see about 20 different magazines, and most of them have a women on the front dressed in nice to sexy clothes, and all-in-all, looks fabulous. I have to admit that when I look at these covers, I am jealous of these women. I am not an obese woman or anything, but i could stand to lose 20 pounds to be back to my high school skinny look! lol. I really envy these women, but then i look back at the big picture...most of these women, maybe for example jessica biel, work their butts off to look that good! One thing i like about jessica biel is that she is not afraid to admit that she works out all the time and cant eat Burger King everyday to have a nice body. She is a true role model!
But back to the real story about magazine covers.
body image! photoshop! body image! photoshop! body image! photoshop!
i am a communications major and in a lot of my classes we talk about ethics when it comes to magazine covers and photoshop. One prime example of a magazine doing a very unethical thing to a certain celebrity is...................GQ Magazine and Kate Winslet!!!
(This picture is from http://www.zeberka.pl/art.php?id=5206)
REALLY???? Look at Kate's body on the right side...she looks fabulous!!!!! Then look at her on the left side. Do you see what I see? A few things to point out, which were first pointed out to me in one of my comm classes, is her waist, thighs, and calfs. Yes, the picture on the left looks hot, but it is photoshopped like crazy and portrays winslet as being overly skinny. Most women cant even get that skinny no matter how hard they try!!!
So now, the question is...is this ethical? I say NO! NO! NO! Unless...you were to get the actresses permission first. On an ethical basis, I think that a little photoshop here and there isn't a big deal. But this was altered so much that even Kate Winslet made a statement saying that she does not look like that, and that she is happy the way she looks in the picture to the right. Kate Winslet is another woman who is a very good role model, and I do not think she would have EVER let that magazine on the stands if she would
have seen it before it was distributed.
Magazine covers are such a joke. What is real? What is fake? I don't know. No one knows.
I think that editing like this should not be allowed anywhere! From Kate Winslet's point of view, this magazine is just saying that it is okay to portray her body that way even though its not the truth. I guess some celebrities wouldn't care, but I sure would.
So what do magazines such as Seventeen & Cosmopolitan tell young girls walking past them? I think this is a real big problem. Body image is soooooo important to young girls, and having this GQ magazine displayed tells little girls that they have to look that way
in order to be cool and accepted. This is very sad...because it does not just target
young girls! I am about to be 24 and I even look at the covers and tell myself
that I have to make a lifestyle change soon.
I really wish body image wasn't such a big deal. What happened to liking curves and actually looking healthy? As a side note: I really enjoy the Dove commercials on TV. Women of all shapes and sizes who are proud of their body and flaunt it!!! Thats when the saying "You go girl!" is always appropriate!
Well, I guess I will wrap up my first blog! I actually wrote a whole hour! yay! So I guess I will leave y'all with a few words of wisdom from me....
Always be proud of yourself and don't ever let anyone put you down.
YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!!! :)
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