How the media negatively effects women's body image Essay

How the media negatively effects women's body image - Essay Example In movies, particularly, but also in television shows and the accompanying commercials, womens and girls appearance is frequently commented on: 58 percent of female characters in movies had comments made about their looks, as did 28 percent in television shows and 26 percent of the female models in the accompanying commercials† (â€Å"Media’s Effect on†). The definition of a beautiful woman has undergone a radical transformation over the last few decades, and no factor’s role is as dominating in causing this effect than media. The trend of a skinny woman being defined as beautiful started around the mid-20th century. It would not be wrong to state that the new definition of beauty is just as old as the television itself. Hollywood has played a pivotal role in bringing a transformation in the definition of a beautiful woman. By offering roles to skinny and beautiful actresses from as early as the later half of the 20th century in movies, television and media has been slowly but progressively reincarnating the image of a beautiful woman. Today, the transformation has completed and its biggest victims are ordinary women. When women look at the skinny actresses and models at the cover pages of their famous magazines and in the soaps, even the most beautiful women who are naturally beautiful according to all reasonable and right standards find themselves losing to the beauty of these cover girls. Women are trying a range of techniques and strategies in an attempt to meet the standards of beauty in the contemporary age. From changing diet plans, adopting an intense exercise regime, to undergoing liposuction surgery to get that supposedly extra fat sucked out, women are doing it all. â€Å"The mindset that a person can never be "too rich or too thin" is all too prevalent in society, and it makes it difficult for females to achieve any level of contentment with their physical appearance† (Serdar). All of this comes at a great cost. Some women have to pay a lot of