☮☮Imagine☮Humanity☮☮

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rhiannonmair:

”Images in the media today project an unrealistic and even dangerous standard of feminine beauty that can have a powerful influence on the way women view themselves. From the perspective of the mass media, thinness is idealized and expected for women to be considered “attractive.” Images in advertisements, television, and music usually portray the “ideal woman” as tall, white, and thin, with a “tubular” body, and blonde hair (Dittmar & Howard, 2004; Lin & Kulik, 2002; Polivy & Herman, 2004; Sands & Wardle, 2003; Schooler, Ward, Merriwether, & Caruthers, 2004; Tiggemann & Slater, 2003). The media is littered with images of females who fulfill these unrealistic standards, making it seem as if it is normal for women to live up to this ideal. Dittmar and Howard (2004) made this statement regarding the prevalence of unrealistic media images:
Ultra-thin models are so prominent that exposure to them becomes unavoidable and ‘chronic’, constantly reinforcing a discrepancy for most women and girls between their actual size and the ideal body (p. 478).
Only a very small percentage of women in Western countries meet the criteria the media uses to define “beautiful” (Dittmar & Howard, 2004; Thompson & Stice, 2001); yet so many women are repeatedly exposed to media images that send the message that a woman is not acceptable and attractive if she do not match society’s “ultra-thin” standard of beauty (Dittmar & Howard, 2004, p. 478).
In recent years, women’s body sizes have grown larger (Spitzer, Henderson, & Zivian, 1999), while societal standards of body shape have become much thinner. This discrepancy has made it increasingly difficult for most women to achieve the current sociocultural “ideal.” Such a standard of perfection is unrealistic and even dangerous. Many of the models shown on television, advertisements, and in other forms of popular media are approximately 20% below ideal body weight, thus meeting the diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa (Dittmar & Howard, 2004).
Research has repeatedly shown that constant exposure to thin models fosters body image concerns and disordered eating in many females. Almost all forms of the media contain unrealistic images, and the negative effects of such idealistic portrayals have been demonstrated in numerous studies. Schooler et al. (2004) found that women who reported greater exposure to television programming during adolescence were more likely to experience high levels of body image disturbance than females that did not report such levels of exposure. In addition, certain types of programming seem to elicit higher levels of body dissatisfaction in females. A study done by Tiggemann and Slater (2003) found that women who viewed music videos that contained thin models experienced increased levels of negative mood and body image disturbance. Music videos seem to send a particularly direct message that women should live up to the sociocultural ideal; women portrayed are almost always direct representations of what our culture considers beautiful. In addition, music television is an increasingly influential form of media, especially for adolescent and college females.
Mainstream magazines and advertisements are another potent source of idealized images of women. This is disturbing because many women, especially adolescents, have been found to read such material on a regular basis. Findings of one study indicate that 83% of teenage girls reported reading fashion magazines for about 4.3 hours each week (Thompson & Heinberg, 1999). Female’s motivations for reading such material varies, but self-report inventories have shown that most women who read fashion magazines do so to get information about beauty, fitness, grooming, and style (Tiggemann, 2003).
Magazines and advertisements are marketed to help women “better themselves” by providing information and products that are supposed to make them look and feel better.Women read these magazines with the hope that if they follow the advice given, they will be more acceptable and attractive. Marketing strategies lure women into purchasing these forms of media, and most have the potential to be a powerful influence on women’s sense of self and satisfaction with their appearance. Tiggemann (2003) found that frequent magazine reading was consistently correlated with higher levels of body dissatisfaction and disturbed eating. The study also found that women who read fashion magazines displayed higher levels of thin-ideal internalization, which is a powerful risk factor for development of weight anxiety and disordered eating patterns. In addition to weight dissatisfaction and eating pathology, studies have shown that women who view slides of women pictured in many mainstream magazines and advertisements show increased levels of depression, stress, guilt, shame, and insecurity (Stice, Schupak-Neuberg, Shaw, & Stein, 1994).”
-Female Body Image and the Mass Media: Perspectives on How Women Internalize the Ideal Beauty Standard
by Kasey L. Serdar

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497 ♥

Wearing a hijab isn’t inherently liberating – but neither is baring one’s breasts. What is liberating is being able to choose either of these things. It’s pretty ludicrous to think that oppression is somehow proportional to how covered or uncovered someone’s body is. Both sides of this argument present a shallow understanding of women’s empowerment, which only drowns out the substantive challenges facing all women – issues that cannot be encapsulated in a debate about a piece of fabric.

—

Sara Yasin, Is the Hijab Worth Fighting Over?

10493 ♥

juanfranco:

From Adbusters Vol. 21, No. 2

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133 ♥

socialismartnature:

Right now, more than half of Guantanamo’s detainees are on hunger strike after over 11 years of indefinite detention. With dozens of detainees cleared for transfer (some for many years), is death the only way out of Guantanamo? TAKE ACTION: http://bit.ly/gitmoaamer

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100wordsneversaid:

alloutorg:

HUGE day for love. After months of hard work and protest, marriage equality has passed in France — 331 to 225.

YEAHHHHHHH Guess I gotta put a ring on it !

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so-elegantly-disheveled:

I really, really love this. Can everyone please remember this?

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peace-love-justice:

The 17th of April mark the annual ‘Palestinian Prisoners Day’. It was initially set up to remind the public of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners that are imprisoned in Israeli jails, where they are routinely exposed to forms of torture and other inhumane treatment. Every year TRC is proud to host four annual conferences in support of ‘Palestinian prisoners’ day. These conferences are held in TRC four branches in Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin and Hebron. TRC is engaged in all national, regional and international effort made to free Palestinian prisoners held in by the occupying forces. TRC strongly believes that the torture inflicted against the Palestinian detainees in the Israeli Jails is a catalyst for many other differing forms of violence seen throughout the Palestinian community. TRC launches annual raising awareness campaigns aiming at stimulating and unifying the national effort for their quest of a torture-free society.

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