My Gendered Experience
...ttempting to look as white as possible with straight, lighter hair and lighter makeup. In most magazines they are even placed in photographs next to a white model. I feel that this is sending a message to all young African American teens that is better to appear to be white by straightening your hair and dying it a lighter color. Specific magazines such as, Seventeen, YM, and Teen, display each and every woman's body as a package. By saying this I mean the female form must be the standard of beauty: tall, inevitably thin, small busted, tanned, and once again, with absolutely no flaws. This is the package of perfection that magazines use to influence young teens to strive to become. Television also portrays the flawless female in many teen oriented shows such as: soap operas, "Beverly Hills 90210", and "Ally McBeal". In most every show, the women actresses are incredibly skinny and made up with their hair done real nice. In "Ally McBeal," for example, the actress Clarissa Flochart looks to be emaciated. Although she is so skinny that her bones can be seen through her dress, many consider her incredibly beautiful. The same standards are set in many of today's soap operas, with casting of mainly thin, made-up actresses. Many of the women on these shows have even had plastic surgery done to make certain that they are perfectly beautiful. In the series "Beverly Hills 90210," most every actress is portrayed as beautiful, with a lot of make-up and push up bras. Young female teens watch these television programs and then become indirectly possessed by their figure and their overall appearance. Since these actresses are role models to many teens, they become a goal to look or be more like. In my own personal experience, I have discovered the true effects of the standard of beauty that these media sources set forth. Because of the media and their idea of flawless, skinny women, I have seen many of the girls at my high school become extremely obsessed with their appearance and themselves. Some of them become so obsessed to the point of anorexia and bulimia. Anorexia is condition where the person refuses to eat and loses all appetite and bulimia is where the person will perform binge-eating habits and right after induce vomiting. They harm themselves in order to obtain what the television and magazines illustrate as the perfect women. Some of the girls even had to be sent to clinics in order to pull them out of the ditch they dug themselves into. One of these girls was my best friend's sister. I was over his house a lot and had seen what was happening to his sister. I was the first one to notice the change in her appearance and overall attitude. She was a typical teenager at the time; just entering the high school years of her life, easily influence by others. She had blonde hair, pretty eyes, and nice figure. Any guy in high school would have thought that she was gorgeous, but then something happened to her. She began to become extremely thin with her face caving in and her bones protruding from her skin. I would eat dinner at my friend's house often and I noticed some of the signs that she was having problems. Her family never noticed since she always appeared to be content with the food prepared. She would finish her whole plate in a hurry, and then she would ask to be excused from the table. One time when my friend and I finished before she had, we left the table a...