Body Image in Music

In the song "that sexy body" FatManScoop raps about what he considers to be a sexy body saying that if your butt is larger than your waist you have a sexy body. Songs like this promote body images that only a minority of women actually have. This song is only a limited example of the many others like it that promote the same type of body. In urban culture for many people it is more appealing if your butt is of large proportion to the rest of your body which is not realistic for the average everyday women. If some music promotes only this limited view of a "sexy" body what is it saying about everyone who doesn't have that shape. Songs like this can affect women negatively if they don't look like that. 

~Alexis

Jennifer Hudson

 

Jennifer Hudson started out as an amateur singer on American Idol. She quickly moved up the latter to fame after taking a leading role in the movie Dream Girls. Her taking part in the movie did have to do with the fact that she was a “bigger” woman in comparison to her fellow actresses Beyoncé and Anika. After all this newly earned fame Jennifer Hudson had a drastic change in body image dropping more than a couple sizes and become what many would consider slender. The fact that Jennifer Hudson lost weight is not the issue at hand though it is what pushed her to change. Losing weight didn’t boost her career it made her look like everyone else in Hollywood. One can only wonder if the pressure that society exerts on individuals to look a certain way is becoming too strong. The “it” Body image is something that shouldn’t be defined by strict measurements or a specific size it should be judged in terms of how it affects your health.

~Alexis

Body Image in Society

Appearance is something that is treasured by society. Your appearance defines your value in society. It is easy to judge someone by their appearance. Society should focus more on being healthy, as opposed to looking good. On television there are more shows that focus on looking the best, than feeling the best. When it comes down to it,  the only things that should matter are how you feel about yourself and your health. It is okay to be thin and healthy, as it is okay to be thick and healthy. Looking good is great, but if you are not healthy, there's a chance that you won't be around for very long. The media values appearance over health, which makes it hard for people to think about themselves and their health. People are more worried about the appearance of their body than the health of their body. 

~Auttume

Queen Latifah

Queen Latifah is the perfect example of a full-figured women who embraces her curves and promotes being healthy. She is the face of Jenny Craig a dieting system that lets you eat real food, but in healthy proportions that fit into your daily schedule. Queen Latifah doesn't talk about fitting into swimwear from her youth, or becoming super skinny. She completely stands for the notion of feeling good about yourself! In an article from examiner.com Queen Latifah was quoted saying, "Beauty really does start on the inside. It’s like a state of mind, a state of love, if you will." She believes in positive body image, which will help achieve your future dreams. She stands for all the right things! I truly believe she is a great role model for younger women who are trying to become comfortable in their own skin.

Paige Harrington

Doctor J-Curves

Plastic Surgery is something very popular in today's society. However, Plastic surgery is very pricey which makes it only available to people who can afford it. Most of Hollywood's most popular stars have all gotten plastic surgery in order to appear "perfect." Rap star Nicki Minaj is a figure that has a body that is desirable by women. A surgeon in Atlanta is fulfilling these women's desires and making it possible for them to obtain a body similar to Nicki Minaj's body. 

Andrew Jimerson, also known as "Doctor J-Curves" is "making dreams come true." Today, women believe that the only way that they can be labeled as beautiful is if they have bodies that are only possible if they alter their natural assets by getting plastic surgery. Not only is plastic surgery expensive, it is also painful. Women are willing to take dangerous risk to look a certain way that is appealing to society. 

~Auttume

Tyra Banks

Tyra Banks was subject to a lot of criticism and hate after a picture of her looking quite big in a bathing suit was published in a tabloid. The tabloid was making fun of her recent weight gain at the time. Tyra dedicated a whole show to this event in order to get back at the tabloid and send a strong message about body image to women everywhere.  She wore the same swimsuit that was in the picture to prove that she did not gain as much weight as was stated in the tabloid and to prove that she is human and that it’s natural to gain and lose weight. She sent a strong message to women that no one is perfect and that even if she was that big that she is still beautiful. Tyra went on to explain that real women’s weight naturally fluctuates and that there is nothing wrong with that even though society seems to say otherwise especially when it comes to media.

~Alexis

The Ideal Body

The image raps up everything that we are talking about in one. It shows what women think is beautiful, what men see as beautiful, and what actually is beautiful. Although this may not apply to all, there is something about this photo that really captures the thought process behind losing weight. The women's ideal body is super thin, and for many women unattainable. I wonder what makes women think that this is the only type of beauty? Striving to be that skinny is unrealistic, and we should embrace a healthy body. The National Average photo is beautiful, and she is a healthy, strong, confident woman. The Men's Ideal size although bigger than the Women's ideal size is still below average. Lindsey talked about BMI and how most of the women that are publicized and seen as role models today are actually underweight. As a society lets embrace our bodies, whatever shape they may be!

Paige Harrington

Dream Girls

In dream girls a movie about three amateur singers in a group who make it big a realistic example of issues with body image and society is strongly addressed.  In the movie the main singer is Jennifer Hudson’s character a thick and curvy young woman with two slender backup singers played by Beyoncé Knowles and Anika Rose. The group gets a chance to make it big but first they had to perfect their image for the media. Their producer right off the bat suggest that Beyoncé become the lead singer instead of Jennifer who had the better voice which was obviously due to the fact that Beyoncé had a more athletic body with curves that were very subtle. Beyoncé becomes the lead and “It” girl of the group while Jennifer is left in her shadow being constantly criticized about her weight. This movie touches the topic of body image and Society’s stance on the topic. People only want to see a certain look slender women with flowing hair and a specific size waist when in reality that’s not how all women look. The movie shows how the average women or women that don’t have the “It” image can be put on the sidelines.

~Alexis

King Magazine

King magazine is an urban men’s magazine that covers topics like sports, hip hop, celebrities, politics, and reality TV.  From the cover of the magazine one might assume that it is a magazine much like playboy, with spreads portraying beautiful colored women barely dressed if dressed at all. Some claim the magazine is a way to celebrate curvy, thick, colored women, while promoting a fuller body type. On the other hand the majority of women featured on the cover tend to be replicas of the same shapes we see in Victoria Secret commercials with the only difference being a larger bust and bottom. King’s magazine and magazines like it do nothing positive for women besides portray unrealistic body measurements for real women to compare themselves to. Although the magazine is geared toward men it proposes an issue for the average women in society who doesn’t hold this idealistic body image. If the only body image being promoted and celebrated is unrealistic for the majority of the population that means the average real women is left behind. Media such as this just adds to the fact that the everyday women you see on the street is not seen as beautiful to society instead an airbrushed one in a million 34-28-44 measurement sized video vixen or reality star is what everyone is looking at.

                                                           

~Alexis





Phat Girls

In 2006, The movie Phat Girls, starring comedian Mo'Nique as the protagonist hit the theaters. In the movie, two plus size woman who struggle to find love go on vacation and meet the men of their dreams. 

The men are from Nigeria, a country in Africa. In Africa, it is culturally acceptable to have a thicker body. In Africa, as said in the movie, "A woman's body size is a reflection of her social status." The bigger the woman, the more respected she is. In America, it is the opposite. Around the world, there are different images of beauty. However, the consequences of defining what beauty are always leave a major group of people out, whether it be skinny or "phat."

~Auttume

Dove Commercial

Dove promotes natural beauty rather than photo shopped commercials and pictures. This commercial is a clear example of what many company's do to their models before a commercial. This clip just shows the face being edited and altered, but the body is also changed to make it look perfect. The word perfect is something almost unattainable, and videos like these promote unrealistic looks. Even if you were to attain perfection...its boring! Dove actually runs a campaign called The Dove Campaign for Real beauty, which is awesome because it embraces natural everyday beautiful women. The purpose of the campaign is to celebrate and rejoice for natural physical variation and love your own bodies and rock them!


Paige Harrington

Barbie 2.0: Revitalized

 Barbie is a doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in 1960. Barbie is still manufactured today and still has a strong hold on the toy company. However, young girls have been given a new Barbie doll to look up too. Rapper Nicki Minaj has revitalized the vision of Barbie.

                      

Nicki Minaj's body could be described as the perfect "Coke Bottle." She is unrealistically curvy with a small waist, large breast, and an even larger backside, none of which are natural. Nicki Minaj has had plastic surgery numerous times on her body and also her face. She refers to herself as Barbie, a figure that young girls have looked up to for years. Young girls are looking at Nicki Minaj and seeing something that is almost impossible to achieve. She is showing an image that is impracticable. The toy-company Mattel Inc. is encouraging Nicki Minaj's message and in 2011, a Barbie doll resembling the rap star was manufactured. 

The Barbie doll will be auctioned off and the proceeds will go to charity. The estimated value of the doll is about $15,000.

~Auttume

 

Lane Bryant Vs. Victoria's Secret

Lane Bryant is a retail store that caters to plus size woman (sizes 14-28). In 2010, Lane Bryant aired a commercial on Fox Network and CBS Network. Both networks censored the ad and refused to show it because it was too revealing.

The commercial features plus size model Ashley Graham. Lane Bryant accused the networks of bias and discrimination toward plus size woman. This was mainly because of the networks history of airing Victoria's Secret commercials continuously without complaint. Victoria's Secret commercials are just as revealing and risque as Lane Bryant commercials. The networks only had an issue with sexy when a plus size woman was featured. 

~Auttume

Shallow Hal

Shallow Hal was a movie made in 2001 that touches on the topic of female beauty. Hal is a shallow guy who undergoes a hypnosis that makes him only see the beauty within women. This is a one of a kind movie that really shows how narrow minded society can become if beauty keeps being defined as a certain size, shape, or body type. There is this image that society paints of the ideal women, but in reality that look does not hold true for the average everyday women. Hal has this skewed view of what makes a women beautiful, but in the end through getting to know the real inner beauty of Gweneth Paltrows character. He was able to realize that appearances are only the tip of the iceberg and whats on the inside is more important. He finds out that the women he fell in love with is actually obese and not as perfect has he imagined. Through the hypnosis he was able to look past the outside appearance and really get to know the genuine person that was within.

Paige Harrington