Mirror Mirror on the Wall Have you ever noticed how women were trained from the crib to be a man's woman? Fairy tales set the standard for a woman who is like a princess in beauty and grace. Princesses are perfect and live in a wonderland where they find themselves vunerable and in need of a prince to rescue them. Peter Peter pumpkin eater didn't put his wife in a C.E.O. office, did he? There was also Barbie with her perfect features and glamorous blonde hair. No woman can live up to that image. The American dream revolves around us in floods of pictures in magazines, T.V., and on movie screens. Now we're even confronted with them online and on a cell phones. Advertisements are entertaining. We see all the newest trends, fabulous clothes, and glamorous women. It's like watching a dream world pass before our eyes that we are actually a part of. Maybe we find this appealing in a fairy tale way but this image isn't a realistic one. Everyone knows the picturesque scenes portrayed are idealistic but I don't think we realize the women exploited aren't real women. We watch women who seem picture-perfect day in and day out. Of course, we don't measure up. Advertisers count on this or we wouldn't believe we need their products. A tactic is one thing but fueling poor self-esteem is a vicious cycle when the porducts won't transform us. In her essay, "The Female Body" Margaret Atwood says of the female body, "it does not merely sell, it is sold." (p. 248) Women's liberation was meant to free women from exploitations. Have we sold ourselves out? What merit is the real woman when all we want is to be somebody else? The true woman is worth more than that image. When we look in the mirror, it's the individual we are that should determine our value and appeal. These images we see of women in advertising don't accurately represent the public. This is true all around the world today. "Accoring to the New Zealand Eating Disorder Services (EDS), eighty percent of females living in New Zealand today are within their normal body weight limits, though only eighteen percent of these women actually think their weight is normal." ("Advertising Real Women"; par. 6) The acceptance of this standard is clearly affecting the self-image in females of all ages. One value in these realizations is how these images impact our children. As parents or role models we need to consciously teach both boys and girls that the images projected aren't real. The characters portrayed aren't everyday people. Self-image comes from more than the outside shell of a person. We can be more aware and counter this reaction in our children. Be true to yourself is an important lesson for a child to learn. Don't leave the same fate to our younsters that we've endured. We can only imagine what this is doing to the male thinking process. Is this what a man expects of a woman? "Our culture trains women that their role is not to be human beings but to be mirrors who reflect back to a man his ideal or his fantasy." (Objectifi- cation" par. 5) If women are convinced then it follows that men very well are also. Not to blame men, he saw Barbie too when he was just a tot. But as the story goes, if we want to live happily ever after, we'll have to be the object of man's desire. Most people don't believe anyone takes the Hollywood image seriously and that women have departed from the "casting couch" long ago. This may be true, but the model stereotype still looms above us bigger than life. When we think of ourselves and we look in the mirror, we can't seem to separate fantasy from reality. The question remains, what can we do about this dilemma? The media is a widespread and powerful source. The media derives from so many different origins and we see so much of it that it's hard to control. Still, we can't give up. Only recently Dove Soap launched a new marketing strategy in New Zealand. "The campaign features real women-not models." ("Advertising Real Women"; par. 2) We can't change the world in one day, but this is a hopeful beginning. Everyone should do their part in realizing the powers and effects this fake image thrust upon us. We all need a healthy dose of reality. If we trust in ourselves and our own individuality then we can value our own reflection in the mirror. We don't have to support an imaginary image by spending a lot of our hard earned money trying to be something we are not. Everyone likes to buy something new from time to time. Let your purchases reflect the authenic person that you are, not the latest trends. Don't base your own self-image on a counterfeit concept of a woman. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all? Leave that to Snow White. Works Cited Atwood, Margaret. "The Female Body." Major Modern Essayist. 2nd ed.Eds. Gilbert H. Muller and Alan F. Crooks. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1994. 375-78. "Objectification." Two Rooks Mar. 2005. www.secret governmentlabs.com. 2005. Two Rooks. 16 Mar. 2005 . Westphal, Laura. "Advertising Real Women." Lexis Nexis Oct. 2005. web.lexis-nexis.com. 2005. Profile Publishing Ltd. 29 Sept. 2005 .
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