Hunger for Thinness 1: Media

The media has completely warped and skewed women's body image into a filter that only allows negativity, and it penetrates every last bit of self-worth that we have. 'The current emphasis on excessive thinness for women is one of the clearest examples of advertising's power to influence us' (Kilbourne, Slim Hopes). It's true. From the shapes of shampoo and perfume bottles, to the LOW CALORIE-NON-FAT-NO-PRESERVATIVES foods (they might as well say NO FLAVOR) that women see all the time, the ideal of this thinness permeates their everyday lives.

I read a statistic once that girls see 400 ads a day telling them how they should look. Telling them that they are not beautiful enough, thin enough, delicate enough, feminine enough...That's 400 reminders a day tearing down at their self-image, telling them that by themselves they are not worth anything. The only time that most women feel truly comfortable in their own skin is as young children, as 'those who have not been told yet that they are not beautiful' (Kilbourne 104). But as soon as adolescence creeps up, when makeup and boys and clothes finally become of major importance, that confidence begins to shatter.

"Girls reach adolescence and they hit a wall. And at least part of that wall seems to be this incessant obsession with physical perfection" (Kilbourne, Slim Hopes). I remember when I began to feel the pressure to look a certain way. As a young child I was a complete tomboy. I refused to wear pink or dresses or skirts, but would run around in boys cargo shorts and t-shirts while barefoot. I remember seeing my older girl cousins getting ready for church in the morning. They were curling their hair, swiping their eyes with colorful shadows, dabbing on lip gloss. My cousin turned to me and held up her tube of Bonnie Bell Lip Smackers (watermelon flavor to be exact), and said, 'Want some?' I contorted my face into an expression of disgust and scoffed. 'Ew, no.' She rolled her eyes. Secretly, I really wanted to put it on. I wanted to slather the pink glossy stuff all over my lips and taste the watermelon goodness. I wanted to look pretty like them. I felt embarrassed about my want for girly things, it was a new feeling. But later in church, I felt more embarrassed about my boyish appearance.

That's just the thing, we buy into the beauty myth. We willingly spend our money, time, and effort on this thing that degrades us. At first we feel embarrassed about our obsession and want to be beautiful, but then we feel feel even more embarrassed for not being so in the first place. And that's exactly what the beauty myth intends to do, guilt-trip us into thinking we need it, until we are convinced that we really do.