McGinnis

Aly McGinnis
English 230: New Media and Writing
Dr. Sergey Rybas
24 March 2015
Social Media: The Tool for Self-Destruction

Women have always tried to obtain the unattainable and media has always

played an important role. During the Roaring 20s, actress Greta Garbo, known as the
first androgynous style icon, was the image of perfection every woman tried to
duplicate with her straight, boyish body, ill-fitted trousers and oversized shirts
(Smith). Ten years later, the Golden Age of Hollywood ushered in beauty with
Marilyn Monroes voluptuous curves and slim waistline, a definition that would be
drastically altered once the British invasion traveled across the pond in the 60s and
fashion model Twiggy introduced an extremely thin, stick-like portrait of perfection.
Eventually, the brightly colored mini skirts were replaced with neon leg warmers
and Jane Fonda fitness enthusiasm, resulting in the coveted 80s ideal of beauty as
the tall, athletic and slim Cindy Crawford. Though, despite the record-breaking cases
of anorexia and bulimia that plagued the country during the age of shoulder pads
and fluorescent tracksuits, it was the 90s and its controversial perception of beauty
as Heroin Chic that called for presidential concern. While drafting a plan to help
control the trafficking and use of illegal drugs, President Clinton remarked with
disgust that the 90s media perception of beauty was glorifying death with its pale,
thin and withdrawn characteristics embodied by the equally controversial Kate
Moss.

McGinnis 2

Social Medias Effect on Beauty Standards

Unlike the beauty standards of years passed, the 21st century does not have a

clear definition of the ideal female body image. Although this may seem progressive
and liberating for women who have for so long been shackled by concrete, specific
expectations of beauty, the effects of these fluid perceptions are just as destructive,
if not more, to women. Because the Postmodern Beauty of the 2000s is filled with
such a variety of ideal female body images, the contradicting perceptions of beauty
(women should be skinny, but healthy; they should have large breasts and a large
butt, but a flat stomach) make women, especially girls, more critical of themselves
(Yang). As a result, girls constantly find ways to criticize their unattractive and
undesirable appearance.

In addition, the way 21st century expectations of beauty are established and

shown by the media is also significantly different. Before the creation of social
media outlets such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr, the media
represented its model of the stereotypical perfect woman through so-called
traditional mainstream mediaTV, movies, music, magazines, advertisements
(Knorr). One of the many problems set by this traditional mainstream media and
its impossible perception of beauty was its blatant sexism. This public chauvinism
requires female news anchors and sitcom actresses to conform to the strict beauty
standards or else be sent to the chopping block, while their male counterparts,
who may also violate their ideal gender-specific physique, are generally accepted:

When I did my first television showI had a lot of problems with the

network because they were constantly telling me that I was too fatI

McGinnis 3

became very anorexic trying to somehow keep this job that I really

wantedThey ended up cancelling the television show and replaced it

with Drew CareyCause hes so thin. (Miss Representation)

As Margaret Cho explained, the network and the medias offensive critiques

of her body, calling her too Asian and too large, resulted in the cancelation of her
1994 television show, All-American Girl, not to mention a subsequent drug
addiction. The amount of media backlash Cho received is undoubtedly unacceptable;
however, if the shows pilot would have been in 2015, not only would Cho had
suffered horrible criticism from the traditional mainstream media about her body
and how it violated the image of female beauty, but she would have also received it
from the 2.18 billion users of the newest form, social media (Social Networking).
This outstanding number represents social medias enormous wingspan, which
contains users not only from all over the United States, but across the world,
resulting in constant participation and criticism from all directions.

Even though television averages a significant number of viewers, it is only a

drop in the bucket when compared to the presence on social media and its billions
of users, a number that is impossible to ignore, especially for the younger
generation. According to a new survey by the assessment bank and asset
management firm Piper Jaffray, an alarming 90% of American teenagers are present
on social media (Blaszczak-Boxe). In addition, the demographic dominating this
statistic is the female population and it is even more concerning when studies have
discovered that American teenagers spend more than ten hours a day surrounded
by and consuming media filled with content that objectifies women and distorts

McGinnis 4

their bodies (Ettus). This means that the female population is being told on a daily
basis that their value is measured solely by their appearance, a message that is
disempowering and damaging, especially to impressionable young girls:

Social media has a huge effect on young peoples body confidence

because it cannot be ignored. They can make decisions not to look at

magazines and TV, but social media networks are the primary way

they communicate and their main channel to the outside world. But

they are seeing the world through a filter, and thats not healthy.

(Roxby).

Whats interesting about the messages of body shaming being sent to young

girls is, thanks to the 21st centurys obsession to document its every move, these
young girls are unknowingly contributing to their own destruction. As Caroline
Knorr points out in her Commonsense Media article, Is Social Media Giving Your
Teen a Negative Body Image? although deserving some of the blame, celebrity
Twitter and Instagram accounts are not the only ones accountable for the idealized
perceptions of human perfection. An important number of unrealistic, idealized and
stereotypical portrayals of female body types come, not from the Photoshopped
lives of Kim Kardashian and monthly editions of Seventeen, but from the classmates,
teammates and hometown followers these girls are in constant communication
with:

Its your teens friends posting pictures of themselves and one

another for all the world to see and comment on. Whats worse, many

of these moments are captured seemingly unplanned, increasing kids

McGinnis 5

anxiety about looking perfectbut effortlessly soat all times.

Appearance ideals have always been unrealistic, but never before

have kids been able to dip into such a deep well of judgment and

criticism so easily (Knorr).

This deep well of unconscious self-destruction has undoubtedly

contributed to the impractical and unrealistic perception of the ideal female body
image in young girls. According to a study conducted by Keep It Real, a campaign in
collaboration with Miss Representation and other female-positive advocacy groups,
negative perceptions of personal body image begin at a remarkably young age with
80 percent of all 10-year-old girls hav[ing] dieted at least once in their lives40 to
60 percent of children age 6 to 12 [worrying] about how much they weigh, and 70
percent [wanting] to slim down (Roberts). Unfortunately, these statistics only
increase as the girls get older and reach 78 percent showing dissatisfaction with
their body by the time they are 17-years-old (Roberts). Although the social
networking sites, Facebook and Instagram, have established a policy preventing
anyone under 13-years-old from creating an account, Consumer Reports estimated
that preteens account for 7.5 million users (King). Although this number may seem
small considering there are hundreds of millions of people using Facebook and
Instagram, this is still an alarming amount of adolescents who are unknowingly
exposing themselves to the dangers of age inappropriate material.
Theoretical Justification

Although their activity on social media is largely contributing to the negative

perception of body image, the female population is only reflecting the conditioned,

McGinnis 6

patriarchal society that has taught them to believe that there is not only one
particular ideal and accessible body for all women, but that this ideal is a normal
and reasonable expectation to request of women. Creating a gender binary, the
patriarchal society has established a fixed and rigid definition of both the male and
female sex (Understanding Gender). As a result of this opposition between the
sexes, the male dominated society has declared the female sex as the less-than-ideal
Other, establishing the male sex as the One (De Beauvoir). This obvious
misogyny, and label as woman as submissive, results in the constant pressure for
those of the female sex to strive for male acceptance and the male perceived
definition of female perfection. French political activist and feminist theorist,
Simone de Beauvoir, explained in her book, The Second Sex, the irrational
chauvinism of society:

she is simply what man decrees; thus she is called the sex, by

which is meant that she appears essentially to the male as a sexual

being. For him she is sex absolute sex, no less. She is defined and

differentiated with reference to man and not he with reference to her;

she is the incidental, the inessential as opposed to the essential. He is

the Subject, he is the Absolute she is the Other. (de Beauvoir)

With this in mind, it is easy to understand how these patriarchal ideas have
seamlessly translated into the technology-filled 21st century. The perception of
women as the embodiment of sex, absolute sex, no less, though sounding harsh, is
not a hyperbolic statement when one begins to consider the amount of content they
are exposed to on a daily basis that objectifies women and distorts their bodies

McGinnis 7

(de Beauvoir; Ettus). Though its influence may go unnoticed, this still results in an
unconscious need to obtain the beauty standards set by this constant flow of body
distorting content.

Even though de Beauvoir cites the idea of the Other, as primordial as

consciousness itself[found] in the most primitive societies, in the most ancient

mythologies and not originally attached to the division of the sexes, it still does
not change the way the patriarchal society, with its heavily sexist views, continues
to follow with every new generation (de Beauvoir). As a result of this hovering and
ever-present idea of the Other, and her need to constantly compete for the
attention of the Absolute, technology, especially social media, has been built on the
foundation that women must showcase themselves in the only way the patriarchal
society has shown them how, through nothing short of absolute sex. Even more
disheartening than this is the fact that those using their sex appeal to spark the
interest of the Absolute are not even at an age where sex appeal is neither
attainable nor appropriate. With their conditioned need to strive for body-centered
attention, young girls and women have not only helped to create and co-opt a
pernicious digital world, as Rachel Simmons, author of Odd Girl Out: The Hidden
Culture of Aggression in Girls argued, they have also imposed their social life on it to
compete for attention (King). This participation undoubtedly creates an addictive,
hurtful and never-ending cycle of self-destructive body shaming.
Analysis

When girls are, in their minds, unable to attain the desired attention from

their presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, they turn to other media-

McGinnis 8

sharing sites, such as YouTube, in order to seek honest and direct feedback. Girls
as young as 8-years-old are posting videos of themselves asking anonymous
YouTube strangers, Do you think Im pretty or ugly? The replies left from the
anonymous strangers are used in the hope for validation to make up for the lack of
attention the girls receive on social media. However, considering the Internets
ability to offer anonymity under various usernames, these replies are seldom
uplifting and body positive, but rather wicked and threatening.

When analyzing one of the more than 200,000 Am I Pretty? videos that

appear on YouTube, a girl with dark chestnut hair, fragile features and wearing a
neon smiley face t-shirt (undoubtedly found among the racks of Limited Too) is
staring doe-eyed into the camera, hiding a mouth scattered with baby teeth. The
title of her video, with its childlike spelling and grammatical errors, Am i pretty or
ugley is all that is needed to reveal the young girls inexperience, yet desperation to
uncover the mystery behind the only asset society says she has to offer, her body:

Hi guys, my name is Lexi and I want to make a video to ask if Im

pretty or ugly. Now, please be honest because[pause]a lot of

people say that Im ugly and I just wanted to know the truth, am I

pretty or ugly? And another thing[pause]ummbe honest. Its

okay what you say. I dont really care if Im pretty or wellI

careI...well[pause] likepeople call me ugly at school and then

other people call me really pretty and a lot of people call me ugly

too(lynn12388)

McGinnis 9
Nearing the end of her almost two minute request for social acceptance,

Lexi begins to struggle with her reasoning behind uploading the video, asking her
audience to be honest because Its okay what you say. I dont really care if Im
pretty or wellI carebut (lynn12388). This internal struggle to seek the truth
about her looks while confirming that she doesnt really care what the viewers
think is a perfect example of what every user, both woman and girl, experiences
when perusing their multiple social media outlets. The constant comparing of
friends and celebrities bodies to their own results in an internal narration of doubt,
powerlessness, and competition. Videos, such as Lexis, and other forms of body
shaming found on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter are a terrifying illustration of
an abusive cycle and even worse, the sheer magnitude of these body shaming
beauty competitions on social media is informing girls that its not only okay to
seek verbal proof of their beauty but is also encouraging them to join in their own
self-abuse.

Julien Benda, a French philosopher with whom de Beauvoir outspokenly

disagreed with, explained the natural dependency women have to men in his
Rapport dUriel, The body of man makes sense in itself quite apart from that of
woman, whereas the latter seems wanting in significance by itself ... Man can think
of himself without woman. She cannot think of herself without man (qtd. in de
Beauvoir). However, although many female users of social media post, upload and
contribute to these outlets to seek the digital acceptance, in the form of retweets,
likes and favorites, of their male followers, the majority of them arent driven by
the natural dependency women have to men (de Beauvoir). Although the need for

McGinnis 10

attention originally began as a way to be noticed by the opposite sex, now users of
social media are more focused on their fellow female followers, and are therefore,
creating the ongoing cycle of self-destruction and negative body image. Now, female
users are pinning themselves against their social media friends by competing
with the picture they share. Although the use of filters and editing devices on
photographs before they are posted to social media is widely known and almost
expected, these obvious touched up, slimmed down, filtered and unrealistic
photographs of classmates and teammates, who are seen everyday au naturel and in
person, are still seen as the ideal body image to be sought after.
Changing the Distorted Belief of Perfection

If this terrifying cycle of self-destruction is to end, society needs to step

forward and address the issue. Although many companies, such as Dove and Always,
have campaigned to end the image of the perfect woman, with the idea of women
joining together to take a stand on an issue, though important and proven to be
successful, the act of separating oneself from the opposite sex only further
strengthens the male-female binary and the Absolute-Other mentality. The only
way the message will be fully received is if both women and men join together as
one and address negative body image and the perfect woman mentality as a
collective problem shared by both men and women.

McGinnis 11
Works Cited

Blaszczak-Boxe, Agata. "Teens and Social Media: Instagram Is In, Facebook Is out."

CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 8 Oct. 2014. Web. 04 Mar. 2015.

De Beauvoir, Simone. "Simone De Beauvoir The Second Sex, Woman as Other 1949."

Simone De Beauvoir The Second Sex, Woman as Other 1949. Marxists.org, n.d.

Web. 14 Apr. 2015.

Ettus, Samantha. "25 Alarm Bells for Women: Sounds from Miss Representation."

Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 21 Oct. 2011. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.

King, Cecilia. "Instagram Beauty Contests Worry Parents, Child Privacy

Advocates." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2013. Web. 23

Mar. 2015.

Knorr, Caroline. "Is Social Media Giving Your Teen a Negative Body Image?" Common

Sense Media. Common Sense Media, Inc., 28 Apr. 2014. Web. 05 Mar. 2015.

Lynn12388. Am i pretty or ugley. Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 5 June

2012. Web. 4 April 2015.

Miss Representation. Dir. Jennifer Siebel Newsom and Kimberlee Acquaro. Perf.

Margaret Cho. Girls Club Entertainment, 2011. Film.

Roberts, Christine. "Most 10 Year-olds Have Been on a Diet." NY Daily News.

NewYorkDailyNews.com, 3 July 2012. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.

Roxby, Phillippa. "Does Social Media Impact on Body Image?" BBC News. BBC,

13 Oct. 2014. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.

McGinnis 12

Smith, Lauren. "8. Greta Garbo." Top 10 Style Icons of the 1920s: 10 Twenties Style

Icons from the Jazz Age (Glamour.com UK). Conde Nast, 15 May 2013. Web.

23 Mar. 2015.

"Social Networking Reaches Nearly One in Four Around the World." Social

Networking Reaches Nearly One in Four Around the World - EMarketer.

EMarketer, 18 June 2013. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.

"Understanding Gender." Gender Spectrum. Gender Spectrum, n.d. Web. 13 Apr.

2015.

Wren, Christopher S. "Clinton Calls Fashion Ads' 'Heroin Chic' Deplorable." The New

York Times. The New York Times, 21 May 1997. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.

Yang, Eugene L., Mark Celestino, and Kari Koeppel. "Women's Ideal Body Types

Throughout History." BuzzFeed. BuzzFeed, Inc., 27 Jan. 2015. Web. 23 Mar.

2015.