Ananya+Subramaniam+RP+Post+7

The Media: Its Reign Over Self-Perception

"It" Girl: The Real Story of Negative Women’s Body Image Caused by the Media

In this source, the author notes an extremely personal struggle, one that shaped her life and future, one that she can attribute to the media. ** The author demonstrates ** the true power that the media can have over an individual’s self perception. She tells her story, describing how she had always been overweight, and how due to the constant battering from the media of images of thin women, had been made to feel unlovable and unwanted. She explains how her own decisions and personality was dependent on this feeling given to her by the combination of the media and being overweight, and how she wondered “how anyone could love a fat girl.” The author explores the topic in a deeper sense, explaining how the media attempts to thrust forward a picture of the ideal life that all should strive toward, but not all can attain. She goes on to explain the fact that it “looks like the ultimate dream,” but since we are all different, “how can it be a mass dream for all?” She also explains the fact that the media tries to make “perfection look easy,” in order to make it sellable. **Americans today tend to believe that** the gateway to attaining a happy life is having the right appearance, and this opens doors to success. However, this is extremely disturbing, because such a want for the right appearance is what is creating a culture filled with people desperate to attain the right figure. THis creates eating disorders, fuels depression, breaks friendships, and destroys the happiness of those in our nation. The author also delves into the idea of the industry of show business selectively choosing individuals based on body image, and how that has propagated the drive for an ideal appearance. She cites the example of America Ferrera and her dramatic weight loss for the second season of her show Ugly Betty. In all honesty, the executives of the show most likely told her that “if she lost more weight she could draw in more viewers,” and thus, she did so. The sad thing is the fact that she felt the pressure of society and the driving force of the media to change herself. This author was able to tie in several elements of the struggle between the media and self image, and was extremely successful in her relation of her personal story to the passage.

Debra. "The "It" Girl: The Real Story of Negative Women’s Body Image Caused by the Media." Web log post. AllPoetry. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 June 2014. .