So I began this weeks readings with Abby Friedrich’s essay “All of Your Insecurities Wrapped Up in a Thirty Second Spot” because body image and the media(especially advertising media) ’tickle my fancy’ if you will. I recently did a short presentation on this and have taken various classes that touch on this particular topic.

 ”Looking in that mirror and seeing something quite different than what you saw in that ad makes you stop and think for a second. “Wait. I look nothing like that. So what,” you think, “I’ll give those jeans a try anyway, because maybe, just maybe, I can lose enough weight to look like that. Or maybe the jeans will just create a look.” So you get the jeans and from that day forward you are constantly aware that you don’t look like that model and there is something wrong with your body.”

 After reading this passage at the beginning of the article i’m immediately thrown into a hypocritical discussion with myself. At first I went on the defense (all in my head of-course) that I’m not that girl who looks at the magazine ad and says ‘maybe i’ll look good in that shirt if i can lose a few pounds” and i’m continuing to think that “No.. just because i don’t look the same in those jeans doesn’t mean i’m questioning my own image of beauty” but the more I start to think about this… the more I realize that I am the girl who gets affected by this type of ad, and I am the girl who questions my own image of beauty when I see a perfectly trim body in a pair of expensive jeans I would die for.

I think today and perhaps in the past as well… we all (men included) deal with a push-pull between our own confidence and our own insecurities. We get told for the most part to value our own bodies and to realize that everyone is different and special in regards to their body AND personality. In the same breath, we’re being shown consistent images of beauty and strength that speak to a conformed image -for example, male models are usually all built, toned, good looking, masculine guys, and female models are for the most part tall, slim, beautiful, feminine women. How can we deal with both sides of this coin, we’re getting told to love our bodies but on the other hand we’re being shown what a beautiful or manly body ’should’ look like.

Furthur down in the article the author says ” The reality of this statement is that she had to get this idea somewhere, and that somewhere is the media.” and I don’t necessariy agree with this statement 100%. I’d like to think we have some agency within our own idea of what beauty is, atleast to do with our own body image. I realize that the media ofcourse will have an affect on what is viewed as beautiful, but to say that it CREATES all insecurities is a little far fetched. On some level I think we’re all insecure regardless of whether the media is present or not. We as westerners live in a world full of standards and competition, everything is held up against something else. There’s progression, evolution, etc, that all promote the idea that things can always get a little better… and I think this can relate to body image and insecurities. As westerners there’s always a standard and I don’t think the media is 100% to blame for a standard of beauty.

I wanted to touch on one last thing while I’m talking about body image and the media. A few weeks ago while we were watching the Noam Chomsky video he said “any form of control requires justification” and I thought this was interesting in relation to body image. If we are to accept the idea that the media controls our idea of body image and creates insecurities then I wonder what the justification for this type of control would be?… Is it all in the name of making a quick buck for that hot designer pair of jeans, or is there some other justification, or..  can there really be a justification for a type of control we can’t REALLY define??.