Perhaps women have no sense of their own worth. Obviously we (me being a woman) reflect too much of self-esteem off of the desires of the average male. Using both passages “Only Two Percent of Women Describe themselves as Beautiful” by Dove, StrategyOne, Nancy Etcoff, and Susie Orbach and “Decoding Victoria’s Secret: The Marketing of Sexual Beauty and Ambivalence” by Marie D. Smith to bring women’s issues with themselves to light allows one to reflect on their own self worth. The titles of these passages speak loud enough to see there are definite problems.
Why do men get to decide what the overall standard of beauty is? What will it take for women to love themselves without looking to the media for gratification? Dove and the other contributors present: …New study today that discusses the implications of a global society that narrowly defines beauty by the images seen in entertainment, advertising and fashion runways and the startling impact this has on women…. Does this mean that we live in a world where woman are not beautiful or does it mean that women around the world are calling for a broader definition of beauty? (Dove, Strategyone, Etcoff, Orbach 49)
I stand to say our world is full of women whom are looking for more variety in the definition of beauty as well as they are very insecure because of the influence of entertainment and men. Men hold a great power over how women perceive themselves. The control they hold is sad and makes me, a secure woman, feel degraded in value because men should not hold any power on how I feel about myself but other women allow this, generation after generation. What is beauty? Beauty has become what ever a man says it is. Some days people like to say it is on the inside but come on now lets get serious beauty is the physical appearance.
The personality is just another quality to add on to the bust line, slim waste, and petite butt. Women and men look at the Victoria’s secret ads with pretty much the same train of thought. Women say, “I have to look like this, because it’s sexy” while men say, “I want her, she is sexy. ” This is the world I live in ‘sexy’. I question what ever happened to beauty. Beauty has diminished with the growth of opinion. As they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder well men must hold all the beauty because women have yet to grasp they are all beautiful.
Women just aren’t at the point where we all can stand up and hold on to ourselves for who we are and what we look like, instead we are who he want us to be and we look how he wants us to look. Men are not the only holder of beauty the media is giving great competition. Media tells us that beauty is not short, bigger than size 4, tall, smaller than size 2, and numerous of other criteria. Entertainment’s beauty finds: .. Show that the ideas of beauty and physical attractiveness are largely synonymous, and although both are highly valued by society, both are rendered almost impossible to attain…. ore than two thirds of women strongly agree that “the media and advertising set a unrealistic standard of beauty that most women cant ever achieve. (Dove, Srategyone, Etcoff, Orbach 50-1) Dove and the other contributes have blasted us with such power statements that the media’s version of beauty is impossible to reach. So why are we living up to the beauty. Again what is beauty? There is no specific definition because women have yet to come to clear understanding that beauty is us not what is expected of us.
Woman is struggling to get or hold on to a man to give meaning to her life. (Smith 58) They say that this assumption is because all the ads for Victoria’s secret is presented to attract men. Victoria’s Secret is designed to sell to women what the average man wants, sexy. Every woman wants to the have the body of a Victoria’s secret model. They have just the right curves such as the petite butt, large bust line, and tiny waist. All of the material in their merchandise is there to mold the perfect body that is supposed to get a man. Why must our lives revolve around getting a man? I eel that all the other goals are minor compared to getting and keeping a man. This Victoria’s secret passage so much relates to the passage that only two percent of our women population thinks they’re beautiful because it all requires a man. They say forty-five percent of women feel women who are more beautiful have greater opportunities in life. (Dove, strategyone, etcoff, orbach 50) Does this mean they are also have a greater chance of getting a man? How could that be true when there are so many children running around, apparently men don’t need this perfect beauty in every woman.
Women give men too much power in their lives when if they think about it we hold a lot of power too, much that is looked past consistently. What kind of worth are we looking for if we cannot find it in ourselves? It’s astonishing how this isn’t only a culture problem this is the problem in women across the entire world. Women have realized that beauty is not only in the physical appearance but also in the personality but haven’t yet been able to establish this enough for there to be a change in the perception of beauty.
Women need to regain power and the best way is to get all to understand this: “For the idea of beauty to become truly democratic an inclusive, then beauty itself must be revitalized to reflect women in their beauty as they really are rather than as portrayed in the current fictions that dominate our visual culture” (Orbach 51-2). This is how women must grasp their life from this day forward to see that a man is not need to feel of worth. Why live a life if you worth is in the hands of another? In other words, we need to grab beauty by the balls and renounce our individuality and retain our power as women.
Stop allowing the man to feel he owns us. Stand up and say I am beauty. It amazes me with much agreement how Smith can come to three conclusions about women’s sexuality. The first conclusion she brings is “most women, in spite of the consciousness-raising effects of the Women’s Liberation movement, have thoroughly internalized the belief that a narrow, male-constructed image of female sexuality and beauty defines their self-worth (62). Best put if I might add that the first person to tell a woman how beautiful she is was her mother, her father just reiterates what our mother has already established that you are beautiful. Women need to empower other women to their beauty. Lift one another up. Too much in our society are women bringing each other down and that just gives the man an easy way to gain power by lifting you with the word beauty. Why become his definition of beauty if we don’t have our own what does it matter?
Her second conclusion is “This male-constructed image is accompanied by feelings in both sexes of ambivalence, confusion, and guilt, resulting in a need for sending and receiving conflicting sexual messages. In addition to her well put words I will explain that males are confused about is beautiful to them therefore women are beyond confused just because of the fact we get our opinion from them. Her last conclusion is that “a large part of Victoria’s Secret’s enormous marketing success has been achieved through a consistently glamorous, flawless portrayal of this ambivalent, hyper-real version of the female body. ” I agree but this MUST change in order for women to feel better about themselves. It will not change unless we make it change and we can not complain about it until we attempt to make changes towards power.
I have concluded my own thoughts with the help of these two passage’s thoughts. Women have degraded themselves by allowing men and media to control their feeling about themselves. I know that this may be a harsh way to get other women to see how men control them but it is reality. At the same time we cannot push all the blame upon the men and media because we allow this treatment with no argument we are just pretty much submissive to all the stereotypes of how we should look. The next move will be to stop utilizing the objects that we are now tolerating. Last thing women need to bring each up tell and be each other’s shoulder to cry on. Let’s stop this now so our daughters are not raised with the mentality that men are in power of how beautiful we are.
Works Cited Smith, Marie D. “Decoding Victoria’s Secret”. Discovring Popular Culture. Tomasino. New York City: Peasron Education,Inc, 2007. 130-135. Print. Dove. StrategyOne. Etcoff, Nancy. Orbach, Susie. “Only Two Percent of Women Describe Themselves as Beautiful”. Discovering Popular Culture. Tomasino. New York City: Peasron Education,Inc, 2007. 130-135. Print.
