Women through Society's eyes

            For a long time, the female species has been exposed to a lot touching on beauty. The expectations, which have been outlined by society and that, have to be met by the woman, in as far as, beauty is concerned are also quite overwhelming. For example, a woman can be judged as beautiful based on her body size, the makeup she puts on or even by the clothes she wears. The recent past has also seen a substantial amount of advertisements coming up, solely created for the purpose of portraying the ideal woman through society's lens. In most cases, these ads look at an attractive woman as one who is not full-bodied and wears makeup in a certain way. It has, in turn, put so much pressure on the full-bodied woman, who strives to shed off some weight, on a regular basis, to meet society's expectations of beauty. Several years ago, Dustin Hoffman, a world renowned actor made a comic movie, popularly known as 'Tootsie.' This film revolves around a man who had to dress up like a woman, so as to have his dreams come true in the entertainment industry. In a recent interview relating to the movie, Hoffman broke down while trying to explain the difficulties faced by women, touching on beauty.  According to Hoffman, modern day culture, has found a hobby in passing ridicule to those women who fail the beauty test.

            Hoffman is not the only person who addresses the pressure that women have to face with regards to how they look. The documentary 'Killing us Softly 4,' has used advertisements as its primary focus, when addressing this issue. This documentary touches on the issue of Photoshop, and how advertisers go to extra lengths to achieve the perfection of beauty by photoshopping images.  A related topic has been addressed in the documentary 'The Body Politics,' by Chernik, where she not only touches on advertisers and the pressure they are piling on women but also on matters about the body myth. According to Chernik, there are certain standards, which have been set by society, most especially advertisers, with regards to how a woman should look. She mentions the 'Seventeen magazine,' as well as, 'Cosmopolitan,' as some of the two magazines that seem to be rather contradictory when addressing issues that have to do with beauty.

 In 'Breaking the Model,' Rodriguez clearly states that the portrayal of the ideal woman by the media is false and, unfortunately, this portrayal has had significant impacts on women of all races and shapes.  It is true that what is being portrayed by the media, about the ideal woman is somewhat risky. It is so since a lot of women now are suffering from low self-esteem issues. 

            In conclusion, everything that has been portrayed in all the documentaries mentioned in this paper is true, and based on solid facts. In response to society's expectations, several women have resorted to risky ways of transforming themselves. For instance, an unusual amount of full-bodied women results to unhealthy ways of shedding off weight. Many the models that are employed by these women to cut-off the few extra pounds come with side effects that are rather adverse. Firstly, most of the diet pills that have been availed in the markets today have so many negative impacts on women.  Therefore, in their quest of losing weight, a lot of women end up contracting other ailments that they will also have to deal with, sooner or even later. Lastly, feeling comfortable in one's skin is about embracing oneself no matter the shape, size or what society thinks.