Introduction
Poets and thinkers have linked beauty with desirable qualities. This is a simplistic view in the contemporary society. The perception of attractiveness has changed over time. The evolution of attitudes has resulted from growth and development of economies, rise of sectors like the fashion industry and due to media influence.
The change in perception of beauty has resulted into growth of employment opportunities and businesses. Currently, people can be employed as models who promote products that different companies manufacture. Nevertheless, the change in perception of beauty in the society has resulted into numerous problems. The perception of what beauty is has resulted into psychosocial problems and consumption disorders in the modern society (Aronson, Wilson & Akert, 2010).
Beauty is a term that is applied in numerous situations. Beauty can be either inner or outer. Inner beauty relates to desirable qualities of an individual. Inner beauty defines the fine qualities of an individual. However, in the contemporary society, many people are not concerned with inner beauty. Instead, many people focus on outer beauty. Outer beauty relates to the physical or aesthetic appearance of a person.
Hence, people with disfigurement may be considered as not beautiful. Outer beauty is admired. Perception of what makes physical beauty has changed and has been influenced by the media. This paper examines the role of beauty and the influence of the media in society. In addition, it examines the effects of emphasis on physical appearance. Finally, it provides recommendations on how the media can be used to de-emphasize the focus on aesthetic appearance.
Role of beauty in the society
Beauty plays numerous roles in society. It has considerable influence in people’s activities, beliefs, wellbeing, confidence and health. In addition, beauty has influence on the position of a person in the society. Beauty has influence in career growth of people. Beauty can assist an individual obtain a job and develop in a career.
Despite advances that have been made in recruitment procedures, it has been noted that physical appearance influences human resource practices. Beauty, together with charm, can enable an individual be considered for an employment position. A beautiful person can be employed faster. Beauty is an economic feature in people’s professions. People with good appearance are also likely to earn more compared to less admirable colleagues. Furthermore, an attractive individual can be employed and be promoted faster.
Pleasant appearance provides considerable results in social interactions. Pleasant appearance makes an individual persuasive. Moreover, it can assist an organization attract new clients and promote products with ease (Bailyn, 2012). Hence, people with pleasant appearance get jobs easily. Recruiters and organizations focus on the outer beauty of individuals.
Beauty also plays a significant role in the creation of people’s perception. Some studies have suggested that beautiful individuals are intelligent, sociable and knowledgeable compared to less gorgeous people. Personality traits of beautiful individuals are determined easily compared to features of less attractive persons.
There is a bias towards people with attractive aesthetic qualities. In case someone is attractive and organized, other individuals will overestimate the person’s organizational abilities due to physical qualities. This shows that beauty shapes the perception of people in the society. People tend to provide close concentration to attractive individuals.
Beauty also influences consumption behaviors in different societies. In the contemporary society, especially in western nations, slender persons are considered beautiful. Thus, beauty is perceived based on body shape. Hence, the perception of beauty in modern societies has influenced body shapes that people desire. The most affected gender by body shape appearance is female. Many people in modern societies aim to acquire body shapes considered beautiful.
Hence, many people have acquired consumption practices that can assist them attain the desired body shapes. However, the practices that some people have adopted result into health problems. Such practices are commonly referred to as consumption disorders. The most common ingestion disorders identifiable in modern societies are Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and Compulsive Overconsumption. These consumption disorders normally result into numerous health conditions (Hagman, 2005).
The examples provided above present unethical influences of people’s perception of beauty. They show how the society lays considerable emphasis on physical attractiveness. The emphasis on physical attractiveness diminishes other people’s value. Additionally, emphasis on physical attractiveness has considerable side effects.
Effects of Emphasis on Physical Appearance
Emphasis on physical appearance has significant negative effects. The emphasis on physical appearance makes people with large bodies and distortions feel ashamed and awkward. They view their bodies negatively due to the distorted perception of beauty created by the society. Moreover, such individuals normally feel that they are failures. Negative self-image is related to decline in mental faculty, reduced self-esteem, anxiety and consumption abnormalities.
Notably, emphasis on physical appearance results into psychosocial problems. The emphases on slimmer or perfect body shapes make people, especially women, pursue the appropriate figures. However, psychosocial effects accompany the pursuit of the admired body shapes.
Many people believe that perfect body shapes, as defined by the society, can enable them improve their circumstances. Women are the most affected by the emphasis on physical appearance. Adolescents are more concerned with their weights and appearance while older women hope to hide their ages.
Obsessive compulsion with physical appearance makes them adopt strategies that are, however, harmful to their health (Bailyn, 2012). Many women watch their diet as a strategy to attain beauty. However, many people overindulge in the strategies that they use to meet beauty standards set by the modern society. They adopt severe consumption behaviors, exercise excessively and use other severe strategies.
These strategies affect the health of individuals severely. Thus, emphasis on physical appearance has numerous health effects. Diet control is now a requirement for women due to the emphasis on physical appearance.
According to the common perception in the modern society, the ideal body that it is considered appropriate is thinner. However, the average body weight in many societies grows continuously. The emphasis has made consumption disorders like anorexia to increase. Anorexia nervosa is a consumption disorder associated with extreme fear for weight gain (Aronson, Wilson & Akert, 2010).
It is characterized by excessive restriction on food consumption. Many people affected by the disorder hope to attain thin body shapes since that is what the society considers beautiful. On the other hand, it affects both the physical and mental health of people. Physical health effects of anorexia include reduction in bone sizes, kidney problems and heart complications. Unfortunately, many women worldwide consider the disorder as desirable.
Bulimia nervosa is the other condition associated with the emphasis on physical appearance. It is a consumption disorder typified by binge consumption and removal. Normally people affected by the condition consume a large quantity of food then try to remove the eaten quantity for fear of increase in body size.
They normally use laxatives or extreme work out to rid themselves of the consumed food. In addition, they can fast for prolonged periods because they fear being overweight. This disorder is associated with emphasis on physical appearance because the society considers large body sizes as not beautiful. Bulimic people are secretive as they try to hide their conditions (Weiss, 2003).
Another effect of emphasis on physical attraction is the increase in the use of exercise as a means of beauty acquisition. Many women manifest their discontent with their body sizes and shapes through exercise. They exercise to attain the shape and size defined by the society through emphasis on physical appearance.
Men normally exercise to improve fitness and masculinity. However, women exercise to reduce their weight and improve their body shapes. Unfortunately, many women engage in compulsive exercise, and this affects their health. Other people also pierce various parts of their bodies to improve their images. This practice is also informed by the emphasis on physical beauty. The society has made many people believe that the act improves physical attractiveness.
The Role of the Media in Emphasis on Physical Appearance
The media has profoundly influenced people’s perception of beauty. The media has made people believe that smaller body sizes are desirable. Movies, musicians and other content in the media promote the idea that thinness or smaller body size is beauty. Many people have adopted the perception that the media has created.
Many individuals try to reduce their body sizes to be like those of models and musicians who they watch on television. However, they adopt unhealthy practices in their quest to achieve the body qualities determined by the society through the media.
Some studies have examined the role of the media on consumption disorders. Many studies established that actors and models held that reduction in body size was beauty. Many of these studies noted the trend in reduction of body sizes of models, beauty contestants and playboy players.
However, as the media promotes the reduction in body size as beauty, the average weight of America’s population increases. This makes many people strive to reduce their body sizes. Thus, the media generates inconsistency between the exact and the idealized body size (Hagman, 2005).
Television programmes and contents of magazines have also generated social circumstances for dissatisfaction with individuals’ bodies. However, dissatisfaction results into consumption disorders. Thus, the media has made people believe that thinness is admirable, and this belief has made individuals pursue beauty through loss of weight.
The media has also made people pursue beauty through promotion of diet foods. There are numerous adverts made in magazines that promote the use of diet programs to attain beauty. Magazines like Women’s Health and Glamour normally contain adverts that influence consumption patterns of people. Additionally, adverts that promote reduction of body size as beauty are common in women’s magazine compared to those of men.
The media also plays a crucial role through the emphasis that it places on good appearance. The media has reinforced the beauty standards that the society has created. It has created a culture that is based on consumption of beauty products.
Thus, the media has emphasized beauty through promotion of the attractiveness industry. It has generated a consumption behavior that is a solution to attractiveness problem. On the other hand, the attraction standards that the modern society has created can only be achieved through the purchase of beauty products.
Numerous surveys support the belief that the media has significantly influenced the perception that slenderness is beauty. A certain survey showed that approximately 83% of young women in the United States are addicted to fashion magazines. On the other hand, over eleven million Americans read Self Magazine.
The magazine promotes the use of diet control in reduction of body weight and size. More importantly, fashion magazines and the media impact on identity development of many people. Many people are not satisfied with their bodies due to the beliefs that the media imposes on them.
The media also makes individuals compare themselves with other people who they see in televisions, magazines and the internet. Additionally, people tend to compare their appearance with other individuals. Hence, the media makes people be concerned with their weights, creates dissatisfaction with large bodies and produces the need for comparison.
Individuals with consumption disorders like anorexia are normally addicted to magazines and fashion programs. Finally, the media has created the notion that thinness is beauty and then provided means through which people can attain slenderness. Magazines and other information outlets have provided means through which people can attain the idealized body sizes considered beautiful.
How Media Can De-emphasize-Emphasize the Importance of Physical Appearance
The media can be used to de-emphasize the significance of physical appearance despite the negative effects that it has. The media has been used to educate people on the dangers of extreme practices employed to reduce weight. Media education, support and activism have focused on promotion of other definitions of beauty.
Hence, some organizations have used the media to educate the public on the dangers of anorexia, bulimia and excessive workouts. Media education has tried to reduce the emphasis on physical appearance as a key feature of beauty (Levine & Smolak, 2008). Media education on the dangers of unhealthy practices involves the provision of advice on use of content in magazines and television. Thus, people can decode and internalize the pictures and information contained in different media (Weiss, 2003).
Education can assist people determine that some of the body shapes and sizes that they see in magazines are not real. The images are created and, therefore, they should not torture their bodies in their quest to achieve similar physiques. Furthermore, education can enable people realize that images shown in media as ideals represent other people’s viewpoints.
Analysis of contents of media can also assist in reduction of body shape comparison. People who perceive thinness as beauty normally compare their bodies with contents in media. However, psycho-education can assist in reduction of this habit. Finally, the inclusion of media in the analysis of content of magazines and television can reduce the emphasis on physical appearance (Levine & Smolak, 2008).
Through incorporation of media, intervention strategies can assist professionals boost the confidence and self-esteem of people with large bodies. This can reduce the chances of adoption of negative consumption behaviors.
Review of Women and Men’s Magazines and the Influence of Models
Various men and women’s magazines influence the perception of beauty in the society. Many magazines focus on health, fitness and diet. Notably, fashion is the focus of almost all these magazines. The most notable men’s magazines are Men’s Health, Ask Men and Mann. Men’s magazines normally promote the use of exercise and diet to enhance masculinity and fitness.
Hence, men’s magazine like Men’s Health promotes the increase in body size. On the other hand, women’s magazines like Glamour, Self Magazine and Life & Style promote the idea that slenderness is beauty. These magazines also influence the views of the youth. They contain images of models and other fashion personalities who the youth look after.
Notable personalities who have been affected by conditions like anorexia as they pursue beauty are models Eliana Ramos and Isabelle Caro. Ramos and Isabelle were both anorexic models who the youth looked after (Grimes, 2010). They promoted the idea that slenderness is beauty.
They were also famous personalities and had immense influence on the youth. There are numerous models who have such conditions like Ramos and who continue to influence youths. However, only few male models perceive that slenderness is beauty. Hence, many male models are not affected by conditions like anorexia and bulimia. Additionally, the models have considerable influence on women compared to men. That is why anorexia and bulimia affect many women compared to men.
Conclusions
People’s perception of beauty has changed over time. The media has played a significant role in development of the new perception that the modern society holds. Beauty can be either outer or inner. However, many people normally consider outer beauty. It relates to physical attractiveness of individuals.
Beauty plays numerous roles in society. It can assist people be employed and promoted. In addition, it can influence people’s health conditions and promote some industries. This paper discussed its role in the society and the influence of media on emphasis on physical beauty. Finally, this paper discussed how the media could be used to de-emphasize the significance of physical appearance. In the discussions, this paper focused mainly on the perception that slenderness is beauty.
References
Aronson, E., Wilson, D., & Akert, M. (2010). Social Psychology. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Publisher.
Bailyn, E. (2012). How Important Is Physical Beauty? Retrieved from http://evanbailyn.net/thoughts-on-life/how-important-is-physical-beauty/
Grimes, W. (2010). Isabelle Caro, Anorexic Model, Dies at 28. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/31/world/europe/31caro.html
Hagman, G. (2005). Aesthetic Experience: Beauty, Creativity, and the Search for the Ideal. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Levine, M., & Smolak, L. (2008). The Prevention of Eating Problems and Eating Disorders: Theory, Research and Practice. New Jersey: Taylor and Francis e-Library.
Weiss, I. (2003). Coping with the beauty myth: A guide for real girls. New York: Rosen Publishing Group.