Above is an Article from the Huffington Post about the sexualization of young girls, and how it leads to eating disorders.
Answer the following.
How does this author use name-dropping to emphasize their argument?
Who is the author appealing to, and do they get their message across effectively?
Why do you think the article is focusing on self esteem in young girls, and not boys?
Does the "modern" image of a woman really bring down a young girl's self esteem?
How could this article support the video as evidence?
The author's first name drops include Miley Cyrus and Vanessa Hudgens. Both of the celebrities are from the Disney channel, a common channel for younger kids to watch. Most people know who they are. However, many people are aware that these girls have exploited their bodies in one way or another. Young girls look up to these Disney channel stars and want to be like them. Another person the author name drops is Geena Davis. She is an actor who is a little older, but known to many adults. She wishes for TV shows to portray women in a better light. The author is appealing to parents and she wants them to be careful of the messages people are sending to their daughters. To get her message across, the author uses research on young children and the celebrities they look up to. Children are thinking they need to change their appearance and exploit themselves in order to be accepted. This article focuses on girls rather than boys because more often than not, women are the ones being sexualized in the media and young girls grow into these women. It's a matter of opinion that the modern image of women brings down a girl's self esteem. More prevalent are the depictions of women as unintelligent and obsessed with shopping. Other times, they are shown as smart and professional. It depends on which depictions people choose to believe. This article supports the video because it emphasizes that young girls are being influenced by the beauty industry and not in a good way. Parents should be careful with what they tell their daughters about beauty.
ReplyDeleteAs Emily mentioned, the author name drops two well-known Disney channel stars to show the influence they have on young girls. The author is appealing to really anyone who associates with young girls on a daily basis. Teachers, parents, siblings, peers and TV stations are all in this category. The message is very clear that young girl are influenced by media to look "beautiful" and be skinny. The show "toddlers and tiaras" was a great example used by the author as it gets the reader to think even younger ages being affected than they might have been thinking of before. This article is geared towards girls rather than boys because there are more examples of girls being exploited in the media than the same case for boys. This article tries to show that this modern image of women brings down girls' self esteem, and how could you disagree? Girls are exposed to these generalizations of how girls should look every day. They are young and therefore their minds are soaking in everything, at such a young age they don't know what to block out or not.
ReplyDeleteLuke,
DeleteThere are many different facets that go into an “image” of something. I’m afraid I have to disagree with your point of view on the effect the modern image is having on young girls. While shows like toddlers and tiaras are showing parents who are putting great amounts of stress on very young girls to be beautiful, the “modern image” of what a woman is has changed drastically. (And personally, I believe these parents are not fit to raise children, and the producers should be placed in jail) The new image of a woman is someone who is not only beautiful, but also strong, independent, smart, funny, and in control of her own life and her own sexuality. I believe this type of image is actually encouraging to young girls, and should continue. While the articles examples of Miley Cyrus and Vanessa Hodgens show girls who exploit their image for profit, there are many other examples of women who do not do these types of things. I believe it is too easy for people to focus on the bad examples, and not on the good ones. Just a thought.
The author uses name-dropping in the article in order to emphasize her argument. I’m sure we all know Miley Cyrus and Vanessa Hudgens and their scandals. The author uses them as examples, to show how their daughters can end up like the celebrities and exposing their body to the public. The author is appealing to parents but also anyone who interact with little kids. The author used shocking statistics and celebrities to get her message across. The article showed somewhat of a social stereotype about how women are more concern about beauty and they have an image to live up to. The article mentioned how women think they have to be thin and appear sexy. In my personal opinion I think that there are more commercials about making a woman beautiful than men. In our society, we believe that men should be “scruffy” and “masculine” therefore they should not worry about their body image. I do think that the “modern” image of a woman bring down a young girl’s self-esteem. Everywhere we look in a mall, whether it’s Victoria Secrets, Bath and body works, Hollister, or any stores it shows a thin pretty girl or a guy with washboard abs. all these ads and models would definitely make a little girl self-conscious. The article can support the video with its statics and examples of celebrities.
ReplyDeleteEmily and Luke have touched on the naming dropping to emphasize the argument and they did a good job of it, so I'm not going to mention any more about it. The article was geared towards anyone who works or interacts with young girls on a daily bases. Girls are portrayed to be very self-conscience, emotional, and very easily persuaded by the things around them and that is why it’s written about young girls and not boys. The Modern day image on women in society, I feel is very bi polar or polar opposites. On one end you have the "dumb blonde" like, unintelligent, damsel in distress, cannot do anything on her own, sex appeal females etc. On the other end you have the hard working, attractive businesslike, intelligent, etc. Girl's self-esteem is affected by media but it necessarily is not always lower a girl's self-esteem. If they see the dumb blonde" instead professional woman their self-esteem might be lower because they are not like that but on the other hand, if they see the professional smart woman it might boost their self-esteem to be themselves and that looks are not everything.
ReplyDeleteAs everyone else has stated, this article uses name dropping to reinforce its argument by talking about Miley Cyrus, Vanessa Hudgens, and Geena Davis. I don't believe the author was trying to emphasize the argument by name dropping. Rather, I believe the author was simply trying to reinforce her argument by giving her audience a pop-culture reference. (More specifically, giving parents a pop-culture reference.) I believe the author of this article is focusing on self-esteem in young girls, (and not boys) because as Americans we are taught that our daughters need to be protected. (More so than our sons) Many people believe that young girls who have this negative self-image will grow up to be strippers, porn stars, or hookers. While this may be a common belief, I don't believe this to necessarily be true. However I think the author of this article believes that, and is trying to emphasize the necessity of a good self-image for young girls to the parents of today. The modern image of a woman does not necessarily bring down young girls self-esteem. There are many examples on television today, which reinforce an idea of a strong well-rounded woman. So to say this modern image of a woman is bringing down young girls self-esteem is to grossly overstate the issue. If you believe everything that the media is trying to portray, this article directly supports the video as evidence. This article seems like it could have been written specifically for this video, and the current campaign that Dove soap has going on.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that the author thinks that girls who have negative self-image will become strippers. I think she was trying to say that girls should not have to worry about being physically attractive in order to be well-rounded. Men are not held to the same standard. Men can be considered well-rounded and unattractive at the same time. So I think the author was just trying to say that women are held to a much different standard than men when it comes to physical appearance.
DeleteThis article is definitely targeting parents and the older generation in general. The article is on aol in the section of healthy living, which is not an area children typically wander into. The author is using scare tactics, such as the fear of their daughter turning into Miley Cyrus or Vannessa Hudgens. Both are young women in their late teens and both of their target audience tend to be young children and teenagers. Not only that they have both been involved in scandals that have inflicted permanent damage to their public image. Then she uses Geena Davis who is an actress that appeals to the older audience. They use Geena Davis as a contrast to Miley Cyrus and Vannessa Hudgens. Geena Davis represents the older generation and what being good looking meant in old generation, while Miley Cyrus and Vannessa Hudgens represent how the definition of good looking has evolved in our generation. It is also using this to show the rapid growth of eating disorders in little girls and teenagers and how that is result of media today.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone that this article is using scare tactics to bring in parents and teachers and guardians of young girls. They are using the stigma that young women like Miley Cyrus and Vanessa Hudgens have to get parents very concerned about this issue. This article does not focus on boys because generally in the media the self esteem of boys is not a discussed issue. It is stereotyped that young girls are fragile and are in need of protection, but that is never an issue addressed in regards to boys. The modern image of women is demeaning to girls because it is fake. The women that young girls have to look up to are not real, they all seem to be on crash diets or drugs or at the very least photoshopped in their pictures. It's no wonder why everyone is worried about young girls having poor self image, because truly there seems so to be no positive role models for girls to emulate anymore.
ReplyDeleteThe author uses name dropping of stars such as Miley Cyrus and Vanessa Hudgens to show that girls their age have obtained unrealistic beauty that most people won't. These are people that other people of younger age can relate to since they are people young girls look up to for the most part. The author is appealing to girls that want to obtain what they deem "beautiful". The author is very informative and uses techniques such as scare tactics like how eating disorders can harm people's health. The author does get her point across quite effectively. Girls are known to care about their appearance quite a bit more than boys. There has not been an epidemic of young boys starving themselves to look skinny, however it has happened to girls. The modern image of a beautiful woman can bring down a girl's self esteem quite easily. The people used in commercials and ads are getting paid thousands of dollars to do so and that's what girls don't realize. There are very few people who will get as beautiful (aesthetically) as the girls in ads, however girls try and reach that point. This can lead to frustration and the lowering of a girl's self-esteem very quickly. Both this article and the video are closely related. The video showed unhealthy techniques used to reduce weight. This article goes into more detail by telling what these techniques do to girls' minds.
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