The Unrealistic Standards of Society
Holly B
General Psychology
Week 5 Apply
When you go to the store, just about every store, you will find close to the registers, several magazines. Some target m and some target women or kids. But almost all, intentional or not, since messages that can honestly be harmful to anyone's ego or self-esteem.
I was on Google Play Store earlier looking through magazines, and there were two that caught my attention. One is called Shape magazine, and the other is called men's Fitness. Looking just at the cover of these magazines, I could tell what Society, in general, thinks the ideal person is. For women, Shape magazine shows a woman has a beautiful body from head to toe. Sexy abs, firm killer butt, to silky, shiny hair and younger looking skin. The ideal man portrayed by Men’s Fitness has muscles, is lean, trim, outdoorsy, has a six pack abs and a sex god to ALL women.
Women and men read these magazines thinking that if they do what the magazines suggest, then they will be attractive and accepted. So basically, to achieve the ideal body, to be considered pretty, you have to be unhealthy. These magazines give off the mindset that you can never be to rich or to skinny. I don't know if that is the message they are trying to protect, but it is what is accomplished. Then adding a beautiful, half-naked girl, or a sexy, muscled up guy screams that beauty and sex are on “the rage.”
I know these high, impossible standards affect men, but women at a much higher rate (Striegel-Moore & Franko, 2002). Research shows that 3 to 10% of females ages 15 to 29 can be considered anorexic or bulimic (Polivy J. & Herman C.P. 2002). These unrealistic standards can be detrimental to a girls self-esteem. My 12-year-old daughter, Lexi, is a perfect example. Every morning she changes her clothes at least five times, will try to sneak on makeup and always asking me “Mom, do I look ok? Do I look...