Answer A Question

Tatiana Pacheco-John

English 1100

Professor Dilbeck

Women all over are concerned about the way they look. There is no doubt that woman would do anything to be prettier or skinnier. This doubt in how we appear to other people is caused by many things but looking deep into it, there are magazines, movies, television, and advertisements that could be the cause to women’s diminishing body image. The media has views on the way a woman should look, act, and live. Although it may all seem to be a little problem, the media has affected many women to where they must live in a world of constant comparison.

Body image is a complicated aspect of the self-concept that concerns an individual’s perceptions and feelings about their body and physical appearance (Cash and Pruzinsky, 2002). In the past one hundred years the image of women has changed tremendously. Women were once considered beautiful if they had a curvier body. In many recent studies women have reported to have loss self-esteem and self-worth when looking at magazines and seeing the many articles that recommend others on how to save money on healthy foods, or get the best body by summer. The media is continuously programming women that they must be a size two, tall, blonde, blue eyed, and Caucasian. The little things we do not notice in these models are that they are usually underweight, suffering from disorders, and have been demoralized for the chance in the spotlight. Yet women who look at these magazines idolize the women that are portrayed to them and see them as “perfect”.  In all actuality though, only a very small percentage of women in Western countries meet the criteria the media uses to “define beautiful” (Dittmar and Howard, 2004; Thompson and Stice, 2001). Society is still unsure on how these images actually affect women’s satisfaction with their physical appearance.

                The media has created an image in which we must obtain and if we do not obtain it, it will be impossible to feel like you’re fitting in. It is proven that women are constantly comparing themselves to their peers in order to make the judgment if they are better or worse. The mass media has created this image that women always seem to fall short of. The media has a way of persuading women to buy their product in order for them to meet the ideal standard that they are supposed to meet.  Women who believe they are going to achieve beauty buy the product and end up with disappointment due to the fact they don’t look the way they were promised by the silly advertisements. Tiggerman and McGill (2004) found that women participants’ brief exposure to media images of females led to increased levels of body dissatisfaction and weight anxiety (Serdar, 2005)

From the young age of nine, young girls are starting to worry if they are fat or if they are considered beautiful to society. Body image is an important factor in a young girl’s life. Girls in mid-adolescence frequently report being dissatisfied with weight, fearing further weight gain, and being preoccupied with weight loss (Streigal-Moore and Franko, 2002).The obsession with the body at such a young age can cause future dissatisfactions with oneself and can lead to health problems such as  depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. The effects of negative body image can later lead to more serious issues. Numerous studies have verifies that one’s subjective evaluation of their own appearance can have a powerful impact on a person’s development and psychosocial experiences (Butters And Cash, 1987). There is also no doubt that distorted body image can also lead to disordered eating and dieting such as anorexia and bulimia. The estimates of disordered eating are about 10% of American girls ages 15 to 29 could be considered anorexic or bulimic. With the increasing number of females reporting disturbed body image and engaging in dieting behavior, there has been a significant level of concern about the increasing incidence of eating disorders (Serdar, 2005). The successes of diets are little to none. The reason being is that women believe that a pill or powder will work in order to burn the fat away. The media produces millions of diet ads a year and make women believe that we must meet a certain standard and obtain it. The one thing they do not know is that they are creating a world of people who compare themselves to each other every day.

                Body image is the one of the most important thing to a person. Every day we clearly judge people on looks and the way they present themselves but as we can see media has a large influence on our community. We give in to the impact of the way the media wants us to feel. America gives in to the influence and we end up with the media controlling our society but most of all, controlling women. Women are given such large expectations that they eventually give in to the wants of the media. Our appearance and how we feel we look have a large impact on our lives so much that we go through so much trouble to be happy with it.

               

Works Cited

Butters, J. W., and T. F. Cash. Cognitive-Behavorial Treatment of Womens Body Image Dissatisfaction. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 889-97. Print.

Cash, T. F., and T. Pruzinsky. Body Image: A Handbook of Theory, Research, and Clinical Practice. New York: Guilford, n.d. Print.

Dittmar, H., and S. Howard. The Impact of Models Body Size on Advertising Effectiveness and Women's Body-focused Anxiety in Professions That Do and Do Not Emphasize the Cultural Ideal of Thinness. N.p.: n.p., 2004. N. pag. Print.

Franko, D. Body Image Issues among Girls and Women. By R. Striegel-Moore. N.p.: Guilford, n.d. 183-91. Print.

Orbach, Susie. "Losing Bodies." N.p., n.d. Web.

Serdar, Kasey L. "Female Body Image and the Mass Media: Perspectives on How Women Internalize the Ideal Beauty Standard." N.p., n.d. Web.

Thompson, J. K., and E. Stice. Thin Ideal Internalization: Mounting Evidence for a New Risk Factor for Body Image Disturbance and Eating Pathology. N.p.: n.p., 2001. Print.

Analysis

. Maya Angelou is a well-known poet and author who often writes about struggles in the black community and beauty in the faces of African Americans.  In Maya Angelou’s poem, Still I Rise, she introduces us into her world as a confident, independent, & Strong woman. In the poem, she writes about her constant encounters with racism, hateful comments, and sexism. Throughout the poem Maya teaches us to keep our heads up, and keep on overcoming your struggles.

A lot of Maya Angelou’s poems, she speaks of self-assurance, African American ancestry, and striving on. She lived among the time in which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was alive. She was inspired by his speech and his fight for African American rights. Maya soon began her first well known autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The book soon published in nineteen sixty nine. Angelou wrote many more good books talking about controversies over race, sexual abuse and violence. Maya also published her first poet books in nineteen sixty nine which often spoke of black beauty, love, and her admiration of the human spirit.

            In the beginning of Maya’s poem, she is constantly questioning herself about the criticism she is receiving from other people but as the poem continues, she reflects on the ways she overcomes these things. Then in the final part of the poem she uses a lot of imagery to describe the way she overcomes the struggles of life. She also describes herself in many ways such as the dream and the hope of her African American ancestors. In Still I Rise, Maya Angelou displays her confidence throughout the poem. She is constantly questioning others by asking questions like: Does my sexiness upset you or does my sassiness upset you? Given the confidence remarks she speaks of her that were once broken down and used as slaves to individuals. She uses these as ways of showing that despite how this breaks her heart she still overcomes her feelings. Still I Rise repeatedly uses the words “I Rise” as a way of saying she can do anything despite the hateful world that she has to face up against

            Maya Angelou’s poem, Phenomenal Woman, talked of her problem with sexism. She had constant reminders that she had to deal with this. In Still I Rise she shows this as well. In one stanza she writes “Does my sexiness upset you / Does it come as a surprise/ That I dance like I’ve got diamonds/ At the meetings of my things.” She speaks of the way someone is surprised of her standing up for herself. In her time, not a lot of women were able to do a lot of things like that back then and yet she faced sexism with pride and grace.

The main symbol in this poem is the dust and the way it rises with wind pushing it along. It also shows that wind also does some damage causing the dust to become unsettled and causing immaculate amount of dust floating around. The dust must form this dust cloud to float and rise above her struggle. It can be an example of Angelou’s way of overcoming her oppressors in life and defeating them.

            I chose Still I Rise because I loved the way Maya talked about her struggles without saying she was actually having a bad time. She also talks about her views on slavery. She talks about she sees her African American heritage as a way of showing how she should overcome her trouble. The other things I like about the poem were that it was written by a woman and just how strong she is. I liked the way she shows just how much happiness you can get from just not caring what other people think. As in her other poem, Phenomenal Woman, she also displays this self-assurance for herself and it was always truly inspirational to read just as was Still I Rise. Although the things about Still I Rise I could truly connect to were the way she brought in her ancestors struggles into a way of helping her describe her overcoming. I could connect because as an American Indian my ancestors struggled with Americans and even in today’s society we still have struggles. In other ways I could connect were also because I received remarks of racism from other people. This caused problems for me as a kid. I was ashamed of who I was and of my heritage. It was complicating being a “minority”. Maya helped me realized that I must be proud of myself.

            Angelou taught me many things from just one poem. She taught me about confidence in oneself and in your culture. The way Angelou presented herself in the poem and showed her pride gave me the insight on what a strong woman is. Poems were not one of my favorite things to read but Angelou’s poems have always caught my attention and brought more ways of thinking about imagery and figurative language. Angelou has been one of my favorite artists for years and can always relate to her which has made it better for me to understand. Still I Rise has definitely been one of my favorite poems. 

Response

            

             Beauty is everywhere. There is no doubt about that. We define beauty in many different ways in America be it from the size of our bodies, how tall we are, to the clothes on our backs. In CNN’s article, “What is Beauty and who has it?” states that beauty is in fact changing in American society.  They want to see more diversity. Diversity has a broad meaning. In my sense, it means the uniqueness of one person from their culture to even body modifications

            In the article, beauty is defined as the physical attributes of a person but as the article goes on it questions the standards of beauty in America like the way women choose to change who they are to make society think they are beautiful or even try to make them see themselves as beautiful. American women everywhere are starving themselves, applying tons of makeup, and even the extremity of plastic surgery. Women know the risks of what these things can do to you, yet they still push through to get to where they want to be and that is to meet the standards of beauty.

            As a young girl I never seemed to understand what the definition of beauty was but then as I grew older I started to think there was only one way to be beautiful and that was to be white, blond, blue eyed, and skinny. The reason I believed this was because that was all I saw on television, commercials, and advertisements. In more recent years I have noticed a difference in what people are seeing to be beautiful. A couple of weeks ago we had the Miss America competition and guess who won, a woman of Indian descent. America was appalled by this choice. And why? I have no clue. She matched what the judges wanted for Miss America. She was talented, beautiful, and had a kind way about herself.  She was the ideal candidate for diversity.

             Although, Culture is not what is seen as beauty often-in America but why not? We are such a huge country there is so many different cultures in America. Beauty is seen in the Native Americans, Mexicans, and African cultures. In the natives we see many different languages that haven’t even been written down. We see hand made pottery and the different style of clothes that they wear. In the native culture, they don’t think about the physical attributes of a person but the way people hold themselves is what makes them beautiful.  Mexicans have their own type of beauty. From the way that there language rolls off their tongues, to the food they cook, and to the way they are strongly connected to their families. It means more to them than anything. They are always together and to me that’s beauty.  Culture may not be beautiful for everyone else but this is what made America. Culture is beauty.

            Body modifications can mean many different things like tattoos, piercings, stretching, and branding. Many people do not see how in any way possible that this form of modifying of the body is beautiful. In today’s generation, many people are also taking a liking to this change. Americans in the early 1900’s did not understand the concept of body modifying so they thought it was weird or abnormal. They often called people who did so “freaks” which was normal for their time. However, in many other tribes throughout history, modifications were used to signify a person’s tribe or their importance within the tribe.

            In more recent years, people have been getting tattoos of different images that represent themselves.  Tattoos give the satisfaction of being an individual in today’s world. I myself have received many tattoos in which I consider a big part of who I am, considering that all of my tattoos represent my Navajo heritage. The idea behind my tattoos came from me missing home. As a young child, my parents divorced and not too soon afterward, my mom remarried again to a military man who took my family and I out of the reservation when I was five. I would not return to the Navajo reservation until I became eleven years old.  Then, I lived on the Navajo reservation until I was fourteen. It wasn’t until then I started to realize the significance of my heritage. Although the ideas of my Navajo related tattoos did not come to mind until I was seventeen the thought of tattoos were always beautiful to me. The beauty behind this permanent form of art on oneself deemed to be the most unique of all.

            My definition of diversity is the acceptance of all races, cultures, and perspectives. I never really knew how many different things in society could bring beauty to one person.  Everyone is different and in today’s society we are learning to accept that different is good. If I could recall every time someone has made good comments on my tattoos or even my many piercings, I would say that it has been nice to notice this change in people. I would never want to change the beauty in anyone else’s culture or what they do to their bodies as far as modifying it. America has definitely given the chance for the option of change in many different aspects and this is one I truly admire. This is how it always should be, accepting the beauty of being different. We may not fit into America’s standard of being beautiful but we will always be ourselves, no matter what anyone says.

Narrative

              There I was, my 13^th birthday and everyone was bored. I had no idea what to do with my friends who came to my party.  We had been watching TV for the past hour and it was starting to become a bore. It was 9 o’clock in the evening and we were not ready to go to bed. The sad part was we didn’t know what to do. We all lived in a small dusty town on the Navajo reservation. Trust me there was not a whole lot to do here; kids had to entertain themselves. Everything that we wanted to do was 40 miles out of the way and there was no way mom was going to take us anywhere at nine in the evening.

            My friends and I had a long day at the mall and the movies, all we wanted to do was have fun for the rest of the night. I suggested going outside to maybe talk and hang out instead of being stuck inside. Just as we started to walk towards the door I whispered to my friends about the two-way aka a walkie-talkie. As thirteen year olds, we were forbidden to have them because of the dangers that it could bring. Obviously we did not care. We grabbed the device and headed outside. We turned it on and right away we could hear people from all over Shiprock were talking. Soon, we found one person to talk to. He hadn’t said anything to alarm us but as soon as I started to feel the coast was clear, he started asking me where I was. I didn’t say where I was exactly. I told him I was near City Market, the town’s only grocery store. He then said he was around that area. We freaked out. I turned off the two-way. We sat there for a little bit, terrified. About twenty minutes had passed and we are still outside talking and having a fun time. That is when we notice a dark figure entering into our yard. I panicked, I told everyone to get inside my moms truck but my stubborn younger brother, Xavier, stayed outside. The man approached my brother and they shook hands. They started talking but as I was starting to think he was about to leave, he came to my moms white jeep. He knocked on the driver’s side window. I looked at my brother and he shrugged. I then knew that Xavier did not know who this man was. Frightened, I opened the window slightly.

            “Can you open the door?” He said a little bit annoyed.

            “Why?” I asked cautiously. I remember the anger in his eyes as he glared at me with hatred. I had no idea who this person was, where he came from, and what his intentions were.

            “Are you guys from around here?” He asked.

            “No. We are from Arizona.” I lied. “This is my grandma’s house.” I continued to tell him.

            In a sudden outburst he exploded with anger, “ We don’t fucking like outsiders… You should get the fuck out of here outsider.” I looked around at my friends who trembled with fear. They had tears running down their cheeks. This was a mistake.

            I screamed,” We are only 13 year old girls. You should not be cussing at us!”

            “ I CAN DO WHATEVER THE FUCK I WANT!” He yelled. I cried for my brother to go get my grandma,

“Please let me go inside.” I pleaded the man. I couldn’t handle it no more so I screamed to Xavier to get grandma another time.

            “You can yell all you want but no one is going to help.” He replied sternly.

            I opened the jeep door and then as if I were his own private punching bag I felt the full force of a man’s strength hit upon my face four times. The pain quickly maximized but to save myself I had to push him away and I did with extreme force and I ran towards the door of trailer to save my life. Not everyone was safe though; he stared chasing my friends around the back of the house. I was mortified. I ran to the back of the house and let my friends in. I locked the door. A few seconds later, he was there trying to get in. He yelled. Then it was quiet.

            We saw him running away. By that time my grandma was finally awake. I told her what had happened. I cried for her to call the cops. She didn’t. She called my mom instead and she came home from a party, angry. I had ruined her whole night she told me. When my friends and I had gone to my room. We were so scared that we stayed up all night, waiting. I waited to see if he would ever come back.

            That was the worst part knowing that there is a man out there who would do that. The best part is he never returned. That was a sigh of relief.                               

Hello

Welcome to my blog. This will be used for English class in college. I am excited to see what the class has to bring. I am currently studying for my Associates of Science degree to transfer to a bigger university and study for exercise science. I want to go into physical therapy or sports medicine. I want to also major in nutrition possibly. But alas, we will see what happens!