The Cure for Perfection
Our global society is sick. The symptoms are whitened/tanned skin, eating disorders, compulsive buying, dissatisfaction, poor body image and sometimes even self-harm. Advertisers in the media are on a front to sell as many products as it possibly can to its consumers, and they won’t stop at anything to get it- even at that costs of consumers mental, emotional and physical health.
What is this sickness and how do we cure it?
The media displays men and woman in ways that are not achievable. Woman seem to have long thin legs that run up into wide hips and then immediately transition into ultra-thin waists. Their faces are altered to have large eyes, perfectly curved noses and bold cheek bones.
Men are no different. They have rocked out bodies and appear as the confident and superior gender. To be a man is to be strong and that is just what the media is advertising to its consumers.
Consider the traditional Barbie and Ken as a prime example. Barbie has a perfect figure, perfect smile and carries around her perfectly pink handbag. Ken rarely has his shirt on and looks as if he just stepped out of the gym.
Keep in mind, these characters are the products we give our children to play with. By handing them these toys we are saying to them: “this is ideal and this is expected”.
If children grow up expecting these things, then they will undergo something called social comparison.
This theory is the process of comparing yourself to others around you. It has been widespread across our global society and has caused some people to go as far as reconfigurating their entire entire bodies.
In a Huffington Post article I just recently read back in August, I was introduced to the couple: Pixie Fox, 26 and Justin Jedlica, 35. Their goal is to go completely plastic and become a “real-life” Barbie and Ken.
Together, these two have had over 350 cosmetic surgeries to achieve a look that is supposed to portray “perfection”. Although they may see perfection, I just see fake and boring. These people have absolutely nothing different or unique about their bodies. They are just clones- not people.
Obviously, this is an extreme example, but social comparison is something that all people experience daily when viewing the media. This has caused an up-rise in body dissatisfaction and body image disturbance within our society. Now we are left with the question, how can we cure this sickness?
We obviously have a long road ahead of us before we reach complete self-love and elimination of perfect bodies in the media, but there are things that have been done to improve this expectation.
Dove launched a ‘Real Beauty’ campaign in 2006 that has continued to thrive up until this very day. They preached self-love and photographed “real” woman without the use of body distortion. The goal of the campaign was to appreciate all the different shapes and sizes of women and help women see their true and individual beauty.
Believe it or not, Barbie has even tried to change course of it’s original “perfect” body image. In 2016, it’s dolls took various shapes, sizes and colors to better represented the diversity of our world.
These are small steps towards curing the sickness of perfection, but at least they are steps. The idea of social comparison may never completely diminish, but at least we can see improvements within our media.
