What is "Natural"?

    Trends tend to construct society as it evolves with generations. Many of these trends dictate what a women wants or desires. Although one might not consider make up a trend, it is. Make up itself has had an impact where it has lead women to believe that they look better by applying cosmetics to their skin. In Maria Del Russo's article, "Is No-Makeup Makeup Secretly Throwing Shade?", a different perspective is looked upon in which looking like one has no make up on has become a trend. Looking "fresh" and "natural" is what a women should aim for, the rest of the world and people in it should not be able to notice the make up she is wearing. To look "fresh" and "natural", a women has to wear "concealer, highlighter, eye shadow, and more." - Is it me or is the literal meaning of natural being taken away ? - So much time is taken up in trying to achieve this natural look when in the end, the aim of this look was to like you were not wearing anything, trying hard, or to look like being flawless is effortless. Pointless?

     People are looking at this and understanding it incorrectly. Although women know what they are doing, they are getting the message wrong. The purpose is defeated when by looking "natural", make up has to be worn. The message that women should be able to feel comfortable in their own skin is not being interpreted through this trend. In addition, every women is obviously their own person- who am I to tell them that they are wearing too much make-up or to question why they try so hard? It is not wrong to wear make-up to feel better about yourself, but thats just it. Make-up should not have to make someone feel better about themselves in the first place. Society has placed this type of pressure that every women has to look flawless, which we all know is not possible. Our lack of representation has lead women to reject their own skin, appearance.

Check this out: http://www.refinery29.com/2014/09/74357/no-makeup-or-minimal-makeup

Feminist

Following the recent premier of the 2014 VMAs, I read an article in the New York Times called “Pop’s Newborns Dominate Video Music Awards Ceremony” written by Jon Caramanica, which focused on the women at the VMAs. Caramanica opens the article stating that parents and children seem like foreigners to each other at the MTV Video Music Awards. This year premiered the 31^st VMAs from the Forum in Inglewood, California. The domination of “newborns” at the VMAs reflects the decentralization and quick evolution of pop this year as well as the diminished importance of MTV. However, MTV can still get superstars like Beyoncé to perform a 16-minute set. Beyoncé’s performance featured a snippet of a speech by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about women, and at one point Beyoncé stood before the word “feminist” emblazoned behind her. The night included performances by Ariana Grande, Jessie J., Nicki Minaj, Iggy Azalea, and Rita Ora. In contrast to her tongue wagging performance last year, Miley Cyrus dressed relatively conservatively and used her video of the year award to bring attention to a young homeless man rather than her “hypererotic” video. Caramanica admits that the evening held less than thrilling performances by the men and the women truly shined that night. Beyoncé also addressed rumors of estrangement from Jay Z in song. Jay Z, who she is not estranged from, presented her with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. The awards show closed with a shot of Beyoncé, Jay Z, and their daughter.

When I first heard about the VMAs I was incredibly excited. I heard that Beyoncé was singing in front of “feminist” and was excited to see it myself. Her performance left me speechless. I think her performance was so powerful and is a huge move for how women are being presented in the world of pop music. Rather than appearing at the VMAs and performing another song, she chose to perform Flawless and take the risk of defining herself as feminist, a label that has some less than positive connotations. She could lose fans over declaring herself a feminist but she did it anyway and took a stand for women’s equality. After seeing her performance I looked up the full speech that is featured in her song and it is also very powerful. You can view the whole thing here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg3umXU_qWc. After a few more listens, I realized that the lyrics to the song were actually as daring as her performance. Beyonce is exactly what the media needs to change how women are perceived. Feminism needs more powerful women like Beyonce to explain what the movement is about and to clear the negative misconceptions associated with it.

Here's the link to the original article: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/26/arts/music/separating-the-grown-ups-from-the-newborns-at-the-mtv-video-music-awards.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A17%22%7D

Something To Think About...

     It is often said that women absorb what is displayed in the media in a deeper personal level. When women see a slim actress or model they get self conscious about their bodies. You would think that it's the media's fault for displaying such images and for stating what a women should look and act like but upon reading this article it broaden my perspective on this issue. While reading "Self-Esteem Is Something That Has To Come From Within" by Jessica Jenks, she states with great emphasis, "The media is not to be blamed for the self-esteem problems of females." She states her own anecdote; on how here self-esteem is shaped from her friends and family, but that just makes her first sentence get emphasized even more so.  She goes on about saying how "comparing your body to one that is not your is pointless." and how images displayed in the media can often be Photoshop to look a certain way. Jenks talks about how "people shouldn't be models if they cannot handle the rejection and constant criticism of their body." But through all the criticism she ends with, "The important thing is not how skinny you look, but how healthy you are." Jenks appeals to the younger audience in a loving motherly way by saying it is important to create a positive image in girls. Jenks ends the article by stating that even if the media showed "average" women it would not solve any body image issues. "Body image issues stem from a far deeper problem than seeing woman on TV who are extremely thin."
     
     I agree that media isn't the primary reason why women's self-conscious is so low, a point that needs emphasizing since so many still believe the only reason women are self-conscious is because of the portrayal of females in the media. Most feminist will probably tell you that the media is exploiting females into sex icons but I terrifying would disagree with them and the debate whether who is right or wrong will go on and on...At first glace, teenagers might say what they see in beauty is different what society is telling them, which result in disorders, depression, and their self-esteem to plummet to the ground. But on closer inspection teenagers are struggling to "fit in" because they themselves believe they do not fit in, are not worthy, or ask questions that are too philosophical for them to understand. Ultimately, what is at stake here is not who's fault it is on why women are so down in the dumps but what are the consequences? How can we resolve them? What can we do to change the statistical view of average women in the media? But above all self esteem does come from within you and only you can decide what is beneficial to you, what is the ideal perfection, and what you can or will become regardless of anyone's comments or misconceptions they place upon you.

A step in the right direction?

http://www.truewoman.com/?id=2134

          In recent discussions of women in the media, a controversial issue has been whether photo shop is placing too much of an expectation on women and girls today, and whether this view negatively  alters their self perception. On the one hand, some argue that when girls and women see the pictures of these "perfect women in the magazines, that they should already be conscious and aware that the photo's are altered. In the words of Mary Kassian's, straight from her article,"Warning: Photoshopped Women", she asks "What are these fantasy images doing to our daughters? Are they dabbling in anorexic or bulimic behavior to look like their teen idols in Hollywood? What are they doing to our view of ourselves? " The article talks about a ban in Israel on alterations of published photos of models with out the publication of the words "enhanced" or "photo shop" plastered to the photo. According to Kassian's view, she ponders what good comes from labeling altered photos with "enhanced" as those words seem to not matter to the young girls and women who read the magazines and articles from which they are published. She believes that North America should follow Israel's lead in the start of changing the perceived image of women in the media. In sum, the issue is whether to keep the unrealistic images of women plastered in the minds of all their viewers or to make it known that the photos that people aspire to are nearly impossible standards to achieve.. to enforce a positive and idealistic image.

         My own view is that a change should be made, and this change starts with the message that is being published and  the images and messages that are being given. Though I concede that young girls and women should be conscious and already aware that the images they idolize are not real and an highly unattainable goal to achieve, I still maintain the argument that the unrealistic pressures and expectations of how a woman "should look" is enough pressure to make anyone go to crazy unrealistic measures to feel an ounce of "pretty". For example, you can only be called "ugly" so many times before you start believing it. A person can only be compared so many times before they succumb to pressure and begin to alter themselves to "fit in".  Although some might object that that isn't true and people wouldn't change themselves to appease someone, I would reply that I've seen it happen, I've experienced it myself. The issue is important because its a real thing that happens all around the world. Girls as young as 4 playing with an unrealistically proportioned Barbie dolls saying " I want to be like Barbie when I grow up mommy!" There's young girls and boys everywhere aspiring to impossible measurements of what others perceive as "perfection" and going to extreme lengths to achieve these "visions".  A change needs to happen because too many deaths and hospital visits happen all because someone tried to become "perfect".