Final Exam: question 2

2) Pop culture is made up of music, music videos, fashion, television, advertisements, and much more. These are all things that, as a society, we are subject to on a daily basis, and they can have a big impact on the way we live our lives. The whole reason it is called pop culture is because it is popular. Some important aspects of our lives that pop culture can effect is our beauty standards and our body image. It can have both negative and positive effects.
One of the negative effects it has had was to normalize the use of pornography in the media. As Jessica Valenti says in Pop Culture Gone Wild "pop culture is becoming increasingly pornified" (p 41). She speaks on the fact that pornography is becoming more and more acceptable. This can effect beauty standards because it can make females (especially young girls) feel that they have to flaunt their selves to be pretty, or to get a guy to like them. This could also make them feel that they must be more and more promiscuous to be accepted. This can harm their body image if they do not want to compromise their morals or their body and they are ridiculed for it.
Another negative effect pop culture has had is the rise of "raunch Culture." Not just pornography but also things like there are young girls that walk around in shorts with "juicy" written on the butt. I really think it is about people losing track of their morals these days. Young girls are not told to stand up for their morals and values, they are taught to shake their asses. As it is stated in the book Female Chauvinist Pigs, "only thirty years ago (my lifetime), our mothers were burning their bras and picketing Playboy, and suddenly we were getting implants and wearing the bunny logo."(Levy, 2).
This brings me to one more negative effect of pop culture, cosmetic and plastic surgery. I know that some say it is good because it can boost body image of self confidence, but I think that it just hurts it. Are you really going to be happy thinking about the fact that you had to go spend thousands of dollars and go through a painful procedure just to fit into the beauty standards of our culture? I think not. I think this is very sad and hurts our beauty standards because it makes them even harder for girls to live up to them, and this can have adverse effects on their body image.
One positive effect pop culture has had is that it shows us that we can express ourselves in so many other ways than in the past. There is so much expressionism compared to times before. You can pretty much be whoever you want to be and there will be a place you will feel accepted. I am not saying you will be accepted to the mainstream beauty standards, but there seems to be a lot more room for defying those precedents for beauty in the past. This can be good for body image because it can make people feel that there is some place in the world that they fit in.
Another positive aspect to pop culture is that I think it has brought about room for other races and ethnicities to be a part of our societies beauty standards. I know we have discussed in lecture that before (like in the 90's) really the only beauty standard was of a tall bleach blond, blue-eyed, Baywatch babe. Now there are so many other images of beautiful women in the media. They might not have a fair share, and they might be depicted differently that white women but I think there is more room for differing beauty standards now.
The other positive effect pop culture has had on body image is that we have been made more aware of the adverse effects that eating disorders can have on our bodies. There have been many movies and documentaries that expose just how bad they can be for your body. I think this has helped Body image because pop culture has at least tried to 'deglamorize' eating disorders.