For many years, women throughout the world have sought to challenge and dismantle the status quo. Popularly, supporters of women rights have variously been referred to as feminists, a term that is mostly misinterpreted to mean overly aggressive women. Far from that, the United States is a profound example of a country that has witnessed vibrant women rights movements. Women in the United States struggled for nearly a century to attain enfranchisement, to be incorporated in public life, to be accepted as citizens, and most prominently, to enjoy the same rights as men (Zahradníková, 2010). Before women were allowed to vote, they were treated as second class citizens, acting as men’s companions and servants. Besides, they were not permitted to express their opinions in public or to acquire property, although they were granted these rights by the United States Bill of Rights. However, prominent women incessantly struggled for the emancipation of women. To a larger extent, their efforts bore some fruits; women were allowed to vote, and though reluctantly, many employers absorbed them in their workforce. Additionally, the education system became more balanced as women began to enroll in courses that were traditionally perceived to be men’s. Women could take up STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) subjects and hope for better prospects. However, although women rights movements might have succeeded in agitating for equality, women are still profiled sexually, racially or on the basis of class through the propagation of the beauty myth.
The objective of the suffrage movement seems to have been ephemeral. Judging by the present depiction of women in mass and social media, it can be argued that women have become complacent with how they are portrayed in these media. The right to vote was undoubtedly a significant achievement in the United States, but most likely, women movement leaders relaxed after this breakthrough. Arguably, the movements were only interested in the political and economic fields, and ignored some of the seemingly benign but very crucial aspects (Zahradníková, 2010). Nevertheless, women rights movements have never entirely stopped. It is only their focus which appears to be narrow. Modern day feminists still agitate for equality at places of work, and to be involved in politics but have ignored the question of race, sexuality, and class; aspects which are being used presently consciously or unconsciously, to propagate traditional stereotypes against women.
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In regard to class, women are continuously being categorized into those with ideal bodies and those without. Wolf (2013), in her book The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are used against Women complains that women have been made to strain to attain an ideal body as portrayed by the media. According to Wolf, eating disorders among women have risen considerably and cosmetic surgery, as a medical specialty has grown exponentially. Besides, pornography has become the most prominent media category and consumer spending has doubled. It is also not a surprise that most American women prefer losing weight to achieving any other goal. The most affected women are powerful women who frequent gyms and other fitness centers to acquire an ideal body. Mass media has a knack for stalking prominent women’s lives and commodifying their beauty. In the 2016 United States election, the media seemed obsessed with Michele Obama’s and Hillary Clinton’s personal lives. They would strive to show the public the daily routines of the two prominent women, among them, the food they ate, and the exercises they did to keep their bodies in ‘shape’. Therefore, anyone who desired to rise to the ranks of the two women needed to keep their body in ‘shape’ or else forget about rising to such a class. Even after Donald Trump won the election, numerous media stations focused their attention to his wife, Melania Trump. The media stations depict her slender figure as an ideal body that all women need to adore and try to achieve.
Most media tend to suggest that for women to associate with powerful men, they need to have a body that is acceptable. Quite popularly, the acceptable body as portrayed by the media is slim, devoid of any blemish. On the same note, fashion designers have picked up this myth to use slim women as models to advertise their clothes. It is common to see slim women assume different postures in fashion magazines to promote fashion trends. According to this narrative, slim women are trendy and have a class. Consequently, fashion designers concentrate on making clothes for slim women, leaving plus sized ladies to be contented with baggy and ‘unfashionable’ clothes (Dionne, 2017). The advertising industry too, uses slim ladies to promote its content. These ladies with slim figures are often portrayed in posh places enjoying a high end life. On the contrary, the media portrays obese women experiencing all types of problems. Firstly, the media is fond of highlighting obese women as having numerous medical conditions as well as having difficulties paying for their treatment. Secondly, plus-sized women are depicted in disorganized neighborhoods, doing menial jobs, and obviously looking frustrated. The message these images send to many women is that a plus-size body is a disadvantage to their economic wellbeing. If they have such a body, they are unlikely to find better jobs, will most definitely end up being poor, live a bad life and experience frustrations.
There has never been any other time when the issue of sexuality among women has gained prominence in the media as it is currently. To state it succinctly, women have been turned into sexual objects and they seem not to mind. In the past, when women are said to have been discriminated against, there appearance did not matter so much (Wolf, 2013). They were expected to stay at home, take care of the children and complement their husbands. At least then, they were perceived equally as home makers. However, presently, women are seen as different with regards to whether they appeal sexually or not. Nudity is now glorified and even commodified. Fashion and beauty magazines incise on their covers images of women who are considered to be sexually appealing. Coincidentally, most of these magazines adore the slim figure. There are even standards that are imposed on women that should be met before they are considered for the covers. There seems to be an unspoken consensus that fat women are not sexually appealing and the women rights movement is not very keen on this subject. Instead of women being united in pushing for a common agenda, there is division among themselves. Many want to attain a slim body to gain advantage over the plus sized women.
Some women are attempting to change the narrative about body size and sexuality. Dionne (2017) criticizes that the radical women movement lost its way and the existing feminist groups could as well be headed to oblivion. According to Dionne, body positivity is very crucial in achieving equality and unifying women towards a common agenda. It is not prudent for some women to feel lesser than others, especially when striving to attain a common goal. Consequently, some women have begun to accept their bodies and have abandoned trying to appear like models imposed on them. Plus sized women are now being featured on some prominent magazines such as Vogue UK, and American Vogue. In the first place, women are featured on magazines to promote various brands and products. Besides, some magazines go to the extent of exposing nude images of women to their target market. Arguably, women are still being used as sexual objects but are surprisingly competing among themselves to be part of the sexual objects.
Dionne (2017) presents an interesting scenario that underpins the assertion that the beauty myth is undermining the emancipation of women. Robbie Trip, an activist and author, wrote a letter to, as he described her, his ‘curvy wife’ and posted it on Instagram. He even attached the caption “I love this woman and her curvy body”. The photo depicted the couple embracing on a beach. What followed was a social media sensation. Over 40, 000 people liked the photo, and arguably, most of the people reacted to the post only sarcastically. According to Dionne the E! News reacted to the post with a headline that read, “Husband’s letter to his curvy wife is going viral for the most beautiful reason”. The ‘most beautiful’ reason was that Trip’s wife was plus-sized but she could afford some love. Secondly, Trip’s use of the word ‘curvy’ must have caused a stir. Most people in the United States do not think plus-sized ladies are curvy or even sexually appealing. All this prejudice is as a result of the media stigma against fat women. In fact E! News reaction to Trip’s post was sarcastic and helped reinforce the prevailing stereotypes against fat women. It is also likely that the media definition of sexuality makes many plus-sized couples to avoid posting anything on the internet about their marriage and social life. Trip’s post reinforced this fact.
In modern times, light skinned women seem to be the definition of beauty. A woman with a fair complexion has higher chances of being a television news anchor than one with a dark skin. Evidently, such prejudice raises concerns about racial discrimination against women and raises questions over the efficacy of the women rights movements. Simply, the black skin is deemed not good enough to attract viewership from the targeted audience (Punyanunt-Carter, 2008). Almost all music videos have white female models to boost their views. The construction of narratives that black women are not appealing makes people to think white women are the ideal models. One might think that white skin is only adored in the west. Rather, African countries also adore white women, despite majority of African being black. In almost all television stations, female news anchors have a fair complexion. It is almost rare to see female news anchors with natural African hair.
Apuke (2018) outlines some of the lengths and pains some black women have gone through to try and compete with the seemingly superior white women. Apuke posits that since whiteness of the skin is considered a crucial aspect in constructing female beauty around the world, women in sub-Saharan Africa are bleaching their skin. African women want to look attractive and beautiful. While cosmetic surgery seeks to ‘correct’ some parts of the body, bleaching intends to fix the whole body. Skin toning has become very popular among African women. Beauty creams are advertised both on social and mass media, and the advertisements have affected female psychological preference for creams. Initially, the practice of bleaching was done by adult women but a shift is occurring presently, where female adolescents are toning their skin. Additionally, Apuke observes that there is high skin bleaching among black women in urban centers than in rural areas. Arguably, it is because women in urban centers are more exposed to the media than their rural counterparts. Secondly, the pressure in the urban centers is sometimes too strong to resist, and many women may find themselves conforming to the practices of their colleagues.
Although black men are discriminated against because of their race, black women experience more prejudice. In music videos and in movies, black men do not have to struggle to change the color of their skin to feature in them. Nobody is concerned about the looks of black men in movies. There are many male black news anchors in prominent television stations in the world who do not have to bleach their skin to appear on screen. However, for black women, it is very difficult to make it into the entertainment industry without being concerned about their looks. Most of them will have to bleach their skin or apply creams to have a fair complexion to succeed in the industry (Punyanunt-Carter, 2008). Additionally, many of them buy artificial hair to look like white women to enhance their appearance. Therefore, black women are less likely to excel in the entertainment industry compared to white women.
In summary, various women’s rights movements around the world continue to agitate for equality between men and women, but still have a lot of work to do. It seems most women have a low self-esteem about themselves. They have allowed the media to propagate the beauty myth to cause divisions among them. Instead of all women, regardless of their body sizes and shapes getting access to equal opportunities, only few women, who meet the standards of the ideal body get the opportunities. Consequently, men women missed out on these opportunities because they do not meet the standards. It is time women saw the bigger picture of the media images and messages about women. Women should not be discriminated against on the basis of their race, class or sexuality. If the feminists do not deal with such negative media messages and beauty myth, a lot of women will still be excluded from opportunities.
References
Apuke, O. D. (2018). Why do women bleach? Understanding the Rationale behind Skin Bleaching and the Influence of Media in Promoting Skin Bleaching: A Narrative Review. Global Media Journal , 16 (30), 1-4.
Dionne, E. (2017). The Fragility of Body Positivity: How a Radical Movement Lost Its Way . Bitch Media . Retrieved 10 January 2019, from https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/fragility-body-positivity
Punyanunt-Carter, N. M. (2008). The perceived realism of African American portrayals on television. The Howard Journal of Communications , 19 (3), 241-257.
Wolf, N. (2013). The beauty myth: How images of beauty are used against women . Random House.
Zahradníková, E. (2010). The Women's Suffrage Movement in the United States, 1821-1921.
