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  • Essay / Beauty Bias in Mass Media

    Society rewards physical beauty and punishes unattractiveness. In the midst of this beauty bias, no one questions what people think or feel. There are many people who have no criteria, but there are others who, through their own experience, approve or reject the influence of the media. And surely, the prettiest are lucky with all the advertisements that pay tribute to their beauty. However, others, perhaps the majority, feel excluded from the group to which they aspire to belong, in order to be recognized. This is what competition in life is for, because the world was made just for them, for those who can and for those who should try harder. Media portrayals affect viewers' impressions, leading to negative or distorted perceptions. Media content that encourages rejection of people's visual aspects should be banned, and physical appearance should be part of civil rights legislation, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin in the United States, in order to avoid prejudicial actions. based on physical appearance which have serious consequences on people, thus negatively impacting their life expectancy, their collective belonging, their economic level and their freedom itself. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay First of all, mass media has an impact on people's health, thereby reducing life expectancy. Messages about what ideal beauty is bombard people daily, shaping their beliefs and behaviors; therefore, it generates insecurities and image dissatisfactions among those who are most vulnerable. According to law professor Deborah L. Rhode in her book The Beauty Bias: The Injustice of Appearance in Life and Law, "Numerous studies show that frequent exposure to media images and articles about diet is associated with to increased anxiety and dissatisfaction regarding appearance. , as well as eating disorders, particularly among adolescent girls” (page 60). This impact influence is linked to the interests of large companies, which find, in the media, the means to achieve their objectives and stimulate the demand for useless products or processes. As a result, some people become very self-conscious, obsessed with “perfect” images, surgical procedures, or drug use. Their self-esteem ends up being malformed and turned into a deadly weapon against them, causing health problems such as depression and eating disorders. As Deborah L. Rhode states, “Eating disorders, as well as more general concerns about appearance, can lead to depression, anxiety, or low self-esteem” (page 39), that if this has become a public health issue, serious intervention must be made. However, some argue that there is no evidence of such influence and that even if there were laws, nothing would change. As Deborah L. Rhode states, "one state and six cities or counties prohibit any form of discrimination based on appearance...These laws vary in coverage and frequency of enforcement, but no jurisdiction has seen the flood of frivolous complaints that commentators had anticipated” (page 16), in other words, only a few complaints were reported. However, no one has fought beauty bias because there is no ordinance that goes far beyond influencer discrimination. Women and men areinfluenced by information and beauty standards presented on television, in magazines, on social networks and on the web, which leads to health problems because they cannot tolerate the discrimination of society in general, which is unfair and degrading to human dignity. It is therefore necessary to consider a federal law against unsightly discrimination to guarantee the promotion of all human rights, respect for the dignity of each person and to prohibit media content that promotes the rejection of the unsightly. To continue, the rejection of the unsightly is one of the most frequent and least recognized discriminatory problems. This exclusivity is mainly influenced by visual media. Media portrayals create negative influence by displaying derogatory messages about people's unattractiveness. In schools, many young people are ridiculed because of their appearance, if they have crooked teeth, or if they are tall, short, fat, skinny, or simply because they do not meet body standards or perfect beauty. There is always someone making up names or nicknames and excluding people from their social groups within the institution. According to Carl Pickhardt, psychologist, in his book “Why Good Kids Act Cruel: The Hidden Truth about the Pre-Teen Years”, in this independent world, not only pears but also popular media play an influential role in the formation of the young . growth by providing new images, expressions, icons, values ​​and activities…the media decides” (page 58). Due to the influence of the media, young people who are not physically "perfect" can become easy targets for bullying and be socially excluded by being rejected and not invited to join other children's games or activities. Conversely, many people argue that people's preference for beautiful images is something natural and is not influenced by anything. For example, in the article “Physical appearance and cosmetic medical treatments: physiological and socio-cultural influences”, David Sarwer, clinical psychologist, points out that “infants as young as 3 months prefer to look at attractive faces rather than unattractive ones. . Infants interact more positively with attractive strangers than with unattractive strangers; they also play longer with attractive dolls than with unattractive dolls…suggest that preferences for beauty may be the product of physiology rather than socialization. However, the cited evidence does not conclusively prove that these preferences are a factor in rejecting others. Although some people claim that children are cruel by nature, children from a very young age begin to construct their own ideas about the difference between beautiful and ugly, but they also learn what the media has portrayed as good and evil (what is good and what is bad). it's bad). For example, children's films show that anything unsightly is bad and anything charming is good. Princess, princes, fairy godmothers and all good-hearted characters are more beautiful and brighter than villains, criminals and villains. People learn from childhood to associate and connect people with specific characteristics, thereby assuming that people who look bad have terrible personalities. Therefore, the media must eliminate intolerance in accepting the diversity of physical characteristics. Additionally, the impact of each person's attractiveness affects the perception of job performance. Physically attractive women and men earn more.