The Pressure to be Perfect

The media is the powerful tool used for creating and shaping people’s opinions. Unfortunately, commercials often reflect stereotypical images of society in order to generate responses. Women are marketed towards cosmetics, sexualized, and depicted as solely domestic while men are associated with power and masculinity. Commercials are generalized depictions of society and are therefore a misrepresentation of reality. With TV being the most prominent source of advertising, the media can be a powerful catalyst for change.

The media is responsible for marginalizing women. Disney films, sitcoms, and television advertisements have all perpetuated gender stereotypes. The common woman portrayed is not liberated and independent from social expectations. Instead, she is content cleaning and cooking and “waiting for her prince to come”. This theme limits women to what society deems as the woman’s role, thus promoting a stereotypical image of women. The media controls what a woman should look like and how she should talk and think. As a result, I often feel like my own substance and that of my female peers is undervalued while physicality is more significant.

Dove is a company that challenges gender stereotypes. The company argues that “the definition of beauty has become limiting and unattainable.” The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty reinvents the definition of beauty by launching an unprecedented effort to make beauty a source of confidence, not anxiety. Dove conducted a study in which “72% of 10-to-17-year-old girls said they felt tremendous pressure to be beautiful and only 11% of girls around the world feel comfortable using the word beautiful to describe their looks. This shows that there is a universal increase in beauty pressure and a decrease in girls' confidence as they grow older.” I have felt this same pressure when under the influence of magazines and movies, surrounded by women that appear to be perfect. Dove has taken great steps to minimize the pressure to be perfect by featuring real women whose appearances are outside the stereotypical norms of beauty. I believe more companies should follow in Dove’s footsteps because girls will feel more comfortable in their own skin and break social norms as result. The media is the force which drives our perception of reality, and it must use its power to awaken people and change minds.