How the Media is Altering Our Perception of Beuaty

There have always been visual representations of beauty which have shifted over time. You only have to look at portraits and paintings from across the centuries to see how fashions and perceptions of beauty have altered. There is now a more pernicious state of affairs in how the perception of beauty is shaped because the mass media not only reflects what is regarded as beautiful; it also shapes our perceptions of beauty.

This is not surprising because we live in a 24/7 consumer society in which we demand to know what's going on all day and everyday. Consequently, the media has extended its role and its influence over people, making it hard for people to get away from the images they are shown and to challenge what they are being told.

Beauty as is it stands currently seems to be influenced by how thin a person is. Celebrities seem to represent success; and from actors to musicians there seems to be a consensus that thin is more beautiful than being larger. There is a good chance that many celebrities are actually underweight, and so hardly the epitome of healthiness, yet for many teenage girls these celebrities have a physique to aspire to.

No longer is uniqueness and difference celebrated. Celebrities are all pruned, cleaned, polished, nipped, tucked and coiffed to ensure that they portray perfection'. We are left with identikit celebrities walking down the red carpet, with their unnaturally shiny white teeth gleaming and their perfectly smooth hair not moving an inch. Apparently this is beauty, and such images are inflicted upon the public. Impressionable individuals, especially young girls and teenagers develop unrealistic expectations of what they should look like, and tend to feel bad about themselves if they cannot achieve 'perfection'.

Fame and success seem to be inextricably linked with thinness, and young people can develop the belief that if they, too, slim down, there is perhaps hope that they can succeed. It is a rather simplistic connection, but it is one which the images shown in the media seem to confirm, making it difficult for those who do not conform to such an image to feel good about themselves. Beauty is portrayed as simply being about the external, physical appearance of an individual rather than the overall impression of beauty as both being inside and out.

The media seems to be particularly obsessed with images of thinness and conversely extreme fatness, with the former regarded as beautiful' and the latter as distasteful. Of course, people should aim to be a healthy weight, but more importantly they should accept themselves as they are. However, the media is so dominant in all our lives it can be extremely difficult to ignore the pressure that is placed on us to conform to a very narrow definition of beauty.