Beauty Is only Skin Deep
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Beauty is Only Skin Deep
In the United States today, some people believe that the beauty industry is fueling the economy and that the images the media portrays to the population do not affect the way in which women and girls view their own bodies. I believe that beauty companies are causing females to feel inadequate about themselves due to unattainable beauty standards created by the media.
The cosmetic industry has the right idea. Women will always want and feel they need make-up. A Mary Kay beauty consultant once told me “two things made it through the Depression, alcohol and make-up”. Not all women are super models; even Cindy Crawford does not look like Cindy Crawford without the technical application of state-of-the-art make-up. Every year the cosmetic industry grosses over $160 billion worldwide. Americans alone are spending less on their education and more on beauty products such as make up, skin and hair products, and cosmetic surgery (“pots”). If the preceding is true, it sees that anyone working within the cosmetic industry should have no reason to worry about the security of their job. Beauty products are sold just about everywhere and therefore it supplies jobs for many people. A skin gel that is marketed from Japan, is said to “melt” fat without having to diet or exercise. After the release of the product, a bottle was being sold every 3.75 seconds. (Pots 1) Cosmetic surgery is also a booming industry making over $20 billion total, a year, and still growing. Women are definitely fueling the economy and will continue to do so for many years.
Women in todays society seem willing to spend money for beauty products that they “think” they need even though a large quantity of the products being bought are relatively expensive. Pantene is a large company that produces hair care products. They promote an ingredient of vitamin B in the product that is supposed to help with hair health. The only way vitamin B can be beneficial is if it is taken by mouth and digested (Pots). From my own experience (what I spend) women and girls spend about $100 a month on products and services to obtain or try to obtain a high beauty standard set by society. Beauty companies promote certain looks “new trends,” the must have “smokey eye” for an incredible evening look, or a beautiful natural look with warm soft colors. I own two sets of make-up kits for both these “looks.” My motivation for owning the make-up is that one set is for my job which is in the entertainment field and a more dramatic stage appearance is needed. The other is softer colors because my boyfriend likes a natural look on me. I choose to wear make-up because after having my children my skin tones changed. Once I started wearing make-up, advertisements caught my attention and influenced what I bought. Neutrogena and Sonia Kashuk are the main products that I use. Neutrogena promotes a “healthy” better- for- your- skin make-up product. My foundation has salicylic acid in it which helps to prevent and treat acne. For that reason alone I choose to buy this product, and it seems to work. There are many other factors as to why women choose certain products. Beauty companies will use famous people to promote their products to gain popularity and increase their profits. Beyonce Knolls promotes for cover girl cosmetics. Many young girls see Beyonce as an idol and will buy the products she promotes to “be like” her. Along with celebrities being used to promote cosmetics, the images are airbrushed and portray
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an unattainable standard that women and girls try to achieve. In the process of trying to obtain such high beauty standards women and girls become sensitive to media images and no longer are comfortable with their bodies. Some feel that media images do not affect how girls view themselves.
Amanda Fortini, an author who writes for “New York Fashion” magazine, denies that airbrushed media images affect the self- image of women and girls. Even with everything that goes into a photo shoot such as lighting and makeup, Fortini wonders if women really do take airbrushed images to heart. She quotes the editor of a French magazine Christine Leiritz “Our readers are not idiots.” “especially when they see those celebrities who are 50 and look 23″(2) Fortini emphasizes that fashion magazine readers do not expect to see real un- altered photos and that those pictures do not harm the self-image of girls. Fortini also argues that “we know perfectly well what women look like.” She thinks that basically people should suck it up and realize that images will always be changed and we need to “alter our expectations of them” (3). People should perceive images the same way they are expected to analyze words when reading (3). Pictures are just pictures, they are not reality.
Pictures may not be reality, but for many young girls those pictures could be paving the way for a lifelong body image battle. It is true that fashion magazine readers are not stupid (Fortini 2). But who really discusses the images they see, especially with their kids. I cannot remember a time when my mom ever mentioned that images in magazines are airbrushed. People learn from an early age what is beautiful. Images of women with perfect bodies, hair, and makeup are plastered all over magazines, TV and billboards. The women in those images have raised the bar for what society considers beautiful. The images are extremely misleading and a
small number of young girls, especially teenage girls, will realize that the images they are seeing have been changed. The media also relays beauty images through celebrities, Paris Hilton is one example. When teens hear constantly that Paris is beautiful with her long, thin legs, her thin frame and gorgeous hair, teens will model her behavior, clothing, and will do anything to get the body Paris has. Teens want to fit in and modeling their behaviors after a popular celebrity can raise their position in the fight for popularity. This fight for popularity can lead to an obsessive personality for the need to stand on top. Soon the perfect clothes and hair wont be enough and body weight concerns can start to take effect. The scary thing is that images from the media it starts as such a young age by the time they reach about the age of twelve to thirteen, about one third of those girls are already trying to lose weight. Nada Stotland, a professor of psych. at the Rush medical college admits to the fact that