The Medias Effect on Men and Women

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Over the past 50 years, the image of the “perfect” woman has shifted. Women are expected to be skinny, big breasted, and more recently, blonde. In fact, most images of the “idea” woman are unhealthy by medical standards. For example a small-framed woman who is 5’10” should weigh between 132-145 pounds (dietbites.com). Most women who aspire to be “thin” have weight ideas of between 115 and 125 pounds. That is at least 7 pounds below the healthy weight for a woman. Modern media has hindered the image of this woman. TV shows and movies have hindered the idea of the perfect woman. Many shows leading female character is big breasted and thin. So many women acquire eating disorders and get breast augmentations to better fit into this visual society.  Even a lot of TV personalities have been stressed to be thin in order to look good on camera. And we won’t even start on the pressures put on models and actresses. There was also a big controversy over the Barbie doll. The idea was that young girls were being influenced to live up to Barbie’s proportions. Studies have shown however that her physical make-up is virtually impossible. The breasts are too big compared to the small frame and if there were a live Barbie she would have horrible back problems if she were even able to walk at all. But society over looks the Ken doll. We men have had pressures from society as well on how to look. Commercials and TV shows have shifted our image of the “perfect” man, and has caused us to spend wasteful money on products that are to enhance our appearance and size both in and out of the bedroom. Unfortunately, our society has become one that is mainly focused on size. The problem is that most men cannot live up to the David Hasselhoff image on Baywatch.