Perception of Women in the Media

Images of female bodies are everywhere. Women – and their body parts – sell everything from food to cars. Women’s magazines are full of articles urging that if they can just lose those last twenty pounds, they’ll have it all – the perfect marriage, loving children, and a rewarding career but unfortunately, their goals are unattainable for all but a very small number of women.

If you visit the magazine stand at your local Barnes & Nobles or Borders bookstore you’ll see a thinly lingerie-claded Fergie on the women’s beauty magazine Allure while a svelte Sienna Miller wears a skin-tight red dress on the cover of this month’s Vogue. These are only two of the many magazines on the stand that feature thin physically attractive women are the cover to sell the issue.

Representations of women across all media more often highlight beauty, size/physique, sexuality and emotion as opposed to intellect, and relationships instead of independence. Advertising is arguably the most important and influential by-products of television. The average adult spends one-and-a-half-years of his or her life watching television advertisements. For the amount of time, it is highly possible that it will have some kind of effect on those who watch.

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