Facing the Media



Media-awareness.ca is an informative website which targets teachers, parents, and a young audience in being aware of the media. The website attempts to teach young people to use the tools and resources. The website offers lessons, a membership, a blog, educational games, and news in order to become an interactive way of learning the information the website offers. A section of this website focuses on the representation of women in the media. The articles dealing with women in the media show the reality and the effects the media imposes on young girls and women who are the audience. Media-awareness uncovers the truth behind the representations and the motives of women.



An article in this website titled “Media Coverage of Women and Women’s Issue” discusses the underrepresentation of women in the media and how women are portrayed in stereotypical roles. Some of these stereotypical roles include women being only housewife’s, only sexual items, and submissive towards society especially men. The article suggests that women in news usually cover stories that need compassion and sympathy such as accidents, natural disasters, and domestic violence. Women also tend to receive less air time or input less quotes compared to men in the news and other media coverage. Women in sports are also misrepresented in the media. Their last names are usually used to identify them and their beauty at some points becomes more important than their actual skills. For example Anna Kournikova received more attention for being beautiful than for her games and contributions to tennis. Another important point the article the makes is that women need to be beautiful in order to be better accepted by the audience. The article uses Greta Van Susteren as an example. In order to appear in FOX she had to do a surgical procedure in her face, cut her hair and use make up. This implies that beauty comes before brains.



The website includes other articles such as “Beauty and Body Image in the Media”, “Media and Girls”, “Sex and Relationships in the Media”, and other articles that are relevant and informative. They induce the readers to question the media and what they are exposed to. After reading the articles the audience becomes more critical about themselves, especially women, and what they let themselves believe or judge. This and many other websites are attempting to question the dominant and powerful media that has many hypnotized.

"“Media Coverage of Women and Women’s Issue”." Media Awareness Network. 2008. 23 Oct. 2008 .

The Needle in The Media



Since the perfect body has been expected and promoted by the media. Than there is no surprise when the media promotes and demonstrates the means in order to receive this ideal body. Some of these means can be workout, healthy eating, dieting, and the most popular right now are cosmetic and plastic surgery shows. These shows not only target teenagers and young women but to all ages and female and male. Ranging from Fox to E! these shows have captivated the larger audience in converting ordinary women into goddesses or in making certain touches in order to become perfect. These shows include Dr. 90210, The Swan, Extreme Makeover, and Nip/Tuck. Reality shows like Keeping up with the Kardashians, The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency and many other shows allocate time for a cosmetic or plastic surgery clip or episode. In these shows cosmetic and plastic surgery is portrayed as an easy and fast way to achieve the beautiful look that society expects. The procedures are seen as an easy task to overcome and that there are no health implications. When the celebrities show the audience their own personal experience with cosmetic or plastic surgery the audience feels closer to the “celebrity look”. Even though this easy remedy to the ugly duckling is becoming more popular especially in the media there are shows that try to break this down. In the movie In a Cinderella Story the evil step-mother is portrayed as having cosmetic surgery in her face and throughout the movie her character demonstrates the implications of such procedures. However even though many poke fun at cosmetic or plastic surgery it is becoming more common in our society. According to The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 11.7 million cosmetic and nonsurgical procedures were performed in 2007 compared to only 2,099,173 in 1997. This trend continues to grow and the media’s input pushes this trend to a higher level without acknowledging its consequences.



"11.7 Cosmetic Procedures in 2007”. The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. 25 Feb. 2008. 19 Oct. 2008 .

Hairstyles Gallery & 2008 Preview Top Styles

Should you color it, perm it, extend it, cut it, add bangs or just leave it alone? The options are endless for changing and improving your hair. See our popular features on the best hairstyles today, including the ever popular bob. The bob can be worn short, medium, long or even inverted. Many celebrities are going with different lengths and versions of the bob, making it the hairstyle of the moment.

The Best of all hairstyles


Welcome to the Best of All Hairstyles! In this site you will find the top 3 styles for each category listed above: short, medium, long, prom, updo, men's, wedding, extensions, bangs and layers. Follow the links on each page to see more great hairstyles for those categories.

There are many different hair styles available. The trick is to select the one that is right for you. Many different factors can affect the way your hair style looks on you. Weather or more specifically humidity, has a drastic effect on your hair style. If your hair is even slightly dry, the end result in humid weather is the dreaded frizz.

Another factor is your face shape. Hair styles can be used to frame your face, accentuate certain areas of your face or even camouflage areas that you don't like. You can easily determine your face shape by pulling all of your hair back of your face and standing in front of a mirror.

Trace an outline of your face in the mirror with something that is removable, like a bar of soap. Then stand back and look at the shape you have drawn.

Chances are that you have drawn a shape that is a combination of several different shapes. Like the combo of an oval and a heart. Now you can use this face shape information to find the best hair style.

Visit all pages on this site to see the best hair styles for each category. Take notice of the face shapes of the celebrities with the best styles. For more info on face shape and selecting hair styles, click on the banner below.




Hottest Short Hair Styles

Short hair is much easier to take care of and you will definitely be using less hair care products.

Styling time is cut in half sometimes when going from a long style to a short one. It all depends on your hair texture and how well you hair behaves. A proper hair cut will go a long way to keeping the style looking great.

Selma Blair recently cut off her long hair for this short and sassy style. Add definition and pieciness to this style by applying a small amount of pomade to the ends of the hair using your fingertips. Be careful not to apply too much as this can cause the hair to look greasy.


The Truth of Being Overweight


A recent national news related to the female body image in the media was titled “The overweight debate: Healthy and heavy?” on MSNBC. The news article discusses other potential hazardous factors that can affect ones health other than being overweight. These are your age, family history, waist measurement, your regular fitness, cholesterol and inflammation. "Being overweight may not be associated with any risk of heart disease," says Robert Eckel, MD, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado and past president of the American Heart Association. Even though some of these factors can correlate with being overweight they have an effect on anyone no matter their weight. Even if someone who is overweight lost a few pounds the other factors would continue to affect the individual and probably increase the potentials of contracting more diseases. This is another place were we begin to see the power of the media. If studies continue to come out with proof that being overweight due to their standards is healthy than why do many continue to strive for the “perfect” body? The media has been able to impose this “moral panic” towards society that being overweight is unhealthy because it is not beautiful and not the norm. In order to change this false perception the media has to popularize and impose that being heavy can also be healthy. Will that ever happen? It would take a lot of effort and time. The media is engraved with Hollywood and the music industry that have used body, sex, and beauty to make millions and nobody is bound to change something that is making money. Society must start educating and informing itself about health facts and issue than the media influences would not be so powerful. By taking the right measures and not those from the media one would become healthier and better fit.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26957675/

The Image of Sexuality in Color

Minorities in this country have very little power and are very vulnerable to any social issue. When dealing with body image minorities are affected even more compared to whites in society. Women of color in the United States are pressured to fit their stereotypical roles. Many of their stereotypes have roots from their culture or country of origin. Other times these body image expectations are fabricated from people in power within society. This can be specifically applied to Latina and African American women, since their bodies represent more of the hourglass image. The hourglass figure is greatly desired, honored, and attractable to many. African American and Latina women are stereotyped as being seductive, very loud, and very sexual. They do this by wearing very little clothes, dancing seductive, giving attitude to anything, and using sex to their advantage. Their roles in movies, shows, and commercials are consistent which reaffirm this expectation to the viewers. For example in the movie 2 Fast 2 Furious, Eva Mendes uses her Latina flare and beauty to seduce the Cuban drug dealer into believing that she was not an undercover cop.



This is also an issue in music videos specifically from hip-hop and reggaeton artists. The women in their music videos dance very seductive, many times they are used as an object, they wear very little clothes, they are submissive, and follow and do whatever the artists pleases in the video. For example the music video “I’m Still in Love” from Sean Paul portrays the women as very seductive when they dance in their room, at the nightclub, and throughout the video.



All of these images send a very strong message to young girls in our society especially to women of color. Due to this women of color think that sex and their body will get them what they desire, which does not take into account their character and intelligence. Their style of dancing and fashion reflect the media’s influence. For example the fashion line from the rapper Nelly includes “apple bottom jeans” which emphasizes women’s butt. These jeans are seen everywhere especially on young African American women. These examples are just a few ways women of color are more pressured to look a certain way by society. Latina and African American women are not the only minorities that are affected however it is seen more often.