To what extent should magazines be held responsible for the social ramifications of the representations they offer?
Teen magazines seem to affect girls, more so than boys, as the content for the many teen girl magazines you can get are vastly different to the many football and gaming magazines you can get for teenage boys. The 'Kaiser Family Foundation' studied the top four teen magazines, and found out that 44% of the articles were focused on dating and sex, 37% on appearance, and only a 12% of the articles were focused on advice for schools and careers. Even the advertisements for the magazines are focused on beauty and appearance.
These are a few samples of the articles that were found in some of the top ten most popular teen magazines:
• “The Ultimate Get-a-Guy Guide”
• “Get a Bikini Butt”
• “Six Star Couples’ Secrets for Everlasting Love”
• “Love Clues: Fifteen Ways to Make Him Want You Bad”
• “Get Gorgeous: A Survey of One Thousand Teens Reveals Seventy-five Favourite Beauty Products”
• “Find True Love: Twenty-four Crucial Clues to Snag Your Crush”
These articles show some of the content of a few teen magazines, these are things you don't expect girls from the youngest ages of 11 - 12 to be thinking about as they should be thinking more about school, and things that may actually help them in life, as looks and boys shouldn't really matter at that age.
Bliss, Shout, and Cosmo Girl, are just some of the few teen magazines that focus on beauty, this is instantly shown on the cover of their magazines; all three covers feature a shot of a celebrity looking their finest (these images have usually been air-brushed and edited, therefore giving teenagers a false idea of prettiness). They also all usually feature headlines that proclaim many ways in which teens girls could make themselves over. Some of these magazines even state ways in which teen girls can dress to look 'sexy;' should teenage girls really be going around trying to look 'sexy?'
I think these magazines have the potential to affect teens substantially, and that they have done on many occasions, it usually affects how they feel about themselves, and can even lower their self-esteem. This is because on the front of most teen magazines they have a picture of a celebrity looking their best, but the picture is usually airbrushed and perfected so the celebrity looks amazing, but in reality not everyone is perfect. This not only lowers girls’ self-esteem, but also makes them insecure and depressed, as they don't think they're pretty enough. Research is beginning to show that even boys are beginning to get affected by this, not just girly.
These magazines don't just make girls insecure because they don't think they're pretty enough, it can also be for the fact that some of these magazines even point out the ‘flaws’ in celebrities and the clothes they're wearing. For example 'Victoria Beckham' gets mocked for some of the clothes she wears, it's going to have an impact on many teens, especially if they look up to her.
In conclusion, magazines are quite substantially to blame for the impact they have on teenage girls, as they give young girls an image of the 'perfect look' which is a look which is quite impossible to achieve as no one is perfect, plus the images in many of these magazines have been airbrush to get rid of any so called 'flaws' the model/celebrity have on their face, therefore giving young girls a false image of perfection, this not only makes girls want to look like these models/celebrities but it can also lower their self-esteem and make them insecure.
• “The Ultimate Get-a-Guy Guide”
• “Get a Bikini Butt”
• “Six Star Couples’ Secrets for Everlasting Love”
• “Love Clues: Fifteen Ways to Make Him Want You Bad”
• “Get Gorgeous: A Survey of One Thousand Teens Reveals Seventy-five Favourite Beauty Products”
• “Find True Love: Twenty-four Crucial Clues to Snag Your Crush”
These articles show some of the content of a few teen magazines, these are things you don't expect girls from the youngest ages of 11 - 12 to be thinking about as they should be thinking more about school, and things that may actually help them in life, as looks and boys shouldn't really matter at that age.
Bliss, Shout, and Cosmo Girl, are just some of the few teen magazines that focus on beauty, this is instantly shown on the cover of their magazines; all three covers feature a shot of a celebrity looking their finest (these images have usually been air-brushed and edited, therefore giving teenagers a false idea of prettiness). They also all usually feature headlines that proclaim many ways in which teens girls could make themselves over. Some of these magazines even state ways in which teen girls can dress to look 'sexy;' should teenage girls really be going around trying to look 'sexy?'
I think these magazines have the potential to affect teens substantially, and that they have done on many occasions, it usually affects how they feel about themselves, and can even lower their self-esteem. This is because on the front of most teen magazines they have a picture of a celebrity looking their best, but the picture is usually airbrushed and perfected so the celebrity looks amazing, but in reality not everyone is perfect. This not only lowers girls’ self-esteem, but also makes them insecure and depressed, as they don't think they're pretty enough. Research is beginning to show that even boys are beginning to get affected by this, not just girly.
These magazines don't just make girls insecure because they don't think they're pretty enough, it can also be for the fact that some of these magazines even point out the ‘flaws’ in celebrities and the clothes they're wearing. For example 'Victoria Beckham' gets mocked for some of the clothes she wears, it's going to have an impact on many teens, especially if they look up to her.
In conclusion, magazines are quite substantially to blame for the impact they have on teenage girls, as they give young girls an image of the 'perfect look' which is a look which is quite impossible to achieve as no one is perfect, plus the images in many of these magazines have been airbrush to get rid of any so called 'flaws' the model/celebrity have on their face, therefore giving young girls a false image of perfection, this not only makes girls want to look like these models/celebrities but it can also lower their self-esteem and make them insecure.
No comments:
Post a Comment