An Analysis on Gossip Girl

An Analysis on Gossip Girl

and its Relation to Beauty Culture

        The television show Gossip Girl is originally based off of a book series written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series focuses on a group of "teenagers" and their dramatic experiences throughout their young-adulthood in the Upper-East Side of New York City. In this show, it is hit home that you are only as good as you look physically. The main two characters of the show are Blair Waldorf (brunette, bottom left) and Serena Van der Woodsen (to the right of Blair). Throughout the entire series, these two young women are constantly striving to be the female icon of Manhattan. Both of them are portrayed as rich, beautiful, sexually appealing, and successful. It is portrayed in the show that to "achieve the specified look, a particular feminine praxis was required- straitlacing, minimal eating, reduced mobility- rendering the female body unfit to perform activities outside its designated sphere. This, in Foucauldian terms, would be the "useful body" corresponding to the aesthetic norm," (Gilbert 754). The show has a clear behavioral gender division of males and females. The characters even mention that they are able to do whatever they wish, as long as they continue to look good (physically and by reputation) while doing so. This type of behavior sends a negative message to young girls, advertising that as long as she is beautiful, a girl is able to get whatever she wants in life. That's at least how Serena is portrayed in the series; the beautiful blonde that every man swoons for and never has to actually work for anything in order to succeed. The type of upbringing that these two girls have also demands for them to act as though they are of more importance than anyone else (especially other females) who do not meet their same standards. 

             The three characters at the top of the picture from right to left are named Vanessa, Daniel, and Jinny. They do not live in the Upper-East Side however, they are from Brooklyn, which is apparently frowned upon by any of the socialites like Serena and Blair. Daniel and Jinny are siblings (Daniel being older) and have been friends with Vanessa throughout basically their entire lives. All of the main characters attend a private school together which is located in Manhattan, and this is how they all have met. Whenever Jinny or Vanessa were seen by Blair however, they were always mocked for how they looked since they did not meet the beauty standards (or wealth standards) that Blair and Serena held. Blair and Serena make it seem as though all of their qualities of beauty and lifestyle are easily attainable and also make it seem as though that is how a woman should portray herself in order to attract a man (since they both, but Serena in particular, are constantly being fought over by different male characters in the show. The cruelness of the catty females in the show demonstrates that "harmful female stereotypes are given a girl power-savvy spin... The media's reception of the subject raises some disturbing questions about girls, power, and society; and the assumptions inherent in mean-girls rhetoric could leave a powerful and troubling mark on teen culture," (Jervis 44). Gossip Girl demonstrates to young girls that it is appropriate for them to demean other girls if they do not meet a sort of societal standard. This can be extremely detrimental to our youth if taken seriously, if they begin to consider themselves to be better than anyone else due to the fact of their physical appearance or economic status. 

   

Blair Waldorf & Serena Van der Woodsen

        Serena Van der Woodsen is portrayed to be the stereotypical blonde beauty that can be considered to be the original "American Beauty." She fits all of the qualities with having a tall, slim figure, long legs, glowing skin, a toned body (although she is rarely seen exercising), and a large chest. She is also seen as the stereotypical blonde female who does not perform well in school and is regularly engaging in sexual activities with various different men. Both Serena and Blair are always portrayed as being the ideal image of society's beauty expectations. Naomi Wolf comments in her book, The Beauty Myth that "It is not that women's identities are naturally weak. But "ideal" imagery has become obsessively important to women because it was meant to become so. Women are mere "beauties" in men's culture so that culture can be kept male," (Wolf 59). In addition to that, the male characters never have trouble coercing a female to sleep with them. One character, for example, named Chuck Bass, is portrayed as a complete womanizer who has various girls trafficking in and out of his bedroom and apartment suite in each episode. The makers of this television series are completely feeding into the idea that "culture stereotypes women to fit the myth by flattening the feminine into beauty-without-intelligence or intelligence-without-beauty; women are allowed a mind or a body but not both," (Wolf 59). Additionally to that, the television show portrays the girls to act as though they are unable to continue out their daily lives without a male's presence. 

       No matter what occurs in each dramatic episode, the male characters are always shown taking care of the female characters and fixing any situations in which they may have stirred up. Susan Bordo gives an informative background on this type of subliminal messaging by stating, "A dominant visual theme in teenage magazines (in this case television shows) involves women hiding in the shadows of men, seeking solace in their arms, willingly contracting the space they occupy," (Gilbert 746). This, alone, is teaching young girls that they need a male by their side in order to feel safe, capable, and confident within themselves. It is portraying the idea that women are incapable of leading their own independent lives. Along with this, in the beginning of the series, Blair had been dating Nate Archibald and found out that Serena had lost her virginity to him while Blair was with him. Blair, always feeling as though she is trapped in Serena's "beauty" shadow, only became upset with Serena for engaging in the act and did not show nearly as much animosity towards Nate. She continued her relationship with Nate, while obsessing over how she looked physically and was basically going insane trying to compete with Serena's beauty and to win back Nate's affection after Serena had returned to Manhattan from boarding school. This also shows an extremely negative message to young female viewers by showing that Blair is willing to change herself in order to please a man who had already been dishonest with her. 

        Overall, Gossip Girl may have once been a guilty pleasure of mine, however, after analyzing the contents compared to the feminist theory of beauty culture, I have come to realize that everything about it and everything it portrays is completely negative towards young females. Another type of "female identity" to be analyzed are the Playboy Bunnies and how Hugh Hefner goes about "choosing" them (this disgusts me), but more on that to come with the next post!

Sincerely,

Samantha  

            

An Analysis on Hugh Hefner and the "Playmates"

An Analysis of Hugh Hefner and How 

His Choice of "Playmates" Impacts the 

Beauty Culture

 

          Hugh Hefner is an icon for any heterosexual male in the United States. He is rich, powerful, and constantly surrounded by groups of beautiful women. However, he has actually hired these women to be classified as his "playmates" or "playboy bunnies." All of the women that he chooses can be considered to be the image of absolute perfect beauty, as compared to society's beauty expectations. Having a majority of blondes in his clan, it is obvious which type of "beauty" look is considered to be more appealing. Hugh Hefner had developed the Playboy magazine by including endless amounts of sexualized women coating each and every page. The only women that are portrayed in these magazines are those who fit the stereotypical beauty ideal, however. Since Hefner was able to become so profitable off of his publication, more and more women continue to flock to him and wish to be put into his works so that they can develop a name for themselves. However this ultimately puts all of the women in a negative light since they are obviously only involved for the fame and money, which seems somewhat pathetic. 

           In order to better themselves, ironically enough, these women "work" for Hugh Hefner in hopes to raise their economic as well as celebrity status. He had opened up Playboy clubs as well, inviting men to come and experience what they see in the magazines in real life. These women are wholeheartedly playing into the fact that they are being completely objectified by men. Lisa Jervis claims that "the folks makin' this stuff do men and their range of desires a disservice; their implication is that anything outside the "big hair, fake tits, tiny waist, no pores, limited body hair" aesthetic is deviant, weird, not normal- and not something that a red-blooded American man would be interested in, " (Jervis 172). I agree with Jervis when she states that this type of production certainly makes men out to be the equivalent of pigs, however I disagree with the fact that American men are not interested in it because otherwise, Hefner would never be as successful as he is. With putting this certain type of women on display, women have no choice but to compare themselves to them and demean their own personal qualities, since they have witnessed men become in awe over them. Naomi Wolf provides an insight on why women become so self conscious when seeing other women naked by stating, "in the United States and Great Britain, which have no tradition of public nakedness, women rarely- and almost never outside a competitive context- see what other women look like naked; we see only identical humanoid products based loosely on women's bodies," (Wolf 136). Since women in society are only seeing other women's bodies that are considered to be "more attractive" than their own, according to society's beauty standards, they instantly feel as though they are completely unattractive since they do not portray the same "look."

            It is quite interesting however that in media, the image of a naked woman is always seen far more than the image of a naked man. Wolf continues upon this theory by including, "the practice of displaying breasts, for example, in contexts in which the display of penises would be unthinkable, is portrayed as trivial because breasts are not "as naked" as penises or vaginas; and the idea of half exposing men in a similar way is moot because men don't have body parts comparable to breasts... unequal nakedness almost always expresses power relations," (Wolf 139). In comparison to Hugh Hefner and his "Playboy Bunnies," Hugh Hefner is obviously in continuous hold of the power since he is always surrounded by half-naked females while he stays bundled up in his red velvet robe. 

           The Playboy Bunnies display an unhealthy and unethical way for a female to lead her life. After becoming employed by Hugh Hefner, they are basically his "toys" to do with however he wishes and display however he wishes. The fact that one man can have this much power over not even just one woman, but a whole group of women because of money and fame is sickening. This not only demonstrates an unhealthy example for women, but it also shows young boys and men that it is okay to objectify women and that the man is able to control them. Nancy Chodorow explains how this type of exploitation can effect young men and their development by stating, "a boy's male identification often becomes a "positional" identification, with aspects of his father's clearly or not-so-clearly defined male role, rather than a more generalized "personal" identification... that could grow out of a real relationship with his father... For the boy, the tie between affective relations and masculine gender identification and role learning (between libidinal and ego development) is relatively attenuated. He identifies with a fantasied masculine role, because the reality constraint that contact with his father would provide is missing," (Gilbert 372-373). Since boys are basically taught to develop their own role model and are expected to simply acquire the qualities and traits of a man as he grows, without any direct direction, they choose male role models that are considered to be powerful and successful. However, it is very unfortunate that some boys look up to Hugh Hefner and idolize him because he promotes a negative moral way of living and objectifying women, which today's society certainly doesn't need any more of. 

            In my next post I will be analyzing the television show, 8 Simple Rules and how the treatment of each of the daughters on the show is completely different simply due to their differences in physical appearance; here's to digging deeper on the next post!

Sincerely,

Samantha  

An Analysis of 8 Simple Rules

An Analysis of 8 Simple Rules

 

        8 Simple Rules is a television show that was aired on the ABC television network. The show originates from a book titled 8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter. The main two characters that I will be focusing on are Kerry and Bridget, who are the two daughters in the Hennessy family. Bridget is portrayed as a stereotypical "dumb blonde" who cares only about her appearance and receiving attention from boys. Her looks also match what could be considered the beauty standards in the United States; she has long legs, a thin figure, and sheen blonde hair paired with her flawless skin and perfectly made up face. Bridget Hennessy is made out to be a girl who is completely self centered and displays all of the negative stereotypes about beautiful women there can be. This again shows the example of how media portrays women as either beautiful or intelligent, but never both. Kerry, on the other hand, is the younger and more reserved sister. While Bridget frequently flaunts her body in minimal clothing, Kerry is always covered up appropriately. Kerry is portrayed to be somewhat of a "geek" compared to Bridget and her unrelenting beauty. Kerry is always shown as being unhappy about something and is seen more as the intellectual type. Because of these extreme personality differences, the two sisters are always clashing. The video below briefly demonstrates the type of personalities that both girls have.

              The character of Bridget demonstrates to young girls the same type of lesson that Gossip Girl had demonstrated as well. She makes it seem as though just because she is considered beautiful by society, she can do whatever she wants and also treats others relatively poorly. This also can be contributed from her "lack of intelligence." There are obvious gender stereotypes coming in to play here by making Bridget the tall, beautiful, blonde who acts like a princess and the quiet, artsy, intelligent, quirky, curly-haired Kerry who is often made out to be completely unattractive, especially when compared to her older sister. 

                A similar type of assumption is made about females in Eve Ensler's The Good Body where Helen Gurley Brown explains how she was not considered to be beautiful when she was younger, however her friend Elizabeth was. Helen's mother teaches her a horrible lesson on how she should be as a person after Helen informs her of when, "Elizabeth was swinging from the tree. She fell and everyone came and made a huge fuss over her. I told this to my mother and she said, "Of course: Elizabeth's pretty. People make a fuss over girls who are pretty. That's why you, you will need brains," (Ensler 13). Helen had acne when she was younger, and so there was no way she was meeting society's standards of beauty any time soon. Her mother had also completely demeaned her self confidence by basically claiming that she is not beautiful, never will be beautiful, and so in order to make it through our society, she needs to have a higher intelligence. It doesn't make sense to me why a girl cannot be both beautiful and intelligent, since intelligence is beauty in and of itself. However, these types of degradations have severe impacts on girls view themselves as they are developing. Due to her mother's scrutiny, Helen continued to "improve" upon herself as she continued to grow older and even after her mother had already passed away; as though she is still trying to gain her acceptance. Helen writes, "Don't get things fixed, Eve. Don't do it... If you do, another thing always breaks down. I had my eyes done when I was forty. I thought that would do. But no. Tried it again when I was fifty-six. First full face-lift at sixty-three. Second at sixty-seven. Third at seventy-three. I'm desperate for another, but there's no skin left on my face. Yesterday they took some fat out of my backside and they shot it into my cheeks... I am recycling. My shrink thinks I'm still doing this for my mother, Cleo's gone almost twenty years. Can you imagine, I'm still doing this for her? I never had a daughter. But if I did have a daughter, I would tell her she was beautiful and lovely every minute," (Ensler 13). Helen's story proves that when people are constantly doubting your appearance or your abilities, you lose your own self worth and begin to obsess with doing anything in your power in order to build yourself back up to par. In 8 Simple Rules, Kerry is always faced with the problem of basically living in her older sister's sparkling shadow. She is consistently viewed as insignificant and this is ultimately the reason why she is depressed or moody a majority of the time on the show. 

 

Bridget (left) & Kerry (right)

        In order to break away from causing young girls to feel this way, as though they are not good enough if they don't meet the beauty standards of society and do not look just like Bridget, Serena, Blair, supermodels, etc, media itself needs to change how it portrays women. There should not be a choice when it comes to intelligence or beauty, there are plenty of real-world examples of women who are extremely intelligent and also beautiful. Later on in the television series after the father passes away, Kerry gets a high-social-standing boyfriend and also begins to act more like Bridget and completely changes her persona. This sends a horrible example to any young girl who is watching the show, because it demonstrates that it is okay for a woman to completely change who she is in order to "fit in" in society. The show also shows Kerry as being happier for her change as well, which is also a completely false ideal that should never be portrayed to young women. 8 Simple Rules is not the only television show that plays upon female gender-stereotypes among sisters however, the Brady Bunch does it just as well with Marsha and Jan. Additionally to that, Full House also demonstrates how society's expectations of beauty impact young girls when D.J. begins starving herself in one episode. However, more on that to come in the next post!

Sincerely,
Samantha

An Analysis on D.J. From Full House

An Analysis on Full House and 

How D.J. Deals with Societal

Expectations of Beauty and Body Image

     Full House is a television show that I have always loved to watch while growing up, and I still get all excited whenever I see it playing today on television. The focus is on one family which consists of Danny and his three daughters, D.J., Stephanie, and Michelle. When the girls were younger, their mother had passed away leaving Danny to care for the girls all by himself. Because of this, he recruited his best friend, Joey, and his brother-in-law, Jesse (the brother of the deceased wife), to move into his house to help him raise his girls. Overall, the show is humorous however there are dramatic moments as well. With raising three girls, Danny has no idea what he is in for and so he needs all of the help he can get. As D.J., the oldest daughter, begins to develop into her teenage years, she begins

D.J. showing Kimmy what she wishes to look like

experiencing the problems of body image and beauty culture. She constantly compares herself to women in magazines and feels as though she is not beautiful because none of them have any of the same physical qualities that she has. 

          D.J. had the thoughts of body image floating around in her head, however never had any incentive to do anything about it, or change herself, until her best friend, Kimmy Gibbler came over to deliver an invitation to her birthday party, which would take place at a swimming pool. Realizing that she would have to wear a bathing suit in front of everyone, D.J. instantly becomes upset, stating that there is no way she would wear a bathing suit in front of everyone with how her body looked at that time period. So, she decides to take matters into her own hands and develops her own strict diet and routine for herself. Her first step in her body image change is seen when she tapes up pictures of a number of different models and their half-naked bodies on the family's kitchen fridge in order to deter her from eating anything if she was ever tempted to open up the refrigerator. D.J's Uncle Jesse's fiance, Becky, witnesses D.J. doing this and begins to explain to her what types of food would be good for her to eat if she was trying to lose weight, however this was a very negative thing for Becky to do since D.J. is so young and wasn't even overweight to begin with.

              As time goes on, D.J. stops eating all together in order to gain faster results of weight loss, however her family does not know this. D.J. then complains about her lack of weight loss to her Uncle Jesse who advises on going to the gym. I find it strange that no one told D.J. that she didn't need to lose weight... or even ask her why she wanted to in the first place, but that's besides the point. At school, D.J.'s younger sister, Stephanie, picks up on the fact that there is something going on with D.J. She then realizes that D.J. has been giving her school lunches to Kimmy Gibbler to eat, and then finds out that she has been skimping out on all of her other meals as well, meaning that D.J. is on the road to anorexia. Naomi Wolf includes in her book, The Beauty Myth, that "up to one tenth of all young American women, up to one fifth of women students in the United States, are locked into one-woman hunger camps. When they fall, there are no memorial services, no intervention through awareness programs, no formal message from their schools and colleges that the society prefers its young women to eat and thrive rather than sicken and die. Flags are not lowered in recognition of the fact that in every black-robed ceremonial marches a fifth column of death's-heads," (Wolf 181). It is extremely beneficial that Full House created an episode based around eating disorders and the pressures that young women go through with their body image and trying to meet society's expectations of beauty. Since the show was fairly popular, and in my mind still continues to be, even though it has 'ended,' it demonstrates that other girls are going through the same pressures as well and how to cope with them and ultimately surpass them. 

             Stephanie becomes worried, as any normal sister would be, however D.J. makes her promise (pinky promise to be exact) that she will not tell their father or anyone else in their family, and that it will all be over as soon as Kimmy's birthday party passes. One day when they meet in the kitchen, Stephanie demands that D.J. eat the sandwich that their father had made for her. After Stephanie leaves the kitchen, she continues spying on D.J. to see if she actually eats the sandwich. Then, of course, D.J. avoids eating the sandwich by feeding it to their pet dog, Comet, who gladly eats it up in about three bites. 

               Later on in the episode, resulting from D.J.'s interest in going to the gym, the whole family decides to take a trip to the gym. D.J. enters the gym and immediately asks her family which machine will burn the optimum amount of calories, and her father references her to the stationary bike. He informs her that she should start out slow, however after Danny walks away, D.J. cranks up the speed and rides the stationary bike like there's no tomorrow (which is the start of the video to the right of this text; a snippet from the episode displaying D.J. in the peak of her body image crisis and where her family finally learns about it and takes action). After working out on the stationary bike for a while, D.J. runs over to the scale to see if she has lost any weight, then become disappointed when she realizes that she has not. So, she turns to the elliptical machine which ultimately sends her over the edge causing her to become dizzy and almost faint while getting off of the machine. Once the family realizes this, they immediately return home and it is implied that D.J. takes a nap in order to feel better, since she claimed that she was only tired. Naomi Wolf continues by explaining the serious health risks that can be associated with anorexia by stating, "there are no reliable statistics about death rates from anorexia, but a disease that strikes between 5 and 10 percent if American women, and has one of the highest fatality rates for a mental illness, deserves the kind of media investigation that is devoted to serious and potentially fatal epidemics...The National Institutes of Health has, to date, no education and prevention program whatsoever. So it appears that the bedrock question- why must Western women go hungry- is one too dangerous to ask even in the face of a death toll such as this... This disease is a deadly one. Brumberg reports that 5 to 15 percent of hospitalized anorexics die in treatment, giving the disease one of the highest fatality rates for a mental illness," (Wolf 182). The show does not demonstrate these drastic facts in its storyline, however it is obvious that D.J.'s health and mental health are quickly deteriorating as a result of her starvation and this is necessary for all young girls to see so that it discourages them from engaging in the same types of acts themselves. Other side effects that could arise from more long-term anorexia include, "hypothermia, edema, hypotension, bradycardia (impaired heartbeat), lanugo (growth of body hair), infertility, and death," (Wolf 183). Luckily, thanks to her sister, Stephanie, D.J. never got very far in her anorexic habits. 
                 After D.J. awakens from her nap, the rest of the family begins to question her to see if she is feeling alright. Joey had even cooked up D.J.'s favorite dinner for her, but when he asked her to try it, she declined his offer, stating that it was because she had just brushed her teeth. With it being dinner time, the family found her dismissal of the food odd and Danny began demanding answers as to why D.J. is acting so strange. D.J. becomes very defensive and snappy when answering any of their questions. She also tries to evade the situation by slipping out the door to Kimmy's house, stating that she was going to go eat dinner there. However, Stephanie stops her from going by releasing D.J.'s secret that she hasn't eaten for three days. This then results in a father-daughter conversation between Danny and D.J. where Danny explains to D.J. that she is just as beautiful as any of the models in her magazines. D.J. denies this, however, and asks him to find any woman in there that has a round face and chubby cheeks like hers. Given that Full House is a family-based sitcom, D.J. ends up realizing the error of her ways and finds peace with her body image thanks to her chat with her father. The ending of this type of situation is completely unrealistic, however I understand that it is what the show needed to do in order to wrap up the episode. 
          One method, originating from the ideas of Jean Kilbourne, that young women can partake in to fight against the body images being portrayed in magazines that disturb them, like D.J., is that "when you're reading a magazine and those irritating subscription cards fall into your lap, write on the card something like "stop exploiting women" or "feed your models" and mail it. It costs them something like 30 cents for every one that's sent back. It takes about 10 seconds, and it cleans up litter," (Jervis 336). In order for women to receive the change that they are looking for, we need to be persistent in getting the knowledge across of the false perceptions of women and how society expects them to carry themselves. A woman should have the choice to be able to look and carry herself in any way she wishes, without any criticism from anyone else since it is her body and her life. One young woman who has been receiving an exceptional amount of grief for this type of occurrence is Miley Cyrus. However, more on that to come with the next post!

Sincerely,
Samantha     

An Analysis of Miley Cyrus and Societal Expectations of Beauty

An Analysis of Miley Cyrus and the

Societal Expectations of Beauty

   

     It is impossible to be a resident of the United States and to not have heard all about Miley and her drastic changes to her appearance. Only about a year ago, Miley was still a stereotypical "beauty," her main attribute apparently being her full, flowing, brunette hair. However, when she bleached her hair blonde and chopped it all off, fans and critics everywhere went in an uproar. In addition to that, many of her performances are so extravagantly different than any performance she has ever had before. They now involve strange outfits with goofy hairstyles and background drops, all for shock value, which in my opinion is a smart move for her since everyone is constantly talking about her. I personally have a good amount of respect for Miley Cyrus and believe that she is very strong for going against what Hollywood wants her to look like and what society demands women to portray themselves as.

Miley "before" (right) and "after" (left) her change in appearance

               Naomi Wolf would agree with Miley's recent changes in appearance with her statement of, "Does all this mean we can't wear lipstick without feeling guilty? On the contrary. It means we have to separate from the myth what it has surrounded and held hostage: female sexuality, bonding among women, visual enjoyment, sensual pleasure in fabrics and shapes and colors- female fun, clean and dirty. We can dissolve the myth and survive it with sex, love, attraction, and style not only intact, but flourishing more vibrantly than before... We all like to be desirable and feel beautiful," (Wolf 271). Miley Cyrus is showing the world that she doesn't need to fit into the cookie cutter, picture perfect, gender stereotypes in order to feel beautiful. In fact, she has previously claimed that she never felt more like herself after cutting her hair. 

           Miley also has a very different way of posing for pictures now as well. Before, Miley looked just like any other young, cute, female celebrity displaying a polite smile for anyone who was taking a picture of her. Now, however, she is rarely seen just "smiling" because she always has her tongue out, which is super un-traditional for a celebrity to do, since they are constantly under pressure of fulfilling the ideal image of beauty. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Cyrus comments on the fact that she always has her tongue out in pictures by stating, "I just stick my tongue out because I hate smiling in pictures. It's so awkward. It looks so cheesy. Now people expect it, like, "Put your tongue out!" It's just easier that way. Taking pictures is so embarrassing. But there's also something about it that I think is cool. Every other girl is so serious – like, this is my moment on the red carpet, I'm in my ball gown, looking pretty," (Eells). Miley Cyrus shows that she doesn't need to comply to the normal beauty standards like other women in order to get noticed, or to be considered beautiful. 

                Miley continues her previous statement with, "There's something empowering about what I'm doing right now. Especially having "short hair don't care." I think it's empowering for girls. Because there's not one thing that defines what beauty is," (Eells). The fact that a 20-year-old girl is able to have so much confidence within herself and her physical appearance is extremely refreshing and inspirational to females everywhere. People everywhere are constantly criticizing her for how she looks, however she simply ignores it and stands by what she enjoys and believes to be is right. As Susan Bordo states, "femininity itself has come to be largely a matter of constructing, in the manner described by Erving Goffman, the appropriate surface representation of the self. We are no longer given verbal descriptions or exemplars of what a lady is or of what femininity consists. Rather, we learn the rules directly through bodily discourse: through images that tell us what clothes, body shape, facial expression, movements, and behavior are required," (Gilbert 749). By going against these beauty standards and expectations, Miley Cyrus shows that women are certainly capable of breaking through the gender-stereotype barrier and look however they wish, as long as they never let society pull them back down. Cyrus stays faithful to her style and what she believes in, which is very important if we are trying to get this message across to the rest of society. In my opinion, besides promoting the use of drugs, Miley is a great role model for women. She is confident, happy, and comfortable in her own skin. She just has something about her where no one else can faze her which is an absolutely admirable trait that I wish I had myself. Miley Cyrus has given me a lot to think about on feeling comfortable with my own self image as well. 

            Unfortunately this is my last post of analyzing all of these different women and characters of the world, but I have certainly learned a significant amount. My next and final post will simply be a conclusion of everything I have taken from this project, thank you so much for reading.

Sincerely,
Samantha

A Conclusion to My Studies

A Conclusion to My Studies

Regarding Feminism & Beauty Culture

  
       Although I certainly do not know everything, I am very happy to say that I am so much more knowledgeable about certain aspects of feminism and beauty culture. I only skimmed the surface of feminism, however. I had wanted to give a whole background on it, but then I realized that method was taking me literally forever and I needed to condense and focus my information. After reviewing all of these texts and medias, I have come to realize that I will never view any sort of text, media, film, advertisement, etc. the same ever again. I will now always be thinking of how it relates to myself and why it came to be that way. For example, the picture I have posted above is a picture of the artist, Robin Thicke from one of his music videos. This is the type of objectification that we need to focus on ridding the media of. It portrays women as if they are, like I have previously stated, only important because of their bodies and beauty, and there is rarely intellect to match. The girl in this video never gets a chance to display any sort of intellect since she is silent the entire time, however that in and of itself shows how women are silenced on these subjects and treated as though they are petty and unimportant. 
              Of course we are all petty and unimportant until the obsession of the beauty culture consumes a woman who is important to the person that is doubting the ideals. Whether she is lost due to depression of not meeting the beauty expectations of society or becomes anorexic due to trying to hard to fulfill those expectations, body image and beauty culture is a huge deal in our society and greatly impacts women everywhere. After reading these texts by Naomi Wolf, Susan Bordo, Lisa Jervis, Eve Ensler, and Jean Kilbourne, I have actually come to find a peace within myself about my own image.
          I have always been self-conscious since I was younger; people regularly tell me that I shouldn't be but that does not change the way in which I view myself. My insecurities partly have to do with all of the advertising which display women as though they are only one specific body type; the ideal beautiful woman who matches society's beauty standards. I am a short, scrawny girl with somewhat short legs, and a relatively small chest size. I have hair that grows out to about triple its size when I blow dry it because it is curly. None of my natural physical qualities match the beauty expectations of women. However, due to my insecurities, I now have a callus on my right thumb from straightening my hair so much, two enormous scars on the outsides of each of my ankles from my clumsiness while shaving, and I spend an absurd amount of money on Bare Essentials makeup and Victoria's Secret bras and underwear. I know that I am completely entrapped in the game of our beauty culture, however for some reason society sincerely has brainwashed me into thinking that i actually do feel better about myself when I perform these rituals. Before the development of mass media, women did not compare themselves in such harsh ways to other women. It begin in "the 1840s, the first nude photographs of prostitutes were taken; advertisements using images of "beautiful" women first appeared in mid-century. Copies of classical artworks, postcards of society beauties and royal mistresses, Currier and Ives prints, and porcelain figurines flooded the separate sphere to which middle-class women were confined. Since the Industrial Revolution, middle-class Western women have been controlled by ideals and stereotypes as much as by material constraints," (Wolf 15). Back then was when the idea of the ideal beauty image was just forming together. Now, there are many variations of it however they are all still very similar to each other. In the video I have posted above this text, it shows a number of different advertisements that portray women, "beautiful" women, and basically all of them are half naked. Each advertisement basically screams to young women who are watching, "hey, society thinks I'm hot. Don't you wanna be hot too?" The video focuses on how these advertisements impact young girls and the problems that they cause within their self-esteem, like me, and how that continues to impact them as they continue on in life. 
           Beauty culture in feminism is an extremely interesting topic which is seemingly difficult to dissect, given that there are so many media industries who try and justify their objectification of women's bodies. However after studying it, I feel as though all of these "beautiful" women who constantly stare me in the eyes and mock me from their glossy pages or movie screens will be seemingly less beautiful to me, now that I can understand beauty is simply a societal construct...stemmed from male dominance. Thank you again for taking an interest in my project and my studies, I know they have greatly changed the way I view the world, media, and pretty much any woman who is displayed as a beauty icon, and I hope they can do the same for other young women experiencing the same body image issues. 

Sincerely,
Samantha

Below is a list of all of the sources that I have used in my research:

Works Cited

Bennett, Sam. "The Oxymoron of the Sarah Palin "Conservative Feminism" Brand." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 June 2010. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-bennett/the-oxymoron-of-the-sarah_b_611767.html>.

Chen, Joyce. "Christina Aguilera on Her Curvy Controversial Figure." New York Daily News. New York Daily News, 1 Oct. 2012. Web. <http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/christina-aguilera-fat-girl-article-1.1171905>.

Eells, Josh. "Miley Cyrus on Why She Loves Weed, Went Wild at the VMAs and Much More." Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, 27 Sept. 2013. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/miley-cyrus-on-why-she-loves-weed-went-wild-at-the-vmas-and-much-more-20130927>.

Ensler, Eve. The Good Body. New York: Villard, 2004. Print.

"Feminism." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.

"Feminism." Urban Dictionary. N.p., 31 Jan. 2010. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.

Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. Feminist Literary Theory and Criticism. New York City: W.W. Norton &, 2007. Print.

Handy, Bruce. "A Bunny Thing Happened: An Oral History of the Playboy Clubs." Vanity Fair. Vanity Fair, May 2011. Web. 02 Dec. 2013. <http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2011/05/playboy-clubs-201105>.

Hollandsworth, Skip. "Toddlers in Tiaras." Good Housekeeping Aug. 2011: n. pag. Academic Search Premier. Web. <http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.cabrini.edu/ehost/detail?sid=639687bb-9595-4669-8b4c-7b99505fe05b%40sessionmgr4003&vid=9&hid=4104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=65433775>.

Jervis, Lisa, and Andi Zeisler. Bitchfest. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. Print.

Kilbourne, Jean. "Beauty...and the Beast of Advertising." Center for Media Literacy. Center for Media Literacy, n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2013. <http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/beautyand-beast-advertising>.

Patton, Tracey Owens. "Hey Girl, Am I More than My Hair?: African American Women and Their Struggles with Beauty, Body Image, and Hair." NWSA Journal 18.2 (2006): 24-51. Academic Search Premier. Web. <http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.cabrini.edu/ehost/detail?vid=4&sid=40f92601-c71c-4306-aea0-f28d0e6d8b61%40sessionmgr4003&hid=4104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=22056097>.

Rampton, Martha. "The Three Waves of Feminism." The Magazine of Pacific University. Pacific University, Fall 2008. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://www.pacificu.edu/magazine_archives/2008/fall/echoes/feminism.cfm>.

"Robertson Letter Attacks Feminists." The New York Times. The New York Times, 26 Aug. 1992. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.

Trincia, Michelle. "TLC's 'Toddlers in Tiaras,' a Twisted Parallel Universe." The Review. The University of Delaware, 23 Nov. 2009. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <http://www.udreview.com/editorial/tlc-s-toddlers-in-tiaras-a-twisted-parallel-universe-1.944520>.

Watson, Elwood, and Darcy Martin. "The Miss America Pageant: Pluralism, Femininity, and Cinderella All in One." Journal of Popular Culture 34.1 (2000): n. pag. Academic Search Premier. Web. <http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.cabrini.edu/ehost/detail?sid=a7c47c07-f10b-49d5-b54b-8c4aaa8fe30f%40sessionmgr4003&vid=8&hid=4104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=4250958>.

Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women. New York: HarperCollins, 2002, 1991. Print.