Post by flatandgreen on Feb 24, 2005 0:54:09 GMT -5
So I'm doing the research on body image in Latin America, right. My thoughtful, kind, nice, yet naïve guy friend asked me why I thought advertising was so evil in relation to body image.
I told him how beauty is a very real concept and it shouldn't be written off as just a social construction, but that the evidence shows that in countries where Western advertisements are fewer, women have better body images overall. This seems to prove to me that the weird bodies promoted really do effect our self-image. This makes sense to me and maybe I'm missing some vital point. I'll concede -- painfully -- that I DON'T have all the answers.
He followed up with, "Isn't there personal responsibility involved? Shouldn't we be able to look at those images and realize they're fake and not be affected by them?" GAH!
I tried to explain that I'm not over or underweight, that I don't buy every beauty product I see advertised, that I DO believe I'm beautiful and that those images are not normal, but that EVEN I have crazy body issues and I think that my experience as a white, teenage girl in the US (a country with a huge number of weight, emotional, and body image issues) lends credence to my statement.
In short, he didn't get it.
Am I wrong?
I can distance myself somewhat from what I see portrayed as "normal" and what I believe to be normal, but I don't think I can do that entirely and I couldn't BELIEVE he was being so obtuse.
We left it as friends, agreeing to disagree. My voice is hoarse and my patience is short.
I told him how beauty is a very real concept and it shouldn't be written off as just a social construction, but that the evidence shows that in countries where Western advertisements are fewer, women have better body images overall. This seems to prove to me that the weird bodies promoted really do effect our self-image. This makes sense to me and maybe I'm missing some vital point. I'll concede -- painfully -- that I DON'T have all the answers.
He followed up with, "Isn't there personal responsibility involved? Shouldn't we be able to look at those images and realize they're fake and not be affected by them?" GAH!
I tried to explain that I'm not over or underweight, that I don't buy every beauty product I see advertised, that I DO believe I'm beautiful and that those images are not normal, but that EVEN I have crazy body issues and I think that my experience as a white, teenage girl in the US (a country with a huge number of weight, emotional, and body image issues) lends credence to my statement.
In short, he didn't get it.
Am I wrong?
I can distance myself somewhat from what I see portrayed as "normal" and what I believe to be normal, but I don't think I can do that entirely and I couldn't BELIEVE he was being so obtuse.
We left it as friends, agreeing to disagree. My voice is hoarse and my patience is short.