For many years I would pick up a health or fitness magazine and failed to recognize how image driven they actually are. When we flip through a health magazine we are likely to find more than half of its content centered on appearance. Our class discussions brought me to realize that our society uses health media to encourage the “perfect” thin, white body rather than actual health. Media has also used the female athlete to portray this image, further strengthening the value of beauty over health and athletic capabilities. I always knew that, as a society, we have an obsession with looking good, but I was not aware of how serious it could get. When health, personal growth, and athletic achievements are undermined while appearance prioritized, we have a true issue at hand. I have realized that our priorities in society need to be straightened out. The question I am left with is: how do we begin this change?
-Anat Journo
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Having done two awareness assignments on the media and its attention to women in sport, I have come to the same conclusion. Publications like Health Magazine (geared towards women) and Sports Illustrated portray a very different idea of health than we were taught in class. The images in the publications differ among men and women. Male athletes are usually shown in powerful, athletic poses or even shot while the athlete participates in his sport. Female athletes, however, are scantily clad and are positioned to exude sexuality rather than physical ability. In my opinion, the media really works against the idea of what a healthy body should look like. Such images encourage young athletes to go to extremes to look like their favorite celebrity. Often times these extremes include unhealthy eating habits or workout regiments. I believe the media really needs to evaluate the idea of health they wish to portray and make changes as to the pictures they run and the advertisements they allow to be published in their magazines.
-Jordan Young KIN338I T/TH 2:00
I was just as shocked as you were when we were reviewing everyone's awareness assignments. We discovered that these "health" and "positive self image" magazines are frauds! The women in the magazines look very fit and strong and slender, so they are supposed to be very healthy, right? Wrong. As a society we judge if someone is healthy based on if they are skinny or not. We have no idea if this skinny person is shoving down cheeseburgers once a day or not. Looking at someone who is skinny and considering them to be the epitome of health is wrong. How do we get people to change they way they think? Is that even possible? I think changes need to start with the media, especially in the "health" magazines. They need to start showing women who have normal but healthy body types. Instead of showing the healthy but with a petite small frame blonde girl. Can we just see someone normal!!??
Tatiana Tseng
It’s amazing how much impact the media has on female athletes. How elite athletes are often neglected from sports channels because they don’t fit in this “sex appeal” nonsense. I can understand how so many athletes get sucked in to this idea that they have to look better instead of feeling better. Over the years I have encountered those women who feel as though they have to look a certain way to be socially accepted. I have had friends who refused to participate in weight training because “muscle isn’t sexy”. One good way of changing this idea that women have to look a certain way really starts at a young age. I feel as though one of the best things my mom has ever done for me was enroll me in every sport camp or activity. Maybe doing programs that are geared towards girls and run by women, issues like the female triad and eating disorders will decrease. I know that there are already camps that are promoting self -esteem and increasing participation, but I feel as though they are so hard to get into. Some of the camps are based on applications and who you know. Why can’t it be more public or local? Sometimes the real battle lies within. Some girls are so unhappy with their appearance that they will go to great lengths to achieve it. I think the biggest issue is that girls learn about what they should look like before what they already look like. It takes determination and strength to love oneself when all of these ‘perfect bodies’ are all over advertisements. I think that they issue may really stem from lack of parent influence.
Cory Winther T/Th 2-3:15 338i
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