Claire Cavanaugh
The Altered Ideal:
Body Image and Objectification in
Digital Media
Since the
birth of 21st century digital media, we, as consumers, have
been presented with a wave of new, innovative ways to connect to the world
around us. This allows us to create and share on a universal level; everyone
has access to this creation and sharing. This is a monumental step in the
growth of media; everything we’ve always had, we now have at the tips of our
fingers. But, are these advancements perfect? We’ve forgotten as media have
emerged that we, as users, are still analog, uniquely human, and quite vulnerable to their harmful effects. One of the most prominent examples
of this in today’s society is the way body image has been idealized through ditial media. Digital media presents 21st century US consumers with
the ideas and images of the ideal physique; these images have tainted the way we see
our real bodies and our ability to appreciate them.
Digital media have additionally developed in us an incurable desire to lust
after the unattainable. Why have we succumbed to this? Put simply, digital media are incredibly powerful. While we cannot undo what has already been done, we can
become more aware. Only then do our children and grandchildren have hope for a
healthy view of their bodies, their imperfections, and themselves.
“Photoshop It!”
Digital photo alteration is arguably the
platform that our body image is most damaged from. Photoshop, for example,
makes it so that we can completely change the image in front of us. Considering
models in particular, they are no longer being “touched up” in photos, but
rather, they are being entirely changed.
A before and after of a Redbook Magazine cover, 2007, featuring an extensively altered
Faith Hill on the right.
With their photos opened up in an editing program, models are no longer human beings, but simply sets of pixels to be pushed
around. A skinnier arm, minimized back fat, erased freckles, blurred laugh
lines, and a narrower face provide the evidence in the particular above photo.
Why is this a problem? These transformed images are accessible just about
everywhere: magazine covers, album covers, movie posters, billboards, and advertisements
projecting what is wrongly perceived as the truth. Many of us are less aware (or
completely unaware) of the power of editing programs and the true extent of
their ability. Because of this, we are vulnerable to digital deception. When we have
been presented with so many altered images, for so long, through so many
platforms, the idea that these images are not only real, but also the “ideal”
way to look, is engrained in our minds. The biggest problem? This process starts
when we are young.
The Barbie Effect
Projecting images of physical ideals on
young minds is a dangerous path to walk. Barbie dolls are a quintessential part
of the female childhood, whether young girls are playing with the dolls, or perhaps
more importantly, interacting with the characters through online games and
movies. However, the problem is that girls young enough to play with Barbie
dolls have not yet reached puberty. They are then presented with the idea of a
more mature female body, which is fine.
But it just happens to be the wrong idea of a more mature female body. The truth is that the physical
proportions of a Barbie doll are completely impossible in reality. It is wrong
to be presenting an impossible physique as an example to young girls who
haven’t even reached their time of physical development.
Ukrainian model Valeria Lukyanova has undergone
several surgical procedures with the aim of embodying the classic girls’ toy. She
calls herself a “real-life Barbie.”
In addition to her physique, one of Barbie’s trademark
features is the idea of her beauty and unshakeable positivity. Barbie is
pretty. Barbie is happy. Ask any young girl, or possibly anyone at all, and
they will agree with that idea. When it comes down to it, these young girls who
play with Barbie, look at her every day, comb her shiny hair, and dress her
expertly crafted curves, are being sold an idea. This idea is that the
white-skinned, longhaired, doe-eyed, impossibly skinny girl is not only the
prettiest one, but also the happiest. Is this really the idea and the image
that we want idolized by underdeveloped minds and bodies?
Buff, Tough, and Victorious: a Boy’s View
Digital deception is imposed on young male
minds as well. Just as young girls are presented with the ideals of Barbie,
young boys are presented with the ideals of different action figures and
superheroes. They see these characters on TV and in the movies, and interact
with them in online games. Soon enough, this interaction begins to form
foundations early on of the idea that the tall, built man is not only the
strongest, but also the most dominant and successful one. Once again, an underdeveloped
mind and body is being presented with an unattainable ideal: the muscles on
these cartoon or plastic characters are impossible to achieve naturally for a
human being (without steroids or surgical enhancement).
A highly physically unrealistic and sexualized
portrayal of heroes: Marvel’s Avengers action
figures.
An even more important question to ask concerns a young boy’s
resulting view of the opposite gender: if bulk and physical dominance equal
success, how does this make them think of girls? Are these the kind of
characteristics girls will value once they’re older? Is this the kind of man, boys may wonder, that
I’m supposed to grow up to be?
Foundations Sexualized: Adolescent Boys and
Video Games
As a young
boy grows into his teens, video games typically become a large part of his
recreational lifestyle. More importantly, much more mature video games become a part of his recreational lifestyle: in
other words, they are no longer dealing with Mario Kart. Games such as Halo
and Grand Theft Auto portray men
as objects of physical strength, following through with the foundations of this idea
formed at a much younger age with action figures and computer games or movies.
Now, the game's protagonist is typically an attractive, built man, while
the antagonist is typically an unattractive, visibly out-of-shape man. This
time around, the idea has also evolved into a far deeper, more sexualized
concept. Not only is the projected idea that size, strength, and violence equal
dominance, superiority, and success, but a much darker aspect is also involved.
A male character in these video games (GrandTheft Auto in particular) is fully permitted and expected to use his size,
strength, and dominance violently over a woman: a character (or, better put, an
object) of much lower status in these types of video games.
The male and female portrayals of the vastly popular Grand Theft Auto.
A Pretty Punching Bag: Women in Video Games
What may be worse than the way a teenage boy
is presented with the ideas of men, size, and strength, is the way he is
presented with the ideas of women, inferiority, and sexuality. Mature video
games, Grand Theft Auto in
particular, portray a female character as a “prize” or “accessory” of the male
character. Images projected in childhood are carried over into images presented
in adolescence, but are taken to the next level and intensely sexualized. Women
that do appear in video games are objects to beat up, have sex with, or steal
from. They are lower than inferior: they aren’t treated as fellow human beings.
Not only that, but a woman in a video game is highly sexualized visually. For
example, video games rarely have a
female protagonist, but when they do, she is barely portrayed as a figure of
power, but as an object of sexual fantasy: LaraCroft: Tomb Raider comes to mind.
The full-frontal image of Lara herself, nothing more
than an object to sell to a hormonal young mind.
Large breasts, tight, revealing clothing, and a whole lot of
grunting: what more could a teenage boy ask for in a video game? What does this
projection of a figure of power say to teenage boys about powerful women? What
idea does this project to a girl that might play this predominantly “boy game”,
or see a boy play it? Is this the physique that men lust after in a woman? Who
is a powerful woman without an impressive physique?
#AerieREAL: Approaching From the Wrong Side
of Empowerment
Aerie, a lingerie company branched off
of American Eagle has recently
launched a female body image campaign through Instagram, their advertisements,
website, and catalogues. Aerie has
taken a vow to stop retouching their models and to stop using “supermodels” through #AerieREAL. Projecting inspirational quotes several times a week through Instagram (to
those who follow Aerie), they aim to
empower the idea of natural beauty. Their tagline? “The real you is sexy.” However,
the idea of natural beauty that they present in their images can hardly be
recognized as “natural”.
The original advertisement.
The idea that this girl hasn’t been retouched is believable.
However, how are we defining “supermodel” in this context? Hana Mayeda, the
girl featured in the above photo, is a model. In fact, she is “currently
starring in Gap Fit, H & M Sport, and Aerie” (Madden). This brings a level
of vague uncertainty to Aerie’s “no
supermodel” claim. Not only this, but even digitally untouched, Mayeda’s skin
is nearly flawless. Her teeth are straight and white. And even though the camera presents her in a sexualized position (a recurring theme
throughout the campaign), it is still clear that she is also quite skinny. So
how much is really being revealed
about retouching in this campaign?
A retouched version hardly distinguishable from the
original.
All this considered, the entire campaign seems as if it’s no
more than a petty attempt for increased publicity and profit. After projecting
the lingerie model ideal to young girls for several years, they are now
attempting to reverse that.
Overall, Aerie
has launched the image of an “empowered” woman: a half-naked, skinny,
clear-skinned, straight-teethed, “empowered” woman. Once again, our image of
the woman in power is being presented in a skewed, sexualized context. When
does the sexualized representation end and the power for young women begin?
What Is “Real Beauty”?
Beginning in September of 2004, Dove began releasing advertisements
featuring several different women “whose appearances are outside the
stereotypical norms of beauty” (Dove), then asking the audience questions:
flawed or flawless? Wrinkled or wonderful? Flat or flattering? This launched
their “Real Beauty” campaign with hopes to “provoke discussion and encourage
debate” (Dove). Dove later released a YouTube video titled
“Dove Evolution” that revealed the hair, makeup, lighting, photography, and
editing process of a billboard advertisement in which the woman looked nothing
like her original self. More recently, Dove has released a series of videos with
the theme of a sketch artist, drawing different women based first on how they
described themselves, then on how others described them. The moral? Women will
describe themselves as far less attractive than others will describe them.
Overall, this campaign not only exposes
the truth, but by doing so, also truly empowers women with messages of deep
substance.
While the photo is slightly retouched, the true
reality of the female body comes through. These women look happy- most
importantly, they look happy with themselves.
What To Do?
Amongst
all the sexualizing, objectifying, and altering, we need far more messages like
Dove’s. Additionally, it’s important that we remind ourselves of these messages every day. Aside from everything
projected to us and perceived ideals that have been pushed on us, there is a
degree to which we torture ourselves and worsen the issue. We may choose to
follow Instagram accounts that post nothing but half-naked women or buff,
shirtless men. We may choose to visit the swim section of Victoria’s Secret’s website, drooling over the models and hating
ourselves.
Anybody with an Instagram account has access to
several accounts just like this. (photo from Instagram)
The bottom line is- why
do we do this to ourselves after we’ve had more than enough torture from
digital media alone? Why do we take it to the next level on our own? It
certainly isn’t to inspire ourselves. We may try to use that excuse, but it’s
more than likely not the truth. In reality, digital media have evolved the
human species to want what they cannot have: in their bodies, in their
sexuality, and in themselves. Because of this, we've had little to no opportunity to see the truth. As Marie Wilson of The White House Project once said, "You can't be what you can't see" (Siebel).
We only help the issue when we grow confidence amongst all the lies and digital deception: most of what we see isn't real. Our insecurities and
vulnerabilities have been addressed and amplified through digital media. If, early on, we had the chance to step back and realize this,
reminding ourselves of what was actually real, attainable, acceptable, and
desired, maybe these issues wouldn’t have taken affect. But we didn’t have the
chance. A terrifyingly inevitable process has taken our body image into its own
hands. We cannot reverse it, but we can educate ourselves and become more aware
of how we’re being manipulated. Then, and only then, can we attempt to fully
appreciate what we have by understanding who we are.
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