Songs for a Healthy Body Image

Baby Got Back - Old School Players

Beautiful - Christina Aguilara

The Voice Within -Christina Aguilera

Listen - Beyonce

The Beauty in Ugly - Jason Mraz



The songs I chose represent just a small fraction of what I think music should be to represent a healthy body image. I chose "Baby Got Back" because although it is dirty, it promotes a women with a larger bottom which is exactly what I have. Usually in music videos you see women who have no curves but then here is a rapper who talks about how he likes curves, especially butts. It's like the anthem for curvy women everywhere.



I used to play the song "Beautiful" on repeat because of its meaning. It really hits on a bunch of different insecurities that people have, and yet tells you that you are beautiful despite all flaws. It came out about the time that I was going through high school, which is a very difficult period and very awkward.



"The Voice Within" empowers women to listen to themselves. It talks about a young girl crying because she doesn't think herself worthy, but the song encourages the girl to stop crying and believe in herself. I think we have all had those moments where life seems impossibly hard, but this song reassures that there is hope in the future, and life does get better.



Dreamgirls takes place in a very male-dominated time and progresses through the 60s and 70s where women begin to gain a voice. At first, Beyonce's character is completely subservient to her husband, but he treats other people terribly. He is her manager, so essentially he controls her. This song is a very pivotal part in the movie because she decides to take control of her own life and tells her husband to listen to her. Most women need to be encouraged to speak up more and let themselves be heard in their relationships.



"The Beauty in Ugly" was written for the show Ugly Betty. The premise of the show is about a not very pretty girl who tries to break into the fashion world. The song Jason Mraz wrote is encouraging women to stand tall even though other people call them ugly and to see the beauty in ugly. Although women have been told they are beautiful, there is probably a time in everyone's life when they have been told they are ugly. This just empowers them to fight back.



My musical tastes have definitely changed over the years, evolving into a more healthy soundtrack. I refuse to listen to rappers who degrade women and show them in a negative light in their music videos. I see how men go around and sing these songs and it's so sad. This music shouldn't even be made. I only want to expose my children to music that will teach them to respect the opposite sex, regardless of their gender.

Sexist Advertising

This ad from American Apparel is extremely sexist in that it show a teenage girl who has been sexualized. She is probably not even of age to have sex, yet her body language invites men to come sleep with her. This is incredibly dangerous for young women to see because it encourages girls to have sex at an early age without thinking about the repercussions.

This advertisement is all about the power of the male sexuality. It shows a weak female surrounded by three men and so the woman is there for their pleasure. It objectifies and de-humanizes her.

Gang rape is ok, or at least that's what Dolce and Gabbana says. This woman looks to be forced against her will to be held down and the men are ready to rape her. It indicates that violence against women is ok, especially by a group of men.

This Arby's ad is trying to be clever but comes of objectifying women's breasts as pieces of meat. There is no head or body attached so it seems to say that you can separate a woman's breasts from her body.

Gossip Girl is a highly popular show and yet here teen sex is glorified again. In this ad, you can't see the guy's face so the girl just looks like a sex object. This pressures girls into thinking they need to have sex and they should look just like her when they do. This is a set up for an unhealthy sex life.

Pop culture has had an influence on me and the way I view men and women, and it really wasn't until I was in a real relationship that I realized most of the stereotypes are fabricated and used for ratings. Pop culture also influences how you view race and class, but once again, when you get out into real life, you see how negative those stereotypes are. I was appalled at Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" because it enforced racial stereotypes in that the mother was a housekeeper for a wealthy white family. In this day and age, there shouldn't be media produced like this.

I often talk about sexist material on TV with my friends because several of them have taken Women's Studies classes and once you take one, you will never look at media the same. We had a big Superbowl party and my friends and I were shocked at how sexist the ads have become. It definitely took away from the spirit of the game when I had to look at women in soft core porn.

When I first thought of feminist, I thought of the radicals who marched through streets and bra burning. These perceptions come from the media, who only air what they want to. In this case it's because the media portrays feminism as a bad thing because it has produced change, so therefore it gets a negative connotation.

The Bluest Eye and Precious

The Bluest Eye and the film Precious explore the definition of beauty through the eyes of black women who long to be white. Pecola and Precious endure difficult lives that lead them to believe that beauty is achieved through skin color first before all other elements.
Precious lived a life of abuse which includes physical abuse from her mother and being raped by her father. When she experiences this abuse, she tends to go to her “happy place,” which is usually a world in which she is famous and has a lighter skinned boyfriend. When she looks in the mirror, Precious sees a blonde-haired white girl staring back at her, which indicated that she thinks if she were white, she would not be in her situation.
Her longing for lighter skin says that the culture Precious lives in is a very poor one where being white represents wealth and happiness. However, author Rebecca Walker in Body Outlaws is a white women who hates her body, but for a different reason. According to Walker, “The depth of my obsession with skin revolves around color, and what I perceive to be my lack thereof (Walker, 1998).”
Historically, white skin represented power, wealth and beauty because of the slavery system. In the film, Precious’ life seems to prove that this theory still holds true. Walker, ironically, is a white woman who considers it a burden to be white, because her mother is tan, which is considered by her peers to be beautiful.
For Precious, she thinks her life would be better if she had light skin because she would be considered beautiful and then the possibilities for her life would be endless. Her mother calls her ugly and says no one loves her, but Precious thinks this would change if she were while. Lisa Jervis, author of “My Jewish Nose” in Body Outlaws, states “…when we scratch the surface of what “prettier” means, we find that we might as well be saying “whiter” or “more gentile” (Jervis, 2003).”
By the end of the film Precious has gathered her life together a bit, and so her body image has improved. It is by no means perfect, but it can be inferred that she doesn’t considered her skin to be as big of a hindrance as it was before. Her teacher, Ms. Rain was the first person probably to tell Precious she was loved and that was a big turning point. It started the journey of Precious learning to love herself. Towards the end of the film, Precious stops dreaming about being famous, but comes to face the reality of having HIV and taking her children out of the dangerous situation she is in. She finally develops confidence, even if it is only on a small level.
Pecola’s story takes place before the Civil Rights movement, so her skin color is even more of an issue for her than it was for Precious. It is very evident that Pecola wants to be white because she idolized Shirley Temple and drinks white milk out of a white cup with Temple’s picture on it. For Christmas, Pecola’s classmate Claudia always received white baby dolls, which is evidence that her mainly-black town sees white skin as the ultimate beauty. Claudia is baffled by white girls and wants to “discover what eluded me: the secret of the magic they weaved on others. What made people look at them and say ‘Awwwww,’ but not for me? (Morrison, 1970).”
Pecola endures the same type of abuse that Precious did, so being white to her represented to her privilege and love. Her classmates tease her and call her black and make fun of her situation with her father. Morrison says that Pecola is made fun of for the two most embarrassing things a person has. Pecola privately idolizes a white classmate, Maureen Peal, because she possesses beauty and wealth, which Pecola associates with her skin color. The Beauty Myth comes into play for Pecola because, according to Naomi Wolf, “Competition between women has been made part of the myth so that women will be divided from one another….Women’s identity must be premised upon our ‘beauty’ so that we will remain vulnerable to outside approval, carrying the vital sensitive organ of self-esteem exposed to the air (Wolf, 2002).”
Pecola’s self-image evolves through the book, but not in a healthy way. After she becomes pregnant by her father and loses the baby, Pecola goes insane. She is obsessed with white beauty, specifically blue eyes and asks a local man to give her blue eyes. This astonishes him, because of all the things she could want in the world, all she wants is blue eyes to be considered beautiful. Even when Pecola does think she has blue eyes, they are not blue enough for her. There is nothing that can satisfy her need to feel beautiful and needed. In the conversation she has with herself, she begs the other person not to leave her and promises the person she will posses the bluest eyes.
The Bluest Eye and the film Precious are perfectly named because the titles embody traits that the main characters do not posses. The Bluest Eye describes exactly what Pecola wanted most in the world, which was to have blue eyes. Although there were other characters in the book, blue eyes represent beauty that seems unattainable to black women because it belongs to white women. Pecola idolized Shirley Temple and loved to drink white milk out of a cup. Shirley Temple had blonde hair and blue eyes, so to her, and the black women in the book, this was what the picture of beauty is. If Pecola could just change her eyes, then she could change her life.
Precious at the beginning of the film does not live up to her name at all which makes the title ironic, but at the same time it represents the aspirations her mother had for her. In the emotional scene where Precious and her mother meet in the social worker’s office, Precious’ mother tells the story of how Precious’ father raped Precious. The emotion with which she tells the story relates that she really did consider her daughter Precious. However, she did not grow up in an environment that made it easy for her to live up to her name. Despite all the terrible things that happened to her, Precious discovered that she was indeed precious, but she had to be validated from within.
Precious’ story ended where it did because she found some resolution in her life and within herself. Her mother told her she was ugly and nobody loved her, but it was when Precious was loved by Ms. Rain that she really began to love herself and care about her children. Her children were what gave her hope because she wanted to be a better mother than her own mother was.
Her story ended on a on a hopeful note when Precious chose to take control of her own life. It was appropriate to end the movie when it did, because there was the promise of a new life without showing how her life progresses. I envision that Precious goes on to live a fulfilling life, with a damaged, but improving self-esteem and body image. After the many years of abuse inflicted upon her, Precious’ body image may never fully heal, but I think with the help of professionals, she goes on feeling comfortable in her own skin.
Pecola’s story ends on an incredibly sad note, where she loses her baby and essentially goes crazy and is shunned by the town. It doesn’t end with Pecola narrating, but rather with Frieda and Claudia narrating. The whole novel focuses on the aspect of beauty and ends with Claudia comparing herself to Pecola, and stating that anything was beautiful next to Pecola. Because of the horrors that had been done to Pecola, everyone in the town felt superior to her, whether in beauty, cleanliness, or wealth. The ending of Pecola’s story sharply contrasts with Precious’ story.
Pecola’s self-esteem and body image are ruined forever, because even though she thinks she received blue eyes, she has a conversation with herself where she doesn’t think her eyes are blue enough. Even though, in her mind, she was given blue eyes, they were not enough. She wanted to have the bluest eyes of anyone. Cholly raping her took away her childhood and innocence, and with it went her sanity. I don’t think Pecola will ever see herself as beautiful enough, and because of her behavior, no one else will see her as beautiful either.
Black women for the majority are represented negatively in pop-culture. One that is prominent for small children is the American Girl doll Addy. Each American girl doll represents a time period in history and most of the other dolls are white and their stories reveal privileged lives. Addy’s story, however, takes place during the Civil War and she and her family are runaway slaves. At this formative age when children learn to differentiate between races, this surely encourages racism and negative body images for black girls.
Music videos for rappers are no better. 50 Cent’s video “Candy Shop” portrays women solely as sex objects and his video is just an example of the vast amount of music videos that exploit black women. The lyrics are degrading, so women think they must lower their standards to get a man.
Advertisements often sell beauty products that are meant for white women, but to diversify them, they throw in black women. However, through Photoshop and model selection, they alter the images to make the models appear to have “whiter” features. This is true in make-up ads for Revlon that show Halle Berry. She is barely recognizable they have altered her face so much. In a L’Oreal ad, there has been controversy over whether or not her skin was lightened. This implies that it is not ok to be a darker skin color.
Niecy Nash is the host of “Clean House” on the Style Network and is currently on “Dancing with the Stars.” After her first performance, she announced that she was dedicating her performance to thick women everywhere. Nash is in good shape herself, but obviously will never have a stick-thin body like some of her other contestants. This teaches black women to be proud of their shapes.
Society is also slowly learning to integrate more positive messages about black women into pop culture for children. The first black Disney princess was created for The Princess and the Frog which is a huge leap forward in diversity for Disney. Traditionally their characters have been all white, while other shows, like Sesame Street, have been integrating other races into their shows for years.
Women in general have a long way to go to create healthy body images, whether it comes from pop culture, their environment, or within the home. However, for black women, our culture makes it even more difficult to see themselves as beautiful. Beautiful is not blue eyes and blue hair; beautiful is the person, regardless of any imperfections.



Works Cited
Daniels, Lee. “Precious.” 2010. Film.
Jervis, Lisa. “My Jewish Nose.” Body Outlaws. Ed. Ophira Edut. Seal Press, 2003. Print.
Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. Vintage Books, 2007. Print.
Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women . Harper Perennial, 2002. Print.
Walker, Rebecca. “Foreward.” Body Outlaws. Ed. Ophira Edut. Seal Press, 2003. Print.

The Adonis Complex

Alex Karev - Grey's Anatomy

Mike Delfino - Desperate Housewives

Sawyer - Lost

Mark Sloan - Grey's Anatomy

King Henry VIII - The Tudors

All of these men I listed share the quality of being the manly man in their life situation. One prominent stereotype about men is that they feel the need to be the man in their household and are often without feelings. Alex Karev embodies this perfectly. He is the stereotypical male jerk that treats everybody terribly. When he finally does allow someone into his life, she leaves him and his heart seems to be more hardened than ever.

Mark Sloan is the playboy stereotype. He is similar to Karev, except that he can pretend to feel something to sleep with a girl. Characters like him perpetuate the stereotype that men are not capable of monogamy and that women shouldn't expect that of them either. Because Sloan is good looking, he can have any woman he wants. This would not be true of someone less attractive.

Mike Delfino fits the stereotype of being employed in a line of work that is strictly for men. He is a plumber. When he first moved into the neighborhood, all of the women would fake plumbing emergencies, just so he could come over and the women would have the chance to flirt with him. It is the classic "damsel in distress" scenario, that still plays out today. All of these women were capable of fixing their plumbing issues, or could have called a female plumber, but the show chose to go and further the stereotype that manual labor is a man's job.

Sawyer is similar to Karev in the sense that he is emotionally closed off. He is a smooth talker, but ultimately is a rugged loaner. He implies that men don't need anyone but themselves to survive and definitely don't need companionship. He acts on his instincts instead of thinking things through and this is also something men are known for. Like the old example of men never asking for directions.

King Henry VIII in "The Tudors" embodies every stereotype possible. He is cruel to women and treats them as his playthings. His decisions are the only ones that count because he is the ruler, but more importantly a man. His servants do everything to keep him happy and this includes getting him whatever he wants at his beck and call. He shows that men are dominant and their opinion is the only one that matters.

All of these characters have overlapping traits of male stereotypes and not being a male, it influences how I think about men. I have met some men in real life that do not fit the mold, but this is what I am taught to think. There are good men out there, we just focus on what is put before us and assume that is the norm.

Throw Her A Hamburger!

An eating disorder is when someone has an unnatural love or fear of food. The most common ones are anorexia and bulimia, which are severely under-diagnosed. While the fashion industry and the media are not completely to blame for women's eating disorders, they are a large component.

The fashion industry likes models to be tall and thin so they can fit into sample size clothing. Unless blessed with amazing genetics, hardly any woman out there wears a size 0 or 2. The film industry usually shows incredibly thin actress too. While there are some bigger actresses, they are given parts in films that are secondary to the lead, and usually never the love interest.

On television, most ads that are run are about how to improve you looks and this includes dieting. The diet industry sees the most interest after New Year's when people resolve to lose weight and then again when it is time for swimsuit season. All of these miracle treatments for rapid weight loss are advertised which conveys the message that we can never be happy with our weight. There are always a few pounds to lose. To top it all off, women on TV are actually skinnier in real life, because it is true that the camera adds ten pounds. It's sickening to think the media wants us to conform to a stick-thin figure.

Model Kate Moss appeared in the 1990s for Calvin Klein and she began what was known as the "waif" trend. She was ridiculously thin, with bones protruding everywhere. The fashion industry has continued to follow her lead although it is evolving a little bit.

A few years ago, Nicole Ritchie was shown in a bikini that was literally falling off of her because she had no fat for it to hold onto. At the time, she didn't consider herself unhealthy, but after having two children looks much healthier. She says she now realizes how thin and unhealthy she looked.

The latest wrinkle for celebrities is dieting with Jenny Craig and so there are several celebrities that have gone on as spokespeople for the company. Valerie Bertinelli was really the first one to lose weight and keep it off, but once again they don't advertise the hard work you need to do to be healthy. The only thing advertised is that you need to lose weight and here is the quick fix.

Jennifer Love Hewitt was ostracized last summer because she had an unflattering photo taken of her in a bikini. She gave an interview in which she said she was only a size two, but that is considered fat in Hollywood. Instead of being a role model for women with butts, she went on a diet to lose what little fat she had.

Mary-Kate Olsen checked into rehab for an undisclosed eating disorder, but it was obvious long before she checked herself in that something was wrong. She was photographed at movie premieres looking extremely skeletal. She is interesting in that she is both a part of the fashion world as a designer, and an actress. Her sister and she have been in the spotlight since they were young, so they were role models to little girls. Mary-Kate's weight was encouraging eating disorders until she reached out for help.

Positive Ad - Paper Part III

As I looked for positive ads to fulfill the second part of this assignment, I realized just how many ads perpetuate the “beauty myth.” I receive “People” magazine and I had to go through seven magazines to find a positive ad about women. Every ad I came across featured products for anti-aging or make-up that will make women look better. It really opened my eyes to the message that Jean Kilbourne states in the “Killing Us Softly” series. Advertisers have an agenda and it does not include showing women in a positive light. However, when I did come across a positive ad for women, it was a very woman-empowering ad.

The advertisement is for Quaker Instant Oatmeal that features a very happy and healthy looking woman. The main copy reads,” Say mmmmm for a healthy heart” followed by a sub-text that says, “A warm, yummy way to help lower your cholesterol.” This ad says that if you eat this oatmeal, you will have the chance to lead a healthier life. Other small shots of the woman show her exercising so it also promotes exercise while eating healthy.

The ad once again mainly targets women, but I think that is acceptable in this ad because it shows that this woman has a positive body image about herself. Age is also embraced here because the editor did not take out the lines on her face or overdo her face with makeup. I can’t even tell that she is wearing any.

By showing a woman eating, already this ad is combating eating disorders. According to Naomi Wolf, author of “The Beauty Myth,” where feminism taught women to put a higher value on ourselves, hunger teaches us how erode our self-esteem (Wolf, 197).” Feminism hasn’t gone away, it just fades a bit into the background sometimes with media being so prevalent and so readily available to women today.

This ad combats the stereotype of the perfect model in ads that has absolutely no lines or wrinkles on her body. According to Debra L. Gimlin, author of “Cosmetic Surgery: Paying for Your Beauty,” states “recipients (of cosmetic surgery) are overwhelmingly women who are dissatisfied with their looks. Today, aesthetic operations make up 45 percent of all plastic surgery (Gimlin, 106).” What used to be reserved for men who were maimed by war has now turned into a present for girls graduating from high school. Botox use is rampant in Hollywood and women ultimately feel that they are not allowed to age or else they will not be considered beautiful.

The lines around her face show when she smiles, and her smile looks genuine, like she is truly happy. Yes, the advertiser is out to make money, but women must eat, so why not promote something healthy and good body image. The crow’s feet around her eyes also say that she smiles a lot. This woman looks happy to be doing something for her, to make her feel better, not to please a man.

The lack of makeup and the frizzy hair also promote a natural look. It’s ok to not going out in public and be dressed to the nine’s because this woman looks gorgeous just as she is. Girls are starting to buy into the “beauty myth” from the day they are born and more ads like this are needed to combat this. No ten dollar tube of lipstick is going to magically make a man fall for you.

As we have seen, there are also steep increases in cases of anorexia and bulimia. This ad doesn’t tell you to go on a diet. It tells you to make a lifestyle change and with their product you can do that. The woman is exercising outdoors, so she is not afraid to mess up her hair or get pollutants on her skin. She is just living life to the fullest as a woman. Women need to see more positive ads like this one.

Offensive Ad - Paper Part II

The ad for Nabisco 100-calorie snacks features Venus and Serena Williams in the back of a limo glamorized. The advertisement is meant to sell Nabisco 100 Calorie Milk Chocolate Pretzels, but the product is barely visible. What is visible, however, are negative messages.

The ad copy says, “Venus and Serena Diet Like a Diva” which already implies that these beautiful women are fat and need to go on a diet. The problem with this statement is that both women are athletes and athletes need more calories to supplement the ones the burn off while working out. It implies that the Williams’ sisters eat these measly snacks and get great, toned bodies.

It targets women in general. There are no constraints to age, but it does seem more targeted to women of color. This ad is offensive for many reasons, the first being that you would not know these women are incredibly successful tennis players, because the ad implies that women are only judged on how much they weigh,

Visible in this ad are the sort of bulky muscles that these sisters have developed from playing tennis, and even though it is muscle, they are considered heavier. In “Food for Our Souls,” by Dyann Logwood, she says “Black women have forgotten to define health on our own terms. Even as we continue to embrace the diversity of sizes among us, we must ask, what does a healthy body feel like (as cited in “Body Outlaws”, Ophira Edut, 101)?”

Eating disorders are also subtly encouraged in this ad because the copy does not say anything about eating fewer calories to be healthier. It explicitly says that this is meant to help you diet. The choice of the word “diva” also has an impact. A diva is usually viewed as a person who is incredibly high-maintenance, but at the same time beautiful. This is the girl that guys want to take out, but not necessarily take home to their mothers.

Although Venus and Serena are African-American, the only way you would know that in this ad is by the color of their skin. Their facial features and their hair are distinctly altered to give them a more “white” appearance. African-American women do not possess this hair type naturally, so the audience is told more of the body must be altered to be beautiful.

In “The Art of the Ponytail,” by Akkida McDowell, focuses specifically on the vast amount of effort it takes to tame an African-American woman’s hair and make it look like a woman’s. They feel the need to have their hair relaxed instead of going natural because of ads like this one. McDowell says, “According to movies, my beloved television, my classmates and even my neighbors, a proper hairstyle not only completed the package, but defined and delivered it (as cited in “Body Outlaws, Ophira Edut, 124).”

The photographer was also apparently unhappy with their African features because it is obvious that the women’s noses and lips have been tampered with. Both have been thinned out to not look so African. Because they are African American women in an ad, they are supposed to be breaking stereotypes and yet here they are condoning them. Worse off is the fact that they are supposed to be role models to girls all over the world because they got ahead in life, not on their looks, but on their talent.

They send the message that they are not proud of their heritage. Serena is known to stand out in outfits she wears for tennis tournaments, but here she blends in to the background. They become like any other celebrity endorsing a product; they are in it for the money. They star power should have been used in another ad that actually promotes a healthy body image and acceptance of one’s culture.