Summary 4

Summary:

In the book “ Body image: Understanding body dissatisfaction in men, women and children” (New York:1999) by Sarah Grogan, she states that media has great impact on women image. Grogan claims that media promoting a particular shape and size of women’s bodies has caused pressure to women. The author also states that media presents male and female body quite differently. It trend to be portray men as standard weight , women trend to be portrayed as underweight as the author claimed. Grogan concerns media has been expressed over the representation of unrealistic images of female beauty. The author tells reader an example that people complained about Omega’s manger used a model who was so thin as to appear anorexic in it advertisement in Vogue magazine. The author suggests that images on magazines have powerful effects on their reader and supplying definitions of what it means to be a woman. The author also believes that eating disorders may result from observing slender models in magazines. Furthermore, women received social pressure of how they should look like primly by media followed by peers and family. Finally, the author shows that women nowadays are critical of the narrow range of body shapes presented in the media and they were angry at media especially fashion manipulate the way they feel about their bodies.

Reference:

Grogan ,S. (1999). Body image: Understanding body dissatisfaction in men, women and
children.New York:Routage





Critique:
I think the author well presented how the media affect women’s body image I n this book. I completely agreed with the author that magazine especially fashion advertisement created unrealistic ideal body images and caused pressure to women about what their body shapes should be. Sometimes, I do feel pressure to look like models in the magazine. In my opinion, it is interesting to know that many men reported that they would not exercise or diet tot try to emulate the bodies of slender, muscular actors. In the book, the author states that women were more critical to media than before. I think it is good. The book were written by simple English so it is easy to read . In addition, I think the author should give more real life example to support how media influence women images.

SUMMARY 3

According to Hesse-Biber in her book “Am I thin enough yet?: The cult of Thinness and the Commercialization of Identity” (New York: 1996), she claims that most young American women want to be thin whether they are rich or poor. Biber also tells the reader that many American women are willing to go to extraordinary way to obtain thin bodies. The author states that it is because the cultural message tells woman that a “valued” woman should have a thin body. Furthermore, the author suggests that moral judgment such as slenderness represents moderation, self-control and restraint but fat represents greed, poor impulse control and self-indulgence. Therefore, American woman are obsessed with thinness as Biber claimed. The author shows that sine 1960s, the ideal body type of women has become steadily slimmer and less curvaceous. In addition, Biber points out Miss America contestants have become more and more slender between 1958 and 1988 and the actual Miss America winners are the thinnest of all. The author claims than another reason makes women strive for thinness is American food, weight loss and cosmetic industries would like to boost their profits and created flawless cover girls as icons and make women obtain the unobtainable goal of physical perfection. The author believes that women can reject the culturally dictated ideal body image and she suggests that there are alternatives to the cult of thinness for women.

Reference:
Biber, H. (1996). Am I thin enough yet?: the cult of Thinness and the Commercialization of Identity. New York: Oxford University Press.