In American Society today, thin equals beautiful.
It can define who they are as people. {Who they are or how they see themselves?] .
To get ahead in this world you have to .
look the "right- way. [Why? Too cliché.] The standard of what women should look like is very clearly put to .
them. It is posted on billboards, in the magazines they read, where they shop, and .
especially on television. The media plays the most significant role in projecting these .
unhealthy ideals about weight. [We switched dramatically from general notions of women to weight].
Image standards affect women of all ages, races, and .
statures; their presence is inescapable. From the first lady to your own mother, women are .
judged and judge themselves by these standards. [The question then becomes why do it? How have we been encouraged to follow these standards.].
These images presented to us by the media define what the ideal woman looks like. .
Naomi Wolf writes, in her book The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against .
Women; "advertising is a 130 billion dollar a year industry. The average American watches .
30 hours of TV a week and spends 110 hours a year reading magazines. That adds up to .
1500 ads daily- (45). Everywhere you look, there is a diet product or an exercise plan that .
will get women on a track to being thin, these diet ads make it clear to women that if they .
don't lose weight they won't become a better person. Losing weight is viewed as a prize .
accomplishment, almost like winning an award. There are certain compensations you are .
awarded for losing weight, "supposedly-. To a certain extent, this is true. People are more .
accepting of thinner, better looking women than of heavier less attractive women. By losing .
weight you are rewarded by being more accepted in society. Society makes it clear to .
women that their value is dependent of their physical appearance. If they apply to the .
standard of looking thin they will be more accepted by the public.
