Media's Impact on Girlhoods

Media Impact: It’s Effect on Girlhood Studies Sophie Alder Student ID: 100830129 Course: WGST3806 Instructor: Dr. Virginia Caputo Date: December 4th 2013 Carleton University Since the early 1990s, girl power, objectification and sexualization are a few discourses that shape a popular media initiatives of new femininity, as well as shaking the conventional ground of feminist thinking and proclaiming a new mode of girlhood (Dohnt & Tiggemann, 2006). However, current mainstream media representations of girls have proven to have detrimental affects on their audiences as well as in girlhoods themselves. By engaging in a ‘normative’ heterosexual male gaze throughout media, it is undermining women’s’ worth, as well as shaping young girls into beings who criticize themselves indefinitely. As an introduction to the current media representation that surrounds girlhoods, it would be useful to address a growing issue. This issue is known as image dissatisfaction. Image dissatisfaction is described as a condition in which an individual can experience body image problems as a result of preoccupations with weight and shape and general body dissatisfaction (Dohnt & Tiggemann, 2006). This dissatisfaction is often due to social or gender comparisons (ie., social constructions of what it means to be masculine or feminine within society) that are constantly being made while girls engage with media. Image dissatisfaction is prevalent in women as well as men, but particularly common in adolescent girls. Often, image dissatisfaction is associated with the desire to be thin and ‘sexy’, which over time has evolved into a concept known as ‘normative discontent’ (Borzekowski, Robinson & Killen, 2000). Although initial research surrounding this topic of normative discontent was targeted toward adolescence as well as women of all ages, a growing research consensus has now established that preadolescent girls (who range from approximately 8-11 years of age) are also dissatisfied with their bodies and wish to be thinner (Dohnt & Tiggemann, 2006). Although this statement within itself is seemingly shocking, it’s stems much deeper than negative self-perception. Preadolescent body dissatisfaction has proven to be a risk factor for subsequently lower self-esteem, as well as decreased psychological well-being. Increased eating disorder symptomology, obesity, depression and decreased psychological well-being are also factors that can result from body dissatisfaction (Dohnt & Tiggemann, 2006). Now if you’re anything like me, your first thought would be “What is causing pre-adolescent girls to feel this way?” and “Why are girls becoming so hyper-aware of their own bodies before they have even reached puberty?” Although it would seem obvious that there is no single influence of such behaviour, I would argue that after substantive research on the topic, media industries do play a significantly large role in this evolution of girlhood behaviour. It is a known fact that on average, any given individual in North America as well as many consumer based societies around the world are exposed to hundreds of advertisements, as well as media content such as magazines, television, radio and print per day. On this day-to-day basis, it is almost impossible to avoid some form of advertising if you’re going to engage in media content. However, impressive this may seem to any given advertiser, these ads can have devastating effects on young girls. To give us some perspective here, it’s important to note that advertising and media content allow media industries to dictate what we see, how we see as well as how we feel about the products that are being sold to us. It is not a coincidence that the advertisements being shown in the media depicting women as sexualized objects or passive beings are unintentional. In fact, this consciousness is so prevalent that these methodologies are used almost everywhere. (Ever heard of the term “Sex sells?”) Whether consumers are being advertising alcohol, shoes, bags or cars; individuals of all ages are constantly exposed to the narrow, capitalistic as well as hetereonormative lens that often goes hand in hand with advertising. As an educated communications major, I do want to point out however, that it is important to understand that not all advertisements within this public sphere engage in demoralizing, objectifying and sexualized ideologies, but they are quite common. In reflection of girlhoods and media, it is important to acknowledge the considerations that are to be made when making inferences about girlhood behaviour and image dissatisfaction. It is not a known secret that girls on average mature earlier than boys (Brown, Halpern & L’Engle, 2005). More particularly, many physical as well as psychological changes occur ‘off time’ when compared with the opposite sex. Earlier maturation of girls has become a particular interest for many scholars looking to make inferences about girlhoods and behaviour. However, the association between early puberty and sexual interest becomes a complex and widely explored concept. While making these inferences, connections between media and girlhoods are often argued as becoming an “important source of sexual information for adolescents who are experiencing puberty earlier than their peers” (Brown, Halpern & L’Engle, 2005, pp.421). As previously stated, the media presents a great deal of sexual information, often in a compelling and easy assessable format. This in turn can lead to adolescents turning to media in order to make sense of their identity as well as their relationships and sexual questioning. Unfortunately for these individuals, (in this particular case, adolescent girls) the media is substituted for safer referencing and peer opinion for sexual question navigating. This is simply not good enough. To put this in a better perspective, a recent study of girls within North America illustrated that approximately one-half to three-fourths of girls that are between the ages of 12 to 15 years read magazines such as “Seventeen”, “Teen”, and “YM” (Brown, Halpern & L’Engle, 2005). The primary theme of these magazines relates to personal image, clothes and makeup as well as teaching young girls how they can make themselves attractive enough to gain the attention from boys. I want to make myself very clear here, as I think this is an important point to make. I am in no way undermining that progression is being implemented in media due to current sociological, feministic and moral change. Teen girl magazines have in fact steadily increased their content about sexual health topics for young girls, such as contraception, pregnancy and STDS at a much higher proportion than other media forms (Hu, 2012). It has also comes to my attention that photo shopping of young models has been removed. However, my point here is that this constant underlying sexual attractiveness strategy blurs the fact that girls should be embracing their own bodies and their own sexuality without the approval of the male gaze (Renold & Ringrose, 2008). Girls who engage with consumer media are taught at a young age that their self-worth, self-confidence and overall happiness lies in their ability to represent the ‘ideal woman’ portrayed all across the media. Girls are taught that their freckles should be covered, that their muffin tops should be worked off by cutting calories and that if they don’t live up to this, they merely become secondary figures in the eyes of society. Although progression is being made, young girls are undermining their abilities in terms of academia, self-love and agency. Girls are taught that they do not have a voice unless they conform to gender stereotypes, and that they do not get a say in their own lives. Fortunately, many women and young girls have pulled themselves away from this simplistic and narrow-minded view of what it means to be a successful woman, but remaining at my critical stance, I’d like to argue that perhaps it’s possible that this movement hasn’t fully allowed girls to be accepting of themselves. Take the famous movie Bridget Jones Diary for example. This movie allows for a celebration of a postfeminist condition as Bridget Jones’s character is a woman aged thirty, living and working in London. She is a free agent who is single, childless and able to enjoy herself as she chooses (i.e., going to hotels, restaurants and bars). In essence, Bridget is the product of modernity and her character loosens the ties that have been made surrounding tradition and community for women in European society. However, this movie also shows Bridget as a lonely character, experiencing moments of self-doubt in regards to her self-image, intelligence and ability to get a man (Harris, 2004). I would argue that Bridget herself portrays this whole spectrum of attributes that is associated with self-monitoring and image dissatisfaction. She often confides in her friends, she keeps a diary and she endlessly reflects on her fluctuating weight and is constantly noting her calorie intake. Within the movie itself, you can see that Bridget is struggling with her self-image right from the beginning. Although Bridget seems to be a progressive character in regards of a feminist stance, she is still trapped in a male gaze. However comedic and witty this movie is for audiences, it’s important to recognize that this becomes funny because audiences can relate with the self-image dissatisfaction that she is dealing with (normative discontent). With the burden of self-management in today’s society becoming so apparent, tradition stemming from a hetereonormative male gaze is significantly prevalent suggesting Postfeminism (Harris, 2004). To bring this research back to girlhoods in particular, we need to understand and address the bigger picture that appearing within mainstream media, as well as within girl power. It could be argued that this idealistic notion of girl power has diminished significantly within recent years. To give this argument a higher rate of reliability, I will reference to the popular 1990’s ‘girl power’ band The Spice Girls (a British girl band consisting of 5 women with the names Posh, Ginger, Scary, Sporty and Baby spice). What’s interesting about the Spice Girls is that often, they have been criticized for their impact within girlhoods themselves. The Spice Girls were seen as capitalistic commodities that were not enabling girl power and feminism for young girls because they were not seen as ‘good’ for girls (Driscoll, 1999). Many people (scholars included) believed that girls within society needed to be exposed to positive and feministic values that empower and accept young girls for who they are and not for who they are supposed to be (Ringrose, 2012). However, I would argue that the Spice Girls were enabling that ideology indefinitely. Although I may be seemingly biased in my opinion, because I simply loved the Spice Girls growing up, I think that the Spice Girls were working directly with positive identification. Young girls wanted to mimic the Spice Girls not because they were sexy, passive and objectified beings, but because they were willing to break the rules about stereotypical gender norms and be proud of it (Driscoll, 1999). Beauty was not seen in a narrow lens, and I would argue that for the first time in modernistic media, feminism became a successful socially distributed product that young girls wanted to actively engage in. In contrast to this now dated example of The Spice Girls, I think it’s important that we take a look at girl bands that have existed recently. A girl band that comes to mind is The Pussycat Dolls. When you think of this particular band, I would suggest that feminism is the last thing to come to mind. In songs like “Don’t Cha”, the lyrical content is blatantly associated with female aggression between two women in order to get the approval of a man. Imagery, sexualization as well as objectification are prominent themes reiterating ‘cattiness’ as well as immoral sexual behaviour. In the music video itself, women are seen dancing around in little to no clothing, with alcohol and money. All of this coming from the hetereonormative gaze. As I feel it is unnecessary to go in depth with this argument, I think it is obvious to suggest that feminism from the 90’s has seemingly diminished in this form of pop media culture. Music videos as well as lyrical content like this will not help young girls overcome image dissatisfaction. It is important that as active individuals in society, we recognize what is going on in our own homes. Technology and media is more accessible now than ever, and it can only increase. Girls at young ages are being exposed to media content and are asking questions about what they see. I believe that it is important that girls are taught that their identity does not come from a fabricated and capitalized source. Girls should be amended for their intelligence, inner beauty and personal traits. Girls should feel confident in their own skin, and not spend their days wishing they were someone else. It is our jobs as academics, men and women to break away from a hetereonormative male gaze and give girls unconditional acceptance. After all, we all deserve the right to feel happy in our own skin. References Bae, M. S. (2011). Interrogating girl power: Girlhood, popular media, and postfeminism. Published by University of Illinois Press, 37(73), 28-40. Borzekowski, D. L. G., Robinson, T. N., & Killen, J. D. (2000). Does the camera add 10 pounds? media use, perceived importance of appearance, and weight concerns among teenage girls. Elsevier Science Inc., 26, 36-41. Dohnt, H. K., & Tiggemann, M. (2006). Body image concerns in young girls: The role of peers and media prior to adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35(2), 141-151. doi: 10.1007/s10964-005-9020-7 Driscoll, C. 1999. " Girl culture, revenge and global capitalism: Cyber-gurls, riot grrls, Spice Girls." Australian Feminist Studies, 14.29, pp.173-193 Harris, A. (2004). All about the girl culture power and identity . (pp. 1-271). New York: Routledge Hu, E. (2012, July 5). 'seventeen' magazine takes no-photoshop pledge after 8th-grader's campaign. the two-way, Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/07/05/156342683/seventeen-magazine-takes-no-photoshop-pledge-after-8th-graders-campaign Renold, E., & Ringrose, J. (2008). Regulation and rupture: Mapping tween and teenage girls' resistance to the heterosexual matrix. Sage Publications , 9(3), 313-338. doi: 10.1177/1464700108095854 Ringrose, J., Renold, E. 2012. “Slut-shaming, girl power and 'sexualisation': thinking through the politics of the international SlutWalks with teen girls”, Gender and Education 24 (3), 333-343. MEDIA IMPACT: IT’S EFFECT ON GIRLHOOD STUDIES