The Image of Women in Cosmopolitan - Essay Example

? How does the image of women displayed in the Cosmopolitan affect the self-image of women in the UK? BY YOU YOUR SCHOOL INFO HERE HERE TABLE OFCONTENTS ABSTRACT 1. Introduction........................................................................................................... 2. How holistic social values are impacted by the Cosmopolitan............................. 3. The outcomes of media influence on negative self-image in UK women............ 4. A discussion of findings and potential implications.............................................. 5. Conclusion............................................................................................................. REFERENCES LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Female Imagery in the UK Cosmopolitan Magazine................................... Figure 2: High Priced Celebrity Fashion Merchandise Imagery................................. ABSTRACT The UK Cosmopolitan provides many different images of what society considers the idealised female form: the slender, voluptuous and high fashion-conscious celebrity often depicted in many beauty-inspired media sources. Through continuous exposure to these images, women are often embattled with a struggle to gain self-image improvements whereby the idealised female form dictated by media sources provides confidence problems to women who have not attained this socially-mandated goal. Research indicates that UK society often believes overweight women or those who are not as outwardly attractive cannot find success or achievement, thereby creating the foundation for anxiety production when women view these images and believe they are inferior to the models illustrated. Empirical research, psychological and sociological theories, and even marketing theories lend support to the notion that women in the UK are dramatically impacted, in relation to their own perceptions of self-image, due to the UK Cosmopolitan. This sense of inferiority can lead to development of eating disorders, turning toward cosmetic surgery for personal beauty enhancement, or seeking consumption of high-priced, luxury beauty enhancements and fashions in order to try to attain this high status in society that occurs by achieving the idealised beauty represented in contemporary UK media sources. This paper focuses on theory and research investigations in an attempt to justify that self-image is negatively impacted through such media depiction of females. The findings of this project indicate that socially-driven ideals, reference group sentiment, tangible anxiety production in the female brain, and advertising influence supporting visualisation in media of the idealised female body contribute most strongly to self-image problems in UK women. How does the image of women displayed in the Cosmopolitan affect the self-image of women in the UK? 1. Introduction The UK Cosmopolitan consists of a variety of media catering to those who maintain a worldview of hedonism, a form of self-indulgence and high-living whereby contemporary ideologies associated with a sense of social superiority, attainment of personal pleasure, and exhibition of outward elegance and modishness are primary social virtues1. There are many other respected definitions of Cosmopolitanism, such as maintaining a belief that one belongs to the entire world rather than being limited to a singular, national region, as well as maintaining a contemporary type of sophistication and stylishness which makes one high class and socially exceptional. In the United Kingdom, the media magazine Cosmopolitan is a prime example of the aforementioned definitions of Cosmopolitanism which explores such issues as sex, health, fashion, celebrity and beauty enhancement. This media source, among many others sharing a focus on the female target segments, exemplify the notion of Cosmopolitanism by appealing to a contemporary woman consumer who values social conceptions of beauty, vanity and sophistication. The media is a significant source of influence on female Western values in today’s society, illustrating new definitions of what constitutes modern beauty and fashion, often serving as a foundational reference source by which women judge their appearance, attitudes and socially-driven desires. Women who are regular viewers of Cosmopolitan media often engage tremendously with the images exhibited by media, using it as a guideline by which they measure their own body image.2 It has further been argued that the Cosmopolitan informs women that they are socially inferior and unacceptable without having good looks and, over time, women begin to believe this form of media-induced propaganda.3 As such, the Cosmopolitan has a significant cultural influence maintaining the ability to change women’s self-image and force them to critically evaluate their social worthiness associated with their personal assessment of beauty ideals. The Cosmopolitan forces women, coercively, to regularly criticise the importance of their beauty by which they measure their holistic value within UK society. This paper focuses on how the image of women is displayed within the Cosmopolitan and how self-image is impacted through this exhibition and imagery. The paper explores various sociological and psychological theories which could, theoretically, explain how the Cosmopolitan maintains the ability to coerce and influence female self-image in the United Kingdom. It further examines how self-image assessments influenced by the Cosmopolitan impact consumption behaviours in marketing, social comparisons to other women in the country, the potential impact of various eating disorders, as well as the creation of contemporary sexism that may serve to drive how women assess their total social value based on using Cosmopolitan female imagery as a basis of self-examination. The UK Cosmopolitan appears to serve as one of the most fundamental and influential sources by which self-image is enhanced or depleted, impacting the long-term esteem and perceived self-value of women in the United Kingdom. 2. How holistic social values are impacted by the Cosmopolitan Before being able to fully examine how self-image may or not be impacted by the Cosmopolitan, it is necessary to view female imagery often depicted through media exhibition. Figure 1: Female Imagery in the UK Cosmopolitan Magazine 4 As illustrated by Figure 1, it is commonplace for UK media to display famous celebrities who are scantily clad, maintaining rather delicate and slender body forms. In the above illustration featuring the famous American actress Cameron Diaz, these images are accompanied by discussion of improving the bikini body and how to perform sexually in an effort to satisfy the male partner. This coupling of image and messages serve as a method of idealising the perfect woman and even dictating appropriate behaviours from a sexual perspective. Hence, theorists argue that this coupling of information and imagery depletes the traditional feminist ideology and, instead, engrains into women’s consciousness that the importance of physical appearance supersedes most other potential core values related to feminism.5 As a result, the ideology of beauty as a paramount social virtue becomes so deeply embedded in how women view their social identity. Having offered an example in Figure 1 of the type of beauty-inspired female imagery found in the UK, female-targeted media, how self-image is impacted can be better explored. Sociological and psychological literature teaches contemporary society that women often refer to reference groups when assessing their social identities. 6 Under this theory, women develop their own sense of personal identity by making social comparisons to other women by which they believe either have attained a superior class status, fashion savvy, superior body image, or any other criteria by which the individual female moulds her own identity and sense of social self-importance. Magazines in the media such as the UK Cosmopolitan utilises many celebrity images as a means of fostering this type of social comparison, thereby incentivising purchase of these media sources to ensure women continue making status comparisons. According to two researchers in the domain of psychology, self-image and self-esteem are enhanced when an individual believes they are superior to others in society.7 However, under this theory, the opposite is also true: when the assessor believes they have not attained superior status to others, it greatly reduces one’s self-image, this is the phenomenon of negative upward comparisons. Why is this important to understanding how self-image is affected by Cosmopolitan imagery? Women who already maintain very low self-image are at a higher risk of experiencing negative outcomes of exposure to media imagery.8 Hence, when there is a generalised female belief that maintaining a thin figure and achieving the perceived grace and stature of celebrities, women are likely to experience much lower self-image and begin critiquing themselves according to an unrealistic model of female beauty that is so often portrayed by Cosmopolitan media. Before exploring this phenomenon of the negative impacts of upward social comparisons, it is also crucial to understand what drives the socially-accepted attitude that slender figures are the most valuable and attractive to broader society. It has been recognised that there is a powerful type of prejudice in UK society, known as weight prejudice, whereby the general belief is that excess weight is akin to lack of success and lack of social desirability.9 Thin women are considered, in UK society, to be more attractive and are viewed, generally, as being the most content with their lives and most successful over other members of society.10 As a result, women begin viewing their body image as being a proverbial measuring stick that denotes their holistic social value. Whether or not this is distorted beliefs is highly relative, however it does indicate what drives the foundation of idealising the thin female form as being the most beneficial for leading a happier and more successful lifestyle in the United Kingdom. It should also be recognised that fundamental, cultural evolutions in the UK have also contributed to what idealises the slender and in-shape form as being the most socially viable and beautiful. Sexism, defined as a prejudice or stereotype associated with one’s sex, is still highly prevalent in the United Kingdom today, a culture that is still largely patriarchical in nature whereby opportunities still abound for the male sex. As a result of sexist values in UK society, women are often considered to be objects through which men are able to lust after. The UK Cosmopolitan further enhances these sexist beliefs by utilising scantily-clad celebrity females on its media covers, which continues to reinforce long-standing sexist principles and ideologies in the nation. As a result, women are not only being inundated with unrealistic upward comparisons when viewing media imagery as a reference group, but are also being taught that the female form is an object which sets the foundation for why women critique themselves for failing to attain the idealistic female form. Essentially, women actually begin to believe in the conception of beauty that is being fed through modern media sources which, in turn, creates negative body image when they believe they are unable to attain the same perceived beauty of those females illustrated in contemporary media sources.11 Having established the potential and theoretical foundations of what drives social influence that enhances why women are negatively impacted by Cosmopolitan female imagery, the potential outcomes of negative self-image can be better explored. 3. The outcomes of media influence on negative self-image in UK women There are several different, psychologically-valid phenomena that occur as a result of how women assess their self-image due to consistent exposure to the Cosmopolitan images of idealised beauty. To explore these, it is important to review theory of marketing and consumption behaviour with the female target audience and further elaborate on the concept of making social comparisons against other women. Marketing literature often iterates that women will consume products and services if they believe the brand maintain the ability to boost their social status in society.12 When it is perceived by the female buyer that self-expansion can be enhanced by product consumption or provide personal self-improvement, they are more likely to be loyal to the brand, thus enhancing the profit potential of product merchandisers. In addition, if it is perceived that holistic lifestyle can be improved through consumption, female consumers are more willing to make future purchases.13 It was previously established that the UK Cosmopolitan imagery depicting the idealised female form (relatively) drives the female consumer to seek opportunities to attain similar, perceived social and beauty status in society. When imagery from the Cosmopolitan begins to erode the self-image of women, they tend to seek opportunities to improve their physical appearance so as to exemplify this ideology of beauty and attractiveness. Therefore, high consumption and profit growth for companies of such products as beauty creams and exercise equipment (as only two relevant brand examples) can likely be explained away by the negative self-image that is consistently produced through exposure to these Cosmopolitan images of celebrities. Additionally, marketing literature indicates a phenomenon known as status consumption, or conspicuous consumption, which often drives profit growth with companies, especially beauty and luxury products. Status consumption is the process of consuming products and services as a means of boosting their perceived social reputation and prestige from a sociological context.14 This type of consumption is usually generated as a means of illustrating to very important reference groups that the female consumer has attained a higher-class status in society and, therefore, products are utilised as an outward presentation of this achievement. Under this theory of conspicuous consumption, the attitudes and various sentiments of important reference groups drive self-esteem improvements and better self-image.15 Based on theory of self-image depletion with women who are exposed to unrealistic or unattainable ideologies of the perfect female form found in the UK Cosmopolitan, it is not surprising that conspicuous consumption is such a widespread phenomenon. The Cosmopolitan magazine, as illustrated by Figure 2 below, illustrates a wide variety of imagery showing celebrities wearing expensive, tight-fitting clothing with high-priced designer labels. Hence, it is not only the tangible, physical female form depicted in Cosmopolitan imagery, it is the accessories that are designed to enhance the female form that drives conspicuous consumption and, therefore, higher profitability for designer manufacturers of apparel. Figure 2: High Priced Celebrity Fashion Merchandise Imagery 16 In Figure 2, not only is the individual voluptuous, whilst maintaining a slender figure, the celebrity depicted is wearing high-priced, luxury merchandise that is designed to enhance the female form and its many physical attributes. Hence, in this case, taking into consideration the previously identified research on the potential for self-image problems due to exposure to these images, the UK woman now analyses the self from a physical form perspective as well as their ability to procure luxury fashion products to achieve this ideology of beauty. Why is it important to understand that it is not always the physical form that determines how a female consumer measures her own social worth and self-image? Magazines such as the UK Cosmopolitan recognise the fundamental psychological needs of consumers and, therefore, utilise imagery that provides the maximum influence to ensure that women continue to see these images as being ideal. Many advertisers within this type of contemporary media provide significant revenue growth for the media source, thereby creating a collective, profit-minded partnership that benefits the longevity of the UK Cosmopolitan Magazine. Using this imagery as a means to manipulate the female psyche, theoretically, in order to provide more advertising revenue may be considered unethical, however it is commonly taught in business and marketing practice as a means of ensuring corporate profitability through consumption growth and achievement of high consumer demand. In this case, using the Cosmopolitan Magazine as the relevant media example, the psychological need for social belonging common with nearly all female consumers becomes a form of market-based asset, thereby building brand equity and much higher consumption-driven revenues. Companies want to nurture and develop these assets to build purchasing loyalty.17 It is highly unlikely to assume that advertisers providing capital to Cosmopolitan Magazine would continue to generate these sources of revenue if there was not a series of measurable and legitimate self-image issues occurring within the female demographic in the UK. This assumption that women are very negatively impacted by such imagery of the idealised female form is actually supported by scientific research. A recent study utilising magnetic resonance imaging utilised a sample of 18 random women in which each participant was shown images similar to those identified in Figure 1 and 2, representing the socially ideological female form. The magnetic imaging system was in operation as the participants were shown the images and revealing startling changes in the area of the brain known to cause anxiety. When slim body types were shown, the fear network in the brain known as the amygdale was hyper-stimulated, indicating that there were negative consequences for viewing this imagery.18 Marketers, today, are growing more and more concerned and interested in the scientifically-supported changes that occur in various centres of the brain in order to enhance their marketing perspectives and philosophies to attract more dedicated buyers. Anxiety as a production of being witness to what society views as the idealised female form further supports the notion that self-image is greatly impacted through witnessing of these images. Yet another outcome that supports the hypothesis that women are negatively impacted through images provided by the UK Cosmopolitan is the prevalence of eating disorders in the UK and other developed countries. There are currently 10 million women in the United States that have been diagnosed with either Anorexia Nervosa or Bulimia, two severe eating disorders.19 The media is often blamed for being the catalyst driving this distorted pattern of eating problems as women attempt to emulate the physical characteristics of those celebrities and other potential reference groups illustrated in contemporary Cosmopolitan media. Music videos that portray scantily-clad women gyrating for men’s pleasure, endless reality television programs depicting women with surgically enhanced breasts, and endless vanity-inspired advertising in the country is driving such a high proportion of eating disorders with many different female demographics. Hence, visual representation of the socially-idealised female form contributes to self-image problems that create severe psychological problems. In the United Kingdom, it is estimated that one out of every 20 women has developed some form of eating disorder.20 The majority of eating disorders developed are due to the psychological belief that the individual is overweight and therefore cannot attain the same tranquillity and happiness of more slender individuals in UK society. Hence, should it be said that such disorders as Bulimia and Anorexia should be blamed on the UK Cosmopolitan and its exhibition of celebrity images? A recent UK study would concur with this assessment. One university study of 3,000 young women across the United Kingdom indicated that one of the most fundamental contributors to eating disorder development was media portrayal of the underweight or otherwise ideal female form.21 The study further revealed that the primary source of Anorexia development in the sample was pressure from the peer environment, further adding support to the theory of reference groups and how women judge through social comparisons when attempting to find superior status within UK society. Growth in the development of eating disorders, coupled with growth in contemporary usage of idealised, slender female forms used in the UK Cosmopolitan further emphasises that self-image is dramatically impacted through visualisation of these images. However, not all women who experience anxiety or self-esteem losses seek radical eating dysfunction in an attempt to achieve the perceived ideal female form. In the United States, 91 percent of all cosmetic surgeries occurring in 2005 were performed on women; not men.22 These surgeries included, most primarily, bust enhancements and facial modification, again indicating that the recipients of these surgeries were driven to attain an ideological series of changes to emulate important reference group figures. It was previously identified that social comparison theory seeks to explain why women often look toward reference groups as a means of enhancing their own personal self-image. When a female who prescribes to this activity attains a downward comparison, meaning that they find superiority in themselves over other women, it enhances mood and motivation. Depression often occurs as a result of downward comparisons.23 It is not, therefore, surprising that women seek cosmetic surgery modifications as it provides more instant gratification toward attaining their perceived ideal female form and appearance. This would, again, serve as even more evidence that women are greatly impacted in terms of their confidence and self-image by continuous exposure to unrealistic female imagery in contemporary media sources that provides them with the incentive to take drastic and radical measures to attain this beauty and vanity ideal. 4. A discussion of findings and potential implications Though most of the provided empirical studies and research literature on the subject of the inter-connectivity between the UK Cosmopolitan and idealised female beauty is theoretical, they do provide the support and foundation for understanding how self-image is potentially affected through exposure to this imagery. Clearly, as indicated by marketing and business theory, women are driven toward products and services that provide them with opportunities to enhance their outward beauty (both fashion related and vanity-inspired) which is a product of attempting to appear, to important reference groups, as a vital and acceptable member of society. Through the attainment of the idealised form provided by evolution in UK society, women provide significant revenues to businesses and UK media sources that are guaranteed through consumption and consumption loyalty for vanity brands. As a result, marketers and such magazines as Cosmopolitan exploit opportunities to further engage women at the psychological level to secure the capital longevity of these media sources and manufacturers of beauty-related products. Marketing theory provides the stable and rather concrete foundation that justifies self-image is greatly influenced by exposure to such media-related imagery. Furthermore, when women maintain the opportunity to enhance their own perceptions of self-image by making social comparisons to other women in society, the end result of achieving a sense of superiority is greater confidence, more enhanced feelings of success and achievement, and establishing a perception of achievement. If women believe they are inferior to the women depicted in the UK Cosmopolitan, the outcome is depressed mood and a feeling of social ineptitude. Whether this is right or wrong is absolutely relative in society, however it does, again, lay much more credence to the notion that self-image is absolutely impacted through continuing exposure to this idealised female form; whether justified socially or not. Science, too, as described through the illustrated research, lends even more support that there are bio-chemical responses (i.e. anxiety) that occur when women believe they have not achieved this perceived pinnacle of female beauty. This anxiety supported through tangible MRI scans of the brain could serve as an explanation for why women develop eating disorders or seek more radical methods to improve their outward appearance using cosmetic surgery opportunities. It is likely that more confident women with a positive self-image would not be developing significant psychological problems, which would seem to support that the UK Cosmopolitan provides ample stimulation and influence that cause women in the country to become psychologically maladjusted. This has serious implications for the social state and welfare of UK women if such imagery is not regulated more dynamically or if this type of idealised female form imagery continues to be exploited in the country for profit. 5. Conclusion There is ample evidence provided through the research in this paper that lends support and credibility that self-image is negatively impacted in women due to how females are portrayed in media imagery. Pre-existing sexism driven by a historically patriarchical society in the UK contributes as the foundation for what idealises the beauty and relevance of the slender female form which, when coupled with the phenomenon of social reference groups as an influential force in this ideal, it is not wholly surprising that women are developing significant issues with esteem and self-image. This paper identified the drivers that contribute to self-image problems and maladjusted psychological states due to social exposure to unrealistic female body imagery, which included social comparison theory, culturally-driven ideologies of the female as an object, inherent social needs for belonging and in-group status, as well as a type of media-generated propaganda that consistently reinforces lack of social relevance in the event that woman become overweight. When these phenomena are combined with social beliefs that overweight women, or those without the more sculpted facial features of attractive celebrity models, cannot find happiness and success in UK society (and abroad), it is likely that they will begin to develop self-image problems that are not just directly attributable to the UK Cosmopolitan, but to deep-rooted social attitudes that are not likely to adjust in the near future. Based on all research findings, self-image is mostly negatively impacted as a result of recurrent exposure to media imagery illustrating the socially-accepted definition of female beauty and form. The UK Cosmopolitan greatly contributes to this psychological scenario by engaging in advertising for many beauty-inspired product manufacturers and those who produce high quality and high priced fashion merchandise shown on these idealised female forms. The UK Cosmopolitan appears to serve as one of the most fundamental and influential source by which self-image is enhanced or depleted, impacting the long-term esteem and perceived self-value of women in the United Kingdom. It would be difficult to refute this hypothesis, in light of the many different domains of study that provide credibility to the idea of self-image problems in contemporary UK society. Read More