Can You Tell The Difference?

Can you tell the difference between a men’s magazine and a rapist? I took the quiz and sure as hell couldn’t. Today I came across an insanely interesting article comparing quotes from a men’s magazines in the UK and convicted rapists. You might be thinking.. whaaat.. but seriously, it is pretty damn hard. I encourage you reader to take this test and see for yourself. Anyway, this is kind of f*cked up. Not only could participants who took the survey not tell the difference in quotes, but they also rated quotes from the men’s magazines as more derogatory. Prime example, “A girl may like anal sex because it makes her feel incredibly naughty and she likes feeling like a dirty slut. If this is the case, you can try all sorts of humiliating acts to help live out her filthy fantasy.” Well, I would almost hope a rapist said this, butttt I was incorrect. Sooo happy to know these sorts of things are published in magazines my potential boyfriends are reading.

Rihanna covers Cosmo.

I kind of wanted to know if I was crazy so I had four of my friends take this test to see what they thought, besides the vernacular of the writing to hint to them it might be from a men’s magazine, they literally could not tell who said what. Most disturbing might be number 10 (“There's nothing quite like a woman standing in the dock accused of murder in a sex game gone wrong . . . The possibility of murder does bring a certain frisson to the bedroom.”), when one of my friends read it outloud, one of my other friend’s replied with “I HOPE a rapist said that.”  Exactly what I had thought in my head earlier. WRONG. It was published in a men’s magazine.

Rihanna covers GQ.

People are often criticizing what is said in women’s magazines but it doesn’t seem like they are doing the same with men’s magazines. Critics say that magazines like Cosmopolitan give women an unrealistic view on men and relationships. I do agree with the idea that magazines give women an unrealistic ideal body, but when it comes to sex and relationships the articles written are actually kind of comical. Women’s magazines aren’t quite as demeaning or salacious to men as men’s magazines are to women. Some of the articles published in Cosmopolitan if taken too seriously, could create a large band of psychotic paranoid women. For example, this article makes absolutely no sense to me.  So basically if my boyfriend tells me all about his day instead of not saying anything at all that means that he is actually lying and he is hiding something. Right. Seem like a normal train of thought. Anyway, I guess I can see the similarity on the women that are put on the covers of both men and women’s magazines. Cosmopolitan regularly features the same women as the SI Swimsuit Issue, Esquire, and GQ with the same come-hither stare. I think I am going to have to pick up some men’s magazines and see what is really being published and if men’s and women’s magazines are really all that different.

Thin is still in....

In debates as whether hating exercise is setting a good example for young people....

I have always been that awkward tall skinny girl. In the 6^th grade, I was already 5’6 and had a good few inches on most all of the boys and girls in my grade. By 8^th grade, I was already at my currently height, 5’9 and skinny as a rail. I eventually filled out, but I have always been lanky, tall, and skinny. I have been under a lot of stress lately particularly with being diagnosed with a medical condition, and well as school, my family, and my relationships. Therefore my health has taken a bit of a turn, I haven’t been eating as much as a regularly do, and as a result I have lost about 10 pounds from my already thin frame.  Recently, many of my friends have been noticing how thin I look. In the best way, they make comments alluding to the fact that I need to put on some pounds, but no matter how hard I try, how many cupcakes and thin mints I eat, I just can’t put any weight back on. Sometimes, in fact, I feel like I am treated like the enemy for being thin. I know that sounds kind of ridiculous and out there, but women who are thin tend to have just as many haters as those who are overweight due. To me there seems to be a double standard with those who are overweight and those who are thin. How is it okay for random girls I don’t know to accuse me of being anorexic or doing cocaine but if I were to ever tell someone to stop eating it would be offensive? I eat what I want, I don’t starve myself and I am beautiful. So why are you allowed to love your ‘curves’ but it’s wrong for me to love my ‘bones’? If you can tell me to ‘gain weight’, why is it wrong for me to tell someone to lose weight? If you can feel beautiful being big, I can feel beautiful being small. I think people forget that it hurts me too just like it would hurt an overweight girl to be called fat; do I like being asked if I eat enough or if I have a problem? Obviously not.

So what does this have to do with women’s magazines? Well, it is this magazines that are telling us how to look, dress, act, et cetera. Everyone has different body shapes. But with today’s society, we try to normal what that body type should be, SKINNY. This is pretty much the only body type that you see in media and in the magazines. (Of course you have your non-conformers like Adele, who refuse to accept the norm the media is imposing on us). I believe that this type of pressure placed on us makes us resent others for having the body type that they see in the magazines. To you that statement might seem outlandish, this could just be me projecting my personal feelings in this post. Some girls encourage me to eat more, but others ask me what my “secret” is. It upsets me that women see my body type as the ideal, and can’t embrace what they are given. I wish that this could be changed.

Then and Now

Today at work while rummaging through some random boxes, I came across a treasure chest of hidden goodies, vintage Cosmopolitan magazines from the 1980s and early 1990s. I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to do a little side-by-side comparison of our most current issue and one I found from January 1985.

Nice hair gurl.

Might as well start with the cover. The January 1985 cover features the lovely Elle Macpherson, I’m not too sure if this was before or during her supermodel prime, but interestingly enough there is no mention of her on the cover. Splashed all over the current issues are headlines like “Selena Gomez, Secrets behind her megastar success” and “Megan Fox, naughty or nice? You decide.” In the most recent decades, we have developed an obsession with celebrities and their lives. My explanation to this is because we see them as living in a parallel universe to ours- we fail to remember they are real people because of the money, power, and fame they have, and our lives just look dull and booorrrring in comparison. Sucks to suck. But we gotta deal with it.

March 2012 Cover

 Also different to note is the cover headlines. We have this little joke where we talk about whether a girl or guy is “Cosmo worthy” or whether they are “Cosmo material” when questioning if we should place them in the magazine. There is a definite shift in the kinds of celebrities that were placed in the magazine back in the day to the celebrities that are placed in the magazine today.  In 1985, when this issue had a full length story about Jane Fonda, she was 48 (I did the math). Today, there is no way in hell that anyone over the age of 35 would ever be placed in Cosmopolitan. Have you seen the January and February 2012 covers? Teen central … Dakota Fanning and Selena Gomez… they are both barely 18.  I remember the first time I read Cosmopolitan magazine at the ripe age of 15, and to be honest I had no idea what half of the stuff they were talking about was.  There has been a definite shift in the target audience for the magazine, they claim we target ages 18-34, but I know for a fact we have little 13 year old tweens running around reading the “2012 Sex Survey.” That’s an issue. In a previous post, I mentioned that girls as young as 9 and 10 are in fact reading these magazines. Not okay.

Whilst entertaining myself on the internet during a terribly boring physics lecture a while ago, I found a photo that captures, in a satirical manner, what women’s magazines are impressing upon us. The focus of today’s women’s magazines is on how to have better sex, please “your man”, and lose weight, all while supposedly “empowering” us to be fun, fearless females. Personally, I think we need to find a new way to be empowered because this crap ain’t cutting it. 

Men have issues too?!

I don't hate it.

I have been focusing this blog on the effects of magazines on women, how the images published lead to heightened body dissatisfaction and well as eating disorders, BUT I haven’t discussed whether or not they affect men. I have a decent amount of guy friends, and they all claim they don’t understand why girls watch what they eat, why we are so self conscious, blah blah blah. But, what I have found is that guys are actually self-conscious too. A few days ago I was talking to a couple of my guy friends about their upcoming spring break trip to Cabo. They actually revealed to me that they have been working out more, watching what they eat, and drinking less alcohol to prepare look good in a swimsuit and tone up their “Cabo bodies.” In fact they have coined their new regimen, the “Cabo diet.” Mind you, it ain’t looking too promising for them anyway, sorry about it.  After that I started to think more about this, when I am at the gym, the majority of the inhabitants are males. Mind you I hate the gym just for this reason. Ladies, ever gotten approach by some sweaty dude at the gym tryna chat you up and get your number? Like seriously, every single treadmill is open but you choose the one RIGHT next to mine and stare at me until I make awkward eye contact with you so you can strike up a conversation?! Smart girls stay away from the gym solely for this reason.   

Lookin' a little wax figure-ish to me.

Anywaayyy, I decided to research this a bit and get some more information, do magazines effect men like they do women? In a more general study in the Review of General Psychology regarding gender differences, men scored and rated themselves significantly higher in terms of physical appearance, athleticism, personal self, and self-satisfaction self-esteem. But other research shows that men aren’t necessarily concerned with size and weight like predicted, but rather other issues such as body odor, body hair, and sweating. A study published by the San Francisco State University found that the more media young men engaged in, such as magazines and prime time TV, the worse they felt about their bodies. It makes sense. Think of Abercrombie & Fitch ads, the model’s head might be cut off in the photograph, but it doesn’t even matter, his abs are as chiseled as a granite statue. So the magazines and billboards might not display men as stick thin like they do women, but rather hairless, sleek, and built. That is a lot to live up to if you are just an “Average Joe.” Magazines are even known for airbrushing men. On a 2007 cover of Men’s Fitness Andy Roddick was pictured with much larger arms than usual, a cover headline splashed next to him saying “How to Build Big Arms.” That’s got to be false advertising or something. Let’s get real, the dude plays tennis, he’s not a body builder. There is no way his arms are that jacked. So it seems like guys really do face some of the issues that women do, whether they let onto it or not.

Eating Disorders

Let’s get down to business; America has got a lot of problems. Obesity rates are rising and are currently at an all time high. In fact, 30% of children and 65% of adults are overweight and 15% of children and 30% of adults meet the criteria for obesity. It has gotten so bad that people now refer to it as an “obesity crisis.” We are a society obsessed with convenience and accessibility; today we work more and have less free time than we did 30 years ago, that doesn’t leave much time for healthy eating. America, gluttonous?! Neveeerrr. 

At the same time, eating disorder rates are rising as well. Eating disorders affect more than 10 million people in the United States alone. Disorders include anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, and excessive exercise. Joel Yager once said, “Every society has a way of torturing its women, whether by binding their feet or by sticking them into whalebone corsets. What contemporary American culture has come up with is designer jeans." A little dramatic Joel, but I get it.  To be honest, it is pretty surprising that the rates of obesity in America as so high, especially with so much emphasis being put on healthy eating, dieting, and exercise. But once again we are directed back to that same statement I say in basically every post, magazines publish images of perfection unattainable (literally, they are airbrushed) by an average person. What’s more interesting to me is that is isn’t the typical women’s magazines like Glamour, Elle, and Cosmopolitan that are correlated with eating-disorders, it is actually the fitness magazines like Shape, Self, and Women’s Fitness. For once the magazine I work for isn’t causing more harm than good??? Actually, that’s a lie, studies also show that the whole “thin is in” kind of thing perpetuated in typical women’s magazines isn’t having that great of an influence on girls either. 

Way to be a role model, McPhee.

I found a pretty interesting article regarding fitness magazines and eating disorders. Katie Dummond writes fitness magazines are, “like heroin for the eating disordered. They often offer misleading diet information, along with airbrushed photos of impossible physical ideals, and perpetuate ugly myths about how health ought to look.” So what was kind of surprising was that Shape decided to put Katharine McPhee on their cover…twice, a woman who had openly confessed to suffering from bulimia. Seriously Shape, you gotta be kidding me. Now that is hypocrisy at its finest. After suffering from bulimia, you would think McPhee would be more sensitive to readers and wouldn’t want to bolster that same impracticable physical ideal. Honestly, what an awful message to send. Yah, her body looks banging on the cover, but how did she get that way? Was purging after meals part of the routine? I don’t want to rag on her too much, but that is pretty shameful on both her and the magazine’s part. Even worse, I literally just Googled to find a picture of her Shape cover only to find she’s on the cover of Self, THIS MONTH (March 2012). What a fucking coincidence. Girl needs to get off those fitness magazines.  Where are the role models in this world, ugh.

Self March 2012 cover

Body-Image

Taken from a "Thinspiration" blog

I guess you could call me social media obsessed. From Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr (you would think my Klout score would be higher than it really is), I often find I get lost within these websites and sucked into the virtual world. One day while I was perusing on Tumblr (you can check out mine hereeee if ya want) I came across one girl’s blog that was more than just some pretty pictures. For me, my Tumblr encompasses my personality, and the pictures I post are a reflection of idea, words, and images I take a particular liking to. So while I was on her page, with hateful words and dark images splashed all over the page, I began to think how tortured of a soul she must be. Her page led me to dozens of other pages just like it. Those with girls posting exactly what they ate for the entire day although with (airbrushed) images of stick thin models in swimsuits and lingerie, those with daily photos along with the current weight or “CW” as they call it, those with painful phrases like “Why aren’t I pretty?” and “All these pictures of pretty and skinny girls make me want to go starve until I’m thin and attractive.” They call them "Thinspiration" blogs, I would say they are more depressing than inspirational.

Another "Thinspiration" blog photo

This is another issue with women’s magazines; they portray those in their magazines in such an unrealistic light, that it creates an ideal that isn’t even attainable among real women. From my own personal experience as well as seeing blogs like the one mentioned above, the inability to look like and the images they see in the magazines creates a hate for one’s body. The pressure to be thin and to look and dress like the models in magazines is overwhelming. In the United States alone, the diet industry is currently worth 40 to 100 billion dollars.  Never been the best at math nor do I quite understand how the economy works, but I am pretty sure that’s a hell of a lot of people buying diet products. In addition, an American research group reporting that one out of every four college aged women uses unhealthy methods to control or to lose weight. These methods range from excessive exercise, vomiting, laxatives, fasting, and skipping meals. Once again, not so good at math, but that translates to millions and millions of young women around the United States.  

Articles like the ones on the cover above
 are being read by young girls.

You would think that the magazines with cover headlines like “50 Best Sex Moves” and “Tighten you Tush” would only be read by a more mature audience, but research shows that these magazines are trickling down to girls much younger than the intended target audience. I came across a unique USA Today article that discusses the effects of fashion industry ideals on body image. Sarah Murnen, a professor of psychology at Kenyon College, performed a study in which she found that girls as young as first grade believe that culture and society is telling them they need to look and be like celebrities. Well, I am soooo glad these girls are growing up with such esteemed role models like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton. My question is there even a way to protect girls against these unattainable ideals. As of now, it doesn’t seem like there is light at the end of the tunnel. It is a vicious and dangerous cycle that our society is a part of, and it is difficult to not get sucked in. 

Soulmate

Perhaps Genevieve Pecsok isn’t the prime example of someone who uses social book marking, however she uses it in a way that is relevant to our class and to all students gathering various sources for a paper. After extensively searching Diigo to find my soulmate, I came up empty handed. Does no one share my same interest in the effects of women’s magazines on society!? I am joking, clearly, who really wants to use Diigo to bookmark serious shiz like that... It seems as though most Diigo users are not necessarily using it if for research purposes, but rather pleasure purposes.  I did find one interesting character, Genevieve, as I mentioned above, who doesn’t bookmark often but when she does, most of her articles are relevant to my blog. Genevieve, until like most Diigo users, seems to use it for more than just tagging her favorite articles about cats in costumes or new recipes she wants to try out. After perusing through her bookmarks, I found that she concentrates specifically on body image and eating disorders. A few of her links are specifically related to the media and magazines and how they affect women in society. On a more random note, I can’t help but imagine what Genevieve Pecsok looks like, her name to me gives off the image of something with thick coke bottle glasses who enjoys reading Nicholas Sparks books in her spare time. Think LeeLee Sobieski circa Never Been Kissed (you probably have no idea who I am talking about.. IMDB it). Anyway, Genevieve is very thoroughly in her bookmarking practices, she frequently adds multiple comments on the bookmarked article. She directly quotes the article and then adds her personal opinion below. She actually has more annotations on the bookmarked articles than she does total tags. Each article has multiple annotations and sticky notes. However, although she annotates thoroughly, she does not tag often. Most of the tags that appear on her page say “no_tag.” In fact, she has only bookmarked 12 different articles but she has over 80 annotations. One great link that Genevieve bookmarked is a scholarly article entitled “Body Image, Media, and Eating Disorders” which appears on the website, Psychiatry Online (If you really want to read a scholarly article, here's the link). The author explains how exposure to the mass media is correlated with obesity and negative body image, subsequently leading to a possible eating disorder. A second gem that Genevieve has in her Diigo library is an article titled, “Beauty and Body Image in the Media,” you can find the article here.  The article is a more informal, yet informative look into advertisements in the media and there direct effects on women. Genevieve has bookmarked some potentially valuable articles for the upcoming research paper. A major trend in today’s society is eating disorders, millions of people in the United States, the majority women, suffer from them. Joel Yager, a psychiatrist specializing in eating disorders made a bold statement when he said, "Every society has a way of torturing its women, whether by binding their feet or by sticking them into whalebone corsets. What contemporary American culture has come up with is designer jeans." I am interested in exploring and researching this topic more in the future. 

Trifecta

Hello, World!

I work for a major women’s magazine. This is probably a long overdue confession but I am beginning to hate it. Perhaps I am not cut out for the whole “9 to 5” job or maybe I’m jut not that into it anymore. I know there are hundreds of girls who would kill to take my spot but honestly, I don’t care. Everyone I work with pretty much sucks and they might be the most passive aggressive group of humans I have ever met in my life. I think it is the industry that turns people this way or maybe it is just that women intrinsically are jealous of other women. I can’t really figure it out. Whether it be jealously of their accomplishments, looks, boyfriend or whatever else, women are jealous. I remember walking into my boss’s office one day eating a cupcake (first mistake), she looked at me and said “HOW do you eat THAT and stay so thin?!” to which I responded “Umm, I don’t know, I don’t really gain weight” (second mistake). I could then see her lips purse up and her face turn green with envy. Since then she often makes comments regarding my eating habits and looks, it is almost like she resents me for it. Don’t get me wrong, my boss is no Meryl Streep from The Devil Wears Prada, but she can be quite a handful. 

Jayne Manfield and Sophia Loren

Maybe women aren’t jealous of other women and maybe that is just something I have observed from my experience, but there is something going on and I think it is in large part due to the society we live in. In today’s world, I don’t think we could survive without media. In our daily life we often look to the media to tell us what we should be aware of and what is important. We are constantly surrounded by news of beautiful celebrities and billboards are plastered with stick thin models. In the United States alone, over 8 million people struggle from eating disorders and that number is increasingly yearly. Many suffer from body image issues and look to celebrities and models to see how they should dress and how they should look. You would think after reading this post that I hate the media, hate the fashion industry, hate the beauty industry, and hate basically anything that influences culture and society. But the kicker is, I don’t. I am still a girly girl obsessed with nail polish (literally obsessed), clothes, and all the latest beauty products. I’m just comfortable with myself and don’t feel the need to strive for what magazines and celebrities tell women is “perfect”. Although I am comfortable with myself (don’t get me wrong, I still have my insecurities), many women are not for a variety of different reasons. Throughout this course of this blog I am going to explore the effects of the magazine industry as well as mass media on young women in today’s society. I am going to incorporate my own experiences with the various topics I choose to touch upon which may include exploring the effects of the fashion, beauty, advertisements, sex articles, and fitness while also looking at how we can protect ourselves against the societal norms that are pressed upon us. Brace yourselves; this could be a bumpy ride. 

Above is a excerpt taking from a young woman's tumblr blog.  She illustrates the effects of media and society on women.

Profile

Well.... this is just disturbing.

What are you obsessed with? If you asked me this question I would tell you…. nail polish, cats, costume jewelry, and interior design (don’t ask me about the cats). Every person would have different response, but I don’t think you would get too many people responding that they are obsessed with celebrities. However, in America, we really do have an infatuation with them. I mean, I’d like to think I am not mildly obsessed with Justin Bieber, but sadly that’s false considering I follow every move of his on Twitter. What is so crazy is that circulation for almost every gossip magazine is over two million (and there’s a heck of a lot of them out there) AKA we L-O-V-E celebrity gossip. 

So, I found this blog that perfectly captures our infatuation with celebrities and thus relates to my blog as well, the blogger goes by “Urban Katie” (I’m going to take a wild guess and say her name is Katie) and her blog titled “Obsessed.” 
You can check it out hurr --> http://urbankatie.wordpress.com/ . Her blog was created for one of her classes (how fitting!) at the University of Virginia and as she writes in her “about” section of her blog she is a double major in media studies and American studies with a concentration in visual and popular culture. Sounds like she’s pretty damn smart. Katie may be a student but she has excellent insight and theories into why America has such a fixation with celebrities. Although she only averages about one post every couple weeks, her interest in the topic is portrayed throughout her blog as her posts are filled with thought and care.

Katie writes in her very first blog post,

“I want to use this blog to explore America’s infatuation with celebrity through an academic lens and examine topics such as celebrity replacing religion, celebrity “news,” and celebrities’ ability to influence.” 

My blog relates to Katie’s on the level that we are both writing about how media influences society. Katie’s blog focuses strictly upon celebrity influence, whereas my blog will explore this area as well as how magazines, models, advertisements et cetera affect women today. Katie’s blog will be a fab reference and resource when writing my blog because her writing is more academic, with frequent footnotes and links to case studies and scholarly articles. Although I don’t plan to have a formal voice in my blog like she does, she supplies content that may be relevant to the topics I choose to post on. My goal is to develop a strong voice throughout my blog and give the readers more than just straight facts in an academic format.

Katie has a few posts that are directly relevant to my topic. One of her most relatable posts to my topic is entitled, “The Media and Female Body Image,”it focuses upon how women in the media are objectified and made to be seen as “passive” rather than “active” by men. Another similar post called “Media and Body Image Part 2” addresses how the media focuses upon images of perfection to market their products and celebrities. Many are aware of the false images of perfection presented in our society but they still have extreme affects on women today. In a future post, I hope to touch upon the topics she presented on a more personal level. Katie’s posts are highly informative however they lack a certain quality that makes the writing more assessable to the reader. Katie does not offer any personal stories or anything that the reader can particularly relate to. As someone with an attention span of 3.5 seconds, you got to grab me if you expect me to read something scholarly… ew. Most women can probably share that feeling of thinking they are inadequate to celebrities and models in magazines and on the news but I believe that the adding a person touch makes the reader feel more connected with the topic and the writer and therefore more engrossed in the writing.

Voice Critique

I remember the first time I didn’t do my best on a test in college. I was sulking, pissed at life, and fro yo was just not cutting it. I needed someone other than a friend who pretty much has to say nice things to me to tell me it wasn’t the end of the world. What I really needed was the blog, “Nourishing the Soul”. If you are feeling pretty bad about yourself then you should really check it out. By the title, you can infer that the blogger might be a cheesy, over-enthusiastic “you can do it!” type. And to be honest, that is kind of what she is. However, the blogger Ashley does it in a way that isn’t irritating or fake. Essentially, Ashley’s blog is about well… nourishing the soul. We live in a world where society and media make us for bad about ourselves for not being skinny enough or pretty enough. Ashley’s blog is basically here to tell you, you are enough.  Not only does it address body image issues, but also the pressures in being successful, having healthy relationships, and finding peace within yourself. By reading her blog you can get a sense of who Ashley is as a person, or who you imagine her to be. If I could guess Ashley’s story I would say she grew up not being the “cool” or “popular girl,” and she probably had pretty low self-esteem in high school. That sounds depressing and no, I am not sorry for sounding betchy, but by the way she writes, you can tell she hasn’t always been the person she is today. She definitely gets those little everyday insecurities that most of us get even though she has grown from where she once was. But, everyone gets them. Just today I was trying to figure out a way to cover a zit that I thought was humongous on my forehead (it’s really not that big), and at work I felt like everyone was staring at it, definitely a little insecure… 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7elZMMv2pE

Anyway, the first post of hers I would like to point out is “You are not a fraud. No, really. You aren’t.” Well first off, thank you Ashley for making me feel good about myself and telling me I’m not a fraud when in actuality I am kind of bullshitting my way through life. So she starts off by telling a story, which I am always partial to and her voice pops right out at you. The first place I notice this is when she compares her nervous stomach somersaults to the gold-medal gymnast Shawn Johnson. She writes,

“I had always thought this was an expression, and now I was quite certain that this organ was competing with Shawn Johnson for best all-around gymnastics performance.”

She then basically has a conversation with herself bantering on about her lack of knowledge and experience for passing an exam. She often uses italics to emphasize her point, which in her case does the job. The writing itself it pretty simple, it’s not LOL (ew, can’t believe I just used that acronym) funny but it makes you smile and that’s all I really need to stay semi-entertained. Her posts are a mix between silly, inspirational, and psychological. Being a psychology major, I dig it, it’s informative but relatable. Her posts seem to follow similar formats, start with story, get all psychological and conceptual, end with some inspirational food for thought. At the end of this post she says,

“If these thoughts plague you, know that you’re not alone. You are also not really a fraud. It’s just your mind’s way of trying to hide you from your greatness – that sneaky little devil trying to slyly sabotage you.”

I like that she personifies her mind, it’s playful, lighthearted, and oddly relatable (story of my life).

Get an idea of what her blog is like?

In another post “Why I get tired of ‘You are beautiful’", her word choice is encouraging and likable. While society sees being slightly overweight as less than ideal, Ashley writes that being large is beautiful. Instead simply saying “overweight” she writes “gentle curves of flesh around bellies.” Later on, instead of writing something more commonly seen like “drop dead gorgeous,” she writes, “the aesthetic quality that launches a thousand ships and intrigues our visual senses.” Her word choice is unusual and has a sense of enchantment to it. I like the general vibe of Ashley’s blog, any time I am feeling down, I know I can take a gander at her blog and instantly perk up. 

Airbrush Magic

This looks natural.

Today the Kardashians are a multi million-dollar empire. I am pretty sure at this point they make money just for breathing and I swear 98% of the time I turn on E! one of their 50 different reality shows is on. For many, they are considered “American royalty,” but in all seriousness how in the hell are they famous?  I don’t think anyone really knows the answer to that. I am pretty sure their family only became famous after Kris capitalized on her daughter's sex tape with Ray J... klassy.. and well, smart. Ok, sorry, I got a little off topic BUT I bring up the Kardashians because a couple of weeks ago the lovely Khloe did a shoot for our magazine which provoked me to touch upon an important issue in the publishing world. Photo shoots are actually one of my favorite parts of my job, and I have a weird love/hate relationship with the Kardashians, so I was pretty stoked. I like that no one in this family is considered society’s criteria of “skinny.” They are curvy girls, but why are they always airbrushed in photographs to appear much thinner? Are their real bodies not good enough for magazines? I think this might be the thing about women’s magazines that disappoints me the most, you hire some of the best photographers in the world, have the best possible lighting and equipment available, and an amazing "glam" crew, can’t you just leave the photo alone?! At the shoot I was checking out some of the images with the photo assistant, Khloe looked bomb (2.5+ hours of hair and makeup doesn't hurt), but then the assistant actually started editing the photos on the spot. Doing all kinds of crazy stuff I didn’t even know was possible like putting an eye from one photo on a different photo and shading the back of her legs, uh what? I think that's when I began to realize what a big issue this really is. Photoshopping has gotten so excessive that models and celebrities don’t even have pores anymore, let alone any fat on their bodies. Every day young impressionable girls are looking at these magazines wondering why they don’t look like the women they see in all the editorials and advertisements. It doen't surprise me that one in four people are depressed about their bodies in America. We have these images of perfection all around us that we want to live up to and despite that many of us aren’t blind to the idea of airbrushing- it still affects us.  At the shoot I was bopping around to a digitalized electronic remix of one of MJ's classics with Khloe’s makeup artist, he turned to me and said “When something is perfect it doesn’t seem real or raw. I miss those imperfections.” Despite that he was referring to his hatred toward the new trend in house music, it was a really bold statement that struck me as relevant to this issue. These photos aren’t real; in fact there is really nothing real about them. Back in 2007 when Redbook was under fire for heavily airbrushing Faith Hill, the editor went on the Today show in response and said, "In the end, they're not really photographs. They're images." Personally, I think she looked better before going under the digital knife, wrinkles, pores and all, but apparently the photo wasn't good enough.

Before and After

Positive Polly- Finding VOICE

By the title of the blog “Nourishing the Soul”  (http://www.nourishing-the-soul.com/) you can infer that the blogger might be a cheesy, over-enthusiastic “you can do it!” type. And to be honest, that is kind of what she is. However, the blogger Ashley does it in a way that isn’t irritating or fake. Essentially, Ashley’s blog is about well… nourishing the soul. We live in a world where society and media make us for bad about ourselves for not being skinny enough or pretty enough. Ashley’s blog is basically here to tell you, you are enough.  Not only does it address body image issues, but also the pressures in being successful, having healthy relationships, and finding peace within yourself. By reading her blog you can get a sense of who Ashley is as a person, or who you imagine her to be. If I could guess Ashley’s story I would say she grew up not being the “cool” or “popular girl,” and she probably had pretty low self-esteem in high school. That sounds depressing and no, I am not sorry for sounding mean, but by the way she writes, you can tell she hasn’t always been the person she is today. She definitely gets those little everyday insecurities that most of us get even though she has grown from where she once was. But, everyone gets them. Just today I was trying to figure out a way to cover a zit that I thought was humongous on my forehead (it’s really not that big), and at work I felt like everyone was staring at it, definitely a little insecure… 

Get an idea of what her blog is like?

Anyway, the first post of hers I would like to point out is “You are not a fraud. No, really. You aren’t.”  (http://www.nourishing-the-soul.com/2012/01/you-are-not-a-fraud-no-really-youre-not/). Well first off, thank you Ashley for making me feel good about myself and telling me I’m not a fraud when in actuality I am kind of bullshitting my way through life. So she starts off by telling a story, which I am always partial to, I don’t like straight facts or opinions, I like stories I can relate to. The first place I notice voice in her post is when she compares her nervous stomach somersaults to the gold-medal gymnast Shawn Johnson. She writes, “I had always thought this was an expression, and now I was quite certain that this organ was competing with Shawn Johnson for best all-around gymnastics performance.” She then basically has a conversation with herself bantering on about her lack of knowledge and experience for passing an exam. She often uses italics to emphasize her point, which in her case does the job. The writing itself it pretty simple, its not “LOL” (ew, can’t believe I just used that acronym) funny but it makes you smile and that’s all I really need to stay semi-entertained. Her posts and a mix between silly, inspirational, and psychological. Being a psychology major, I dig it, it’s informative but relatable. Her posts seem to follow similar formats, start with story, get all psychological, end with some inspiration. At the end of this post she says, “If these thoughts plague you, know that you’re not alone. You are also not really a fraud. It’s just your mind’s way of trying to hide you from your greatness – that sneaky little devil trying to slyly sabotage you.” I like that she personifies her mind, it’s playful and lighthearted. In another post “Why I get tired of ‘You are beautiful,’” (http://www.nourishing-the-soul.com/2011/07/why-i-get-tired-of-you-are-beautiful/) , her word choice is encouraging and likable. While society sees being slightly overweight as less than ideal, Ashley writes that being large is beautiful. Instead simply saying “overweight” she writes “gentle curves of flesh around bellies.” Later on, instead of writing something more commonly seen like “drop dead gorgeous,” she writes, “the aesthetic quality that launches a thousand ships and intrigues our visual senses.” Her word choice is unusual and has a sense of enchantment to it. I like the general vibe of Ashley’s blog, any time I am feeling down, I know I can take a gander at her blog and instantly perk up. 

"Urban Katie"- A Blog Profile

I found this blog and was immediately attracted to its simple and clean format with bright pops of color. The blogger goes by “Urban Katie” and her blog titled “Obsessed” focuses on the infatuation that America has with celebrities. You can check out her blog here. Her blog was created for one of her classes (how fitting!) at the University of Virginia and as she writes in her “about” section of her blog she is a double major in media studies and American studies with a concentration in visual and popular culture. Katie may be a student but she has excellent insight and theories into why America has such a fixation with celebrities. Although she only averages about one post every couple weeks, her interest in the topic is portrayed throughout her blog as her posts are filled with thought and care.

Katie writes in her very first blog post, “I want to use this blog to explore America’s infatuation with celebrity through an academic lens and examine topics such as celebrity replacing religion, celebrity “news,” and celebrities’ ability to influence.” My blog relates to Katie’s on the level that we are both writing about how media influences society. Katie’s blog focuses strictly upon celebrity influence, whereas my blog will explore this area as well as how magazines, models, advertisements et cetera affect women today. I believe that Katie’s blog will be a fantastic reference and resource when writing my blog because her writing is more academic, with frequent footnotes and links to case studies and scholarly articles. Although I don’t plan to have a formal voice in my blog like she does, she supplies content that may be relevant to the topics I choose to post on. My goal is to develop a strong voice throughout my blog and give the readers more than just straight facts in an academic format.

Katie has a few posts that are directly relevant to my topic. One of her most relatable posts to my topic is entitled, “The Media and Female Body Image,” it focuses upon how women in the media are objectified and made to be seen as “passive” rather than “active” by men. Another similar post called “Media and Body Image Part 2” addresses how the media focuses upon images of perfection to market their products and celebrities. Many are aware of the false images of perfection presented in our society but they still have extreme affects on women today. In a future post, I hope to touch upon the topics she presented on a more personal level. Katie’s posts are highly informative however they lack a certain quality that makes the writing more assessable to the reader. Katie does not offer any personal stories or anything that the reader can particularly relate to. Most women can probably share the feeling of thinking they are inadequate to celebrities and models in magazines and on the news but I believe that the adding a person touch makes the reader feel more connected with the writer and more engrossed in the writing.

Hello, World....

Sophia Loren and Jayne Mansfield

I work for a major women’s magazine. This is probably a long overdue confession but I am beginning to hate it. Perhaps I am not cut out for the whole “9 to 5” job or maybe I’m jut not that into it anymore. I know there are hundreds of girls who would kill to take my spot but honestly, I don’t care. Everyone I work with pretty much sucks and they might be the most passive aggressive group of humans I have ever met in my life. I think it is the industry that turns people this way or maybe it is just that women intrinsically are jealous of other women. Whether it be jealously of their accomplishments, looks, boyfriend or whatever else, women are jealous. I remember walking into my boss’s office one day eating a cupcake (first mistake), she looked at me and said “HOW do you eat THAT and stay so thin?!” to which I responded “Umm, I don’t know, I don’t really gain weight” (second mistake). I could then see her lips purse up and her face turn green with envy. Since then she often makes comments regarding my eating habits and looks, it is almost like she resents me for it. Don’t get me wrong, my boss is no Meryl Streep from The Devil Wears Prada, but she can be quite a handful. So why are women so jealous other women? I believe that although it is partially due to some internal craziness we all have, it is in large part due to the society we live in. In today’s world, I don’t think we could survive without media. In our daily life we often look to the media to tell us what we should be aware of and what is important. We are constantly surrounded by news of beautiful celebrities and billboards are plastered with stick thin models. In the United States alone, over 8 million people struggle from eating disorders and that number is increasingly yearly. Many suffer from body image issues and look to celebrities and models to see how they should dress and how they should look. You would think after reading this post that I hate the media, hate the fashion industry, hate the beauty industry, and hate basically anything that influences culture and society. But the kicker is, I don’t. I am still a girly girl obsessed with nail polish (literally obsessed), clothes, and all the latest beauty products. I’m just comfortable with myself and don’t feel the need to strive for what magazines and celebrities tell women is “perfect”. Although I am comfortable with myself (don’t get me wrong, I still have my insecurities), many women are not. Throughout this course of this blog I am going to explore the effects of the magazine industry as well as mass media on young women in today’s society. I am going to incorporate my own experiences with the various topics I choose to touch upon which may include exploring the effects of the fashion, beauty, advertisements, sex articles, and fitness while also looking at how we can protect ourselves against the societal norms that are pressed upon us. 

Above is a excerpt taking from a young woman's tumblr blog.  She illustrates the effects of media and society on women.