#4 Beauty - Is it Really in the Eye of the Beholder?

An image of Selena Gomez on Teen Vogue
(from Google)

1. Why do you think people are portrayed this way in the media?

Humans are attracted to beautiful things. The people portrayed in the media are beautiful, handsome, and good looking-- things that will attract attention from the audience. If we see happy, beautiful people in the advertisement, we assume we will feel happy and be beautiful too if we just buy the products that they are wearing/using/advertising to look like them. If the advertisements featured someone looking like a bum, chances are we will not be interested in the product, because we will associate it to feeling unattractive and no one wants to look like a bum.
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2. How are you affected by the images you see?

Personally, I feel like I am not very affected by the images I see. Although I am constantly bombarded with glamoured girls caked with make-up all around me, I am also constantly reminded that "I am beautiful just the way I am" and that I should "love myself and accept myself" and my flaws because "that's what makes me beautiful" and that "God made me in His image". I do not feel the extreme pressures that others may feel when exposed to such images, but I know people who are.
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3. What can be done to reduce the amount of young men and women that are negatively affected by these images?

To reduce the amount of young men and women that are negatively affected by these images, we could begin to use images that aren't heavily Photoshopped. Or, we could start to send out more messages about feeling comfortable in our own skin and how we are already perfect. Society could put subtle hints of these messages through popular media used by young people, like the internet, music, television and more. I think this method would be a lot more influential and effective than just having people tell young people these messages.
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4. What would your reaction be to a magazine cover where the subject isn’t all glammed up?  Is this a possible route that society should take?  Why or why not?
Obviously a magazine cover where the subject isn't all glammed up would catch my attention because it is different. It is not like the rest of the of magazine covers where the subject IS glammed up. If society were to take this route, sales would drop at first because people are still pretty superficial, but eventually I think that it would have a positive effect on the masses as the idea becomes integrated into our daily lives. Personally I'd rather seen a blown up photo of someones pimples and black heads and pores than a blown up photo of a picture that has obviously been abused by the Spot Heal tool and obviously been edited on Photoshop (example: Selena Gomez on Teen Vogue. I'm pretty sure the original photo looks a whole lot better than the one they chose to publish).