Beauty is in the eye of the beholder The statement that everybody Free Essay Example

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” The statement that everybody has heard many times, but it seems that it should really be said that beauty is in the eye of society. So many women are influenced by what society portrays as beautiful across media. Every year, millions of women spend more money to change their appearance. People spend so much time trying to look a certain way through media outlets like television shows, and instagram. We begin to see others and ourselves as what is presented physically rather than who we are as women to this world.

People should start to believe and tell others that true beauty isn’t just what’s portrays on the outside but to let everybody know how society affects the perception of beauty as an individual, and to change the true principle and meaning of beauty.

The media in today shows society with unrealistic body types, which encourages people but especially women to look like those ideal body types.

For such as Latinas in the media are always the ones that are portrayed a certain way by making people think that all latinas have brown hair and brown eyes and also are curvy women. It is told in a academic article that

“It represent a continuing interest in the portrayal of people of color in global popular culture. Latina Stars in U.S. Eyes and Dangerous Curves, which complement and reinforce each other, belong side by side on the bookshelves of media scholars committed to making sense of proliferating images of “Latinidad” in the United States and abroad.

” (WHITT, JAN.)

Let’s just say as a latina we hear a lot of that we are “hot and spicy.” from one man telling another man. We as latinas are always having to struggle to look and act to this ideal thought what media has already presents to the world about us but the issue is that we all come in different colors and size and we all are different in our own way.

“The academic discourse did not differ much from popular discourses wherein the imagined racial diversity of the U.S. nation was treated as binary. Introduction to the issue concerning Latina communication and media studies. It is said that there was relatively little work on Latina and communications or the mass media, including the mainstream research areas of television, advertising, and journalism and the press, all three areas with a growing tradition in regard to African Americans and the media.”

Stereotypes that are proven to be told about latinas to others is they perceive to be exotic, curvy, and at times being told that we as latinas are illegal immigrants and we will not be successful in big projects if it isn’t playing a role of a housekeeping or loud obnockes wife. Coming across in an article written by Cocuy, Nicole states that,

“The desirable temptress and the obedient housekeeper are extreme versions of what society deems as every man’s dream woman: a curvy, passionate lover who oozes with sex appeal and a subservient, family-oriented wife who can cook and clean. These dehumanizing caricatures are demeaning. The sole role of a Latina woman in the media is to support and fulfill someone else’s needs over her own, rather than pursue any personal goals, produce any original thought or express any acknowledged opinion”(Cocuy, Nicole.)

This can go back from how the hispanic American definition in mexican background heritage is defined as family being customed to traditions that are handed down from generation to generation of families and happening in society. Those are that women were taught from their mothers to their grandmothers to become a good housewife and mother and have children and make their husband happy. As a symbol of what a latina has to be in their families eyes but across the nation we have overcome those stereotype with women in the industry of media portray that we are more than better than that.

Communication is the carrier of culture and social relationships. For foreign-born immigrants and temporary sojourners, communication activities in general, and interpersonal communication activities, in particular, play a vital role in shaping their cross-cultural adaptation process. It is through engagement in social communication activities of the host society that foreign-born individuals gain insights and skills that are necessary for achieving a level of functional fitness and psychological health in relation to the host environment. (Kim & McKay- Semmler, 2012, p. 375)

Television and apps likes instagram for instance make no attempt to hide their opinion that thin, slight women are the ideal body types. The media absolutely portray how people should look, dress, act, and even speak, according to their gender and body type. All these things we see in the media everyday at times affect our self esteem. For certain it is often shown in relation to a character’s body such as overweight women are shown to be antisocial, negative and depressed. Latinas and other women of color have to fight for equality, respect, and freedom not just within dominant mainstream society, but also within their own families and culture.We as latinas in the media can try to suggest more complex roles and also make television shows that challenge these stereotypes and show that Latinas come in all shapes and sizes, have different skin color and hair, have different nationalities and have different lifestyles.

People are motivated to maintain a positive self-concept; (b) The self-concept derives largely from group identification; and (c) People establish positive social identities by favorably comparing their in-group against an out-group. Having a positive social identity satisfies the individuals needs for inclusion and differentiation. (Shinnar, 2008, p. 554) When a person does not have a positive social identity, these receiving cultures will cope in three different ways: individual mobility, social creativity, and social competition (Tajfel & Turner, 1979).

In the media it helps being pretty but there’s more than that but to be honest. You have to be smart, be education, and have experience just to land a job in today media industry and to take to accountability that we all come in different colors and shapes and ethnicity. However, sometimes the media thinks that looks are more important but there is a lot of creative people that do not make it in the business and that’s very upsetting to know.

“Female characters were more commonly portrayed in a sexualized manner than were male characters and were sexualized in 72 % of instances. Characters of color were generally sexualized at the same rate as White characters. Instances of sexualization included sexualizing comments, body exposure, self-sexualizing physical behaviors and activities, sexualizing physical behaviors toward others, verbal and physical objectification, and body/appearance modification. These findings suggest that sexualization is present in children’s media popular among both Latina and White girls and that identifying means to counter this influence should be a priority.”

Today media plays an important role in communications in forming the daily decisions that shape our lives. People now can see each other’s lives and show what’s happening in there lives in these perfectly filtered squares such as instagram, we’ll surely do the kind of bad self-assessment that keeps us thinking that everyone else’s lives are more perfect than our own as similarity saying that the grass is greener on the other side. In addition there are similar opinion polls on images that are shown frequently to increase and influence the public in television shows and apps that guide our society today. The media industry is a closed industry with few opportunities to gain access without knowing anybody then there is a smaller chance you will ever get the opportunity. These opportunities are always given to those people that know people that already are within the industry. They are usually given to their family or friends. Since there are few Latinas in the industry, the opportunities given to them are rare. When viewing the images seen on the screen, people will only write about what they know and see that appears to them on social media outlets. Instead what you see is non-Latinas ideas of what a Latina is. Often this image comes from the negative stereotypes writers that have seen in television show or apps that are in right now like instagram, or from Latinas they know, most of whom are their waiters, maids, gardeners or nannies.

Being a Latina in the united states can be hard, especially when you are constantly surrounded by stereotypes that tell you you have to act and look a certain way or you don’t exist. It all starts at a young age where you are exposed on watching and being entertained by but an example of media’s influence on society is through the research of media’s impact on children. At each age, the media affects children differently. Each specific age group reacts differently to violence in the media depending on how much they watch television, parental input, and media intake supervision by the parents. It’s really important that young children be reminded that their involvement matters and that their voice is heard. Even if it feels like it’s small, it really can make an impact even at a young age.

Media include television, newspapers, radio, Internet, magazines, etc. A great deal of research in the realm of communication has sought to understand how the media portray other cultures and how these portrayals affect users of media. U.S. media has within it many stereotypes of different cultures and races: Asians, African Americans, Latinos, etc.

As for latinos are the largest and fastest growing minority in our nation, they represent a significant proportion of the viewership of these media outlets. Correspondingly, their self-perceptions and interactions with the media should play an important role in determining how the media are governed and how Latinos can demand accountability from those who regulate them.

Latina characters have been a part of American media since the beginning of the film industry, but one famous women that is known to change the views of latinos throughout the century is the beautiful know Frida Kahlo. Frida kahlo represented as herself as a unique, brilliant, freedom- loving, adventurous individual who transcended her culture, society and physical challenges to become a great artist. Frida was admirable by her defiance against what was considered to be the “norm”. Ever since her childhood Frida pushed society’s gender roles. She played sports at a young age which was uncommon for girls during her time period. She dressed both in both traditional male clothing and in long skirts and floral accessories. Frida Kahlo is actually pictured wearing a men’s suit in a family portrait taken in 1927. Not only did she defy gender standards, but Kahlo also defied beauty standards. Her strong, “unfeminine” physical features, like her unibrow and mustache, were left untouched. Herself didn’t let it bother her and she felt no need to change it. Even without following beauty and gender standards, Kahlo was seen as extremely attractive, by both men and women. Some see her work as being romanticized and praised, believing that her art was simply a way to express her feelings rather than a powerful statement. Still, others see the uncensored feelings in her art as an act of bravery and a way that she rose above her pain. It’s all a matter of individual perspective, but at the end of the day, for someone to go through so much in their life and remain true to themselves and to their passion is a true example of emotional endurance and courage. The reason that Frida Kahlo is such an inspiration to women, even today, is because her struggles and beliefs are universal. As women, the majority of us have endured a unique brand of emotional and physical pain. We have felt the conflict between our own desires and the expectations that are set on us. Many of us have had the urge to rebel against what we are told is the correct way to “be a woman”. Despite the adversities she faced throughout her life, Frida Kahlo was always unapologetically herself and that is the biggest lesson we can continue to learn from her today.

As young Latina women, it’s our responsibility to break those molds. To every day challenge ourselves to break away the stereotypes that hold us down. It’s our responsibility to support and lift each other up, and to continuously fight for an equal and being recognized by the world of our hard work is valued exactly the same as anyone else’s but we can’t do it alone! It’s the responsibility of those with more privilege than us to demand more of the systems that oppress us. To recognize the power in your position and grant your platform to others who are struggling to be heard, to allow our voices to carry the conversation for ourselves. Media is very great outlet for us to show the world what we truly are made of.