Beauty Facts

There are 3 billion women who don't look like supermodels and only eight who do.
Marilyn Monroe wore a size 14.
If Barbie was a real woman, she'd have to walk on all fours due to her proportions.
The average woman weighs 144 lb. and wears between a 12-14.
One out of every four college aged women has an eating disorder.
The models in the magazines are airbrushed -- not perfect!
A psychological study in 1995 found that three minutes spent. looking at a fashion magazine caused 70% of women to feel depressed, guilty, and shameful.
Models twenty years ago weighed 8% less than the average woman.
Today they weigh 23% less.

by Rita Singh

The Media Objectifies Women

Images of single body parts, or bodies without faces abound in advertisements today. Furthermore, images of women in compromising, submissive, or otherwise suggestive positions are commonplace. While we may not think much of these images in our everyday lives, their repeated occurrence not only subtly affects the way we think about the role of women of society, but also suggests that viewing women as objects is acceptable. To read more about distorted images of women in advertising, please visit the website About Face and view some of their examples of the worst offenders in advertising.

Female celebrities are often oversexualized in press photos as well in the roles they play on television and movies. Although a case can be made for the exploitation of certain male celebrities as well, the extent to which it is done for females remains unrivaled. Although images of beauty have diversified from the stereotype of the Barbie doll image, most photographs of attractive female celebrities continue to play up a contrast between an expression of "child-like" innocence and deviant sexuality. Often women are shown with their hands covering their mouths in some way, indicating that they are to be seen, not heard. Whether consciously thought about or not, images of this nature continue to promote women as second-class citizens that are most attractive when vulnerable, submissive, and above all: silent.

Next time you are flipping through the pages of a magazine, take the time time to analyze the expressions and positions of female models and celebrities. Are there eyes looking up towards the camera, suggesting that they are being viewed from above? Are they often positioned below any males that might be in the picture? What do their expressions seem to be saying? More likely than not, you will find that on average, women are being portrayed as objects, rather than thinking, feeling, intelligent human beings.