Its The Beauty Pageants Media Essay

Its The Beauty Pageants Media Essay By definition, the beauty pageant is a competition in which young women are judged by physical appearance alone. As the old saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Beauty, as determined by a panel of judges (the beholders), means that someone who is considered attractive to one person may not necessarily appeal to another, and it allows judges to set the standard of what is beautiful or not. If this was a perfect world, maybe everyone would follow the wise words of this old saying and admit that evaluating beauty is only a matter of personal taste and contemporary standards and trends. However, society often turns every aspect of a persons life into a competition. The beauty pageant is perhaps one competition society could do without. Beauty pageants are an unnecessary entertainment of society because they set unrealistic beauty standards for an audience of easily influenced young women, they encourage judging a persons worth based on appearance only, rather than on a persons character, and they objectify young women. In the world of beauty pageants, there is only one kind of beauty. This one kind of beauty is Barbie: tall, long-legged, tiny waist, straight white teeth, long thick hair. These beauty pageants can be misleading and harmful, not only to women without this body type, but to society as a whole. The standard that beauty pageants strive for is not an all-encompassing idea of beauty, but one that is shallow and looks only at a womans physical appearance. Beauty pageant organizers have striven for years to ensure that contestants have an opportunity to show their skills before they are crowned a beauty queen, but the reality is that a woman not fitting the physical standards of beauty competition would nev er be considered to enter a competition. Beauty pageants promote the idea that looks are superior to a persons abilities, feelings and heart. These young women are judged only on the basis of physical appearance. The talent component of competition just does not have much weight simply because an ugly person (a person who does not have a body fitting with the accepted standards of the time) could never win a competition, and often would not compete at all. Judging young women primarily on their looks takes important character developments out of focus because other qualities, such as intelligence, are not seen as part of ideal femininity and therefore not as things to which women should aspire. Miss USA 2002 went to a tall, blonde Texas woman who won the crowd when she stated that education was important and that you can tell if someone has an education by looking at them (Cornforth, 1). Perhaps her intent was to promote the value of education, but the statement instead implied that important character traits and intelligence can be summed up by a glance. (Dont judge a book by its cover, to use another familiar saying.) Young women are judged mainly on their physical appearance, while their personal qualities and talents are not judged. Beauty pageants include quizzes in which the contestants show their intelligence by answering questions that are really just demonstrations of adhering to the social norms of the time. These questions are always very simple, broad questions involving current issues such as health care, gay marriage, and abortion. The contestants are discouraged from answering in a way that demonstrates their own personal opinions; if a girl is on a stage being evaluated by a panel of liberal judges in front of a liberal audience, she would never speak against gay marriage or abortion, but would give the answer that would most likely please the crowd. In this way, she is only learning to give the popular answer and not analyze what her own beliefs are, and then learn to defend those beliefs. Beauty pageants are misleading to young women. Very few women are born with a body that fits the current standard of beauty. A majority of young women dont have a body which adheres to the current social standard of the time. These young women tend to be viewed as plain but they can clean up and look beautiful but they cannot stand the pressure. After watching beauty pageants, plain young women often lower their self esteem (these young women dont do this on purpose) and some young women then try to make themselves look more attractive. Besides, for beauty pageants winners, their success often gives them the need to do after ward is to keep up and improve their physical beauty (physical body), and as a result many no longer live up to further education or other ways of professional development. Beauty pageants strongly promote the negative aspect that young women are seen as objects of sexual interest. These contests fail to challenge harmful political attitudes to young women. They do nothing to aid the liberation of young women. By promoting looks as the most important feminine quality, they harm young womens liberation in general. On the 17th of February the Campus National Organization for Women protested the Miss MAO Beauty Pageant (Gats, 1). They handed out four-hundred protest flyers which stated their disgust with Florida Blue Key and the University of Florida for holding a sexist pageant where women must be checked out in swimsuits and parade themselves in skin-tight evening gowns in order to be awarded scholarship money. (Gats, 1) In this way, beauty pageants encourage young women to see and promote themselves as an object (like a car) to be judged by men. Beauty pageants hurt young women by treating them as objects held up to a strict standard of beauty, a standa rd that is painful, time consuming, and expensive for young women to try to achieve. Beauty pageants can be misleading by having young women lower their personal standards of sexuality. At what age is it appropriate for a young woman to be called sexy? Young women have a huge role model role in a little girl. Little girls look up to these young women because they are beautiful, if these young women are wearing immodest clothes to be sexy, then these little girls will want to do the same. These little girls should not be worried about trying to be sexy, they should enjoy a healthy childhood as girls who are developing talents and interests and whose worth is evaluated by their poise, intelligence, hard work, kindness, and grace. Beauty pageants are well promoted by the media with television and images, which influence young womens opinions on appearance. The participants of these pageants are poor role models for these young women as they set a standard for an almost unhealthy body weight, unrealistic breast size, and flawless complexion standards. Only a small minority of women can realistically achieve this ideal female body. The media pressures all young women to conform which can encourage unhealthy dieting and eating disorders, tanning, cosmetic surgery, and simply to keep working to achieve unrealistic, temporary goals that often have irreversible damages. An article, titled Thoughts about Miss Teen USA, out of a local American magazine was written by a young women teen in 2005, who had just watched Miss Teen on NBC. Her wrap up of the beauty pageant was; White teeth. White teeth. Prom-style dress. Blonde. White teeth. Blonde. Chandelier earrings. Tan. Blonde. Tan. Strapless gown. followed by, Thats al l you need to know (Callow, 1). The statement made by this young women teen is not one that is from a minority. She is one of thousands that view this as the norm for a woman of beauty. It is not healthy or realistic for a young woman to think there is one type of beauty or one type of accepted body. It is harmful and could lead to both physical and emotional damage. The media has so many affects of young women; they wish to be as perfect as the beauty queen on television, magazines, and internet. These young women will do anything it takes to become the next beauty queen, even it causes them to go on diets or get plastic surgery. In a high percentage of Hollywood films, even those in which the young woman should be portrayed as a strong willed, independent heroine, usually feature young women being played off as sex objects. Though there is nothing wrong with a woman being classified as sexy, it should not be the main focus. One made of uniqueness, intelligence and charm is what should be promoted. Movies such as Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Charlies Angels send the same message to young woman that beauty pageants do, which is that only one kind of body is acceptable. This is harmful to a majority of young women as beauty pageants are encouraging men to treat them as an object rather than young women with opinions and uniqueness. Joel Yager, M.D. writes: Every society has a way of torturing its women, whether by binding their feet or by sticking them into whalebone corsets. What contemporary American culture has come up with is designer jeans. (94). With media pressuring young women to be thin and a millions of dollars spent towards dieting, higher rates of eating disorders in the population are growing (Gats, 2). Many beauty pageant contestants suffer from some form of eating disorder. Anorexia (starvation to loose weight) and bulimia (binge eating) are the two main eating disorders. Young women who suffer from anorexia have the fear of being fat so severe that they starve themselves to weight loss, often leading to death (Gats, 2). Even when anorexic young women are thin, they think of themselves too fat. A low self esteem causes them to fear even taking a small amount of food. Bulimia is binge eating that following a pattern such as, eating compulsively and then throwing it up. After a binge young women eats, they try to control themselves by throwing up their food through vomiting. Young women have extreme habits of both eating and exercising. Ideally, beauty pageants should be healthy role models, but this is not the case. To be beautiful in the world means that a young woman never feels decent about herself, she is always putting herself down. If a woman does not see her body as acceptable, she will often be driven to change it, and these changes are often drastic. Plastic surgery can be used to alter any body part: the breasts, lips, thighs, and stomach are among the most popular. Plastic surgery can be especially harmful to adolescents. When a young women have plastic surgery done at such a early age, the risk for diseases such as breast cancer are extremely high. Many young women are striving to look their best, and they feel that plastic surgery is the only way to go. They do not stop to think about the long-term consequences of the surgery. They want instant results, meaning that they will often pay thousands of dollars to alter bodies that had nothing wrong them in the first place. The promotion of this single standard of physical beauty is harmful to women everywhere because it discourages girls to love the body they are born with. The simple and realistic truth is that there are some physical aspects of a persons body that are impossible to change, and promoting the tall, slim, supermodel figure as being the only accepted body type excludes different styles. Every year more than one million people are diagnosed with skin cancer in the United States. Despite this fact, hundreds of thousands of people routinely visit tanning salons (Cornforth, 1). Tanning beds generally give off 93% to 99% UVA radiation (Cornforth, 1). This is three times the UVA radiation given off by the sun! Over time, the effects of too much UVA exposure can lead to many different problems such as eye damage, immune system changes, wrinkles and premature aging of the skin, and skin cancers. The most common cancer is malignant melanoma, it is the deadliest form and its degree is flat out rising in young women under 40 (Cornforth, 1). Beauty pageants are an unnecessary element in society because they set unrealistic beauty standards for an audience. There are beauty pageants out there which attempt to create a judgment of well-balanced young women. These sorts of competitions are trying to promote the intelligence mixed with beauty side, which should be heavily commended. However, beauty pageants in which beauty is emphasized as a solitary basis for winning are dangerous and harmful to society. Young women are fragile, as they try to find a place for themselves in this world. When someone sees the pain of a young women struggling with eating disorders, hears a young women beg to convince her parents to allow her to get plastic surgery because they cant stand a certain part of their body, it can be concluded that beauty pageants do a great disservice to the winners, the losers, and all children. Personal hope would be that an organization such as to find a better way to lift up the spirit of our young women. WORK CITED: Gats, Thomas. Are Beauty Pageants Harmful?. October 27, 2008 >. Cornforth, Tracee. Are Indoor Tanning Booths Safe?. September 09, 2009 . Callow, Clare. How Beauty Contests Harmful. Septemeber 10, 2009: 2004.

Essay --

Consumerism, the key tool of social manipulation is considered a child of globalization and represents a set of beliefs, and values that owning material goods is placed very high on the list of priorities. Earlier value system through which we concluded what people really need in life is slowly replaced by the advertisements that people dictate what is fashionable . We no longer know who lives the way he wants to live , and who lives according to " rules " and norms of what is proclaimed in the media . Without adequate personal value system , the question is how our needs may indeed be real and not subject to consumerism . Simply put , today's society has become a consumer society in which no one is happy and by spending money people are trying to fill their lives with joy , a feeling that they are strong , powerful and lead their life the way they want . Is it really so , or is it all a well organised illusion in the minds of marketing professionals ? Consumerism became a force in only a few decades. It started to move the social and economic development of the world , and the only question is in which direction . When talking about this concept , it is certainly not new , but dates back to ancient Mesopotamia , and the first hint of today's practices come in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Britain, where the middle class wants to copy their idols at royal functions. Buying only out of necessity becames not important. More important is to have the things that the rich one has. Consumerism has its roots also in the British society of the time after war. Shopping and enjoying financial freedom was at that time in Britain a relaxation for men who returned from the battlefield . The thought they deserve to make up for los... ...British people. Routine that teaches that it is not important to know , but it's important to spend. People spend seeking acceptance in the community, knowing that society rejects those who do not want or do not have nothing to spend. Thus , it appears that the thesis " money can buy happiness " is slowly becoming a reality . This is supported by the fact that all the greater importance is placed on material goods and the value system of the people changed . It is interesting , however, that although obsessed with consumerism and supplied with money , the British are not the happiest people in the world . Statistics show that the happiest people are in Pakistan , Bangladesh , Vietanam and even Kosovo, where everyone has the time for their families and themselves. However, the modern man is not worth as much as his knowledge, but as much as he has and he can spend.

Greenfield vs Brownfield Sites for Housing Development

Greenfield vs Brownfield Sites for Housing Development A Brownfield site is land which has been developed previously and is or has been occupied by a permanent structure. It may be in an urban or rural setting. It does not include agricultural land, forest or parks. Whereas a Greenfield site is Land which has not been occupied by a permanent structure. It usually applies to land in the countryside but can be undeveloped land within an urban setting. Both of these sites can be ideal for the development of new housing but both also have benefits and drawbacks to doing so. Firstly redeveloping Brownfield sites eases pressure on Greenfield sites and is more sustainable. Although Greenfield sites are often on the edge of towns and cities and may have better access, have less congestion, be in a more pleasant environment and have more space and room to expand. Redeveloping a Brownfield site would cause House prices to increase in inner city areas as people are encouraged back to the area. This is a benefit for people already living there but, this might mean that other people cannot afford the houses, and the council will have to provide for them which may cause problems. Basic Infrastructure already exists in Brownfield sites but in Greenfield sites new drainage, electricity, roads etc. would all have to be produced deeming them more expensive. Although Light industry and Science Parks favour out of town locations on Greenfield sites opposed to Brownfield sites and crucially so do their workers who are happier to live away from urban areas. New sites are easier to build on as remains of previous land use do not need to be cleared making them more attractive to retail parks, housing developers etc. But using Greenfield sites is not sustainable as there is too much pressure on the rural-urban fringe therefore making the development of Brownfield sites a better option. There is an issue of contamination and making sites safe for development, given what the land may have been used for before but towns and cities do not want their areas to decay and redeveloping these areas results in more people coming to the area. This helps local businesses as more people means more customers. Building on Greenfield sites on the other hand pulls people out of the towns and cities causing shops etc. aving to re locate on the edge of and towns and cities. In conclusion I feel looking at the benefits and drawbacks of using Brownfield and Greenfield sites for housing redevelopment it would be most beneficial to use Brownfield sites firstly because it is the more sustainable option also the basic infrastructure already exists as well as there being public transport links already in place in many area s. Also it is would help develop areas which may be suffering and increase house prices within that area, making them more wealthy and hopefully lowering crime rates etc.

Examining The Use Of The Atomic Bomb - 2800 Words

Brian K. Edwards 2/18/15 Dr. Antizzo Contempory Politic Ideologies Examining the Use of the Atomic Bomb Just to provide historical background information on the issue I am about to address I will first set the scene. On the morning of December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The attacked lasted a little over two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and almost 200 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. The day after the assault, President†¦show more content†¦The approach of this paper is to examine both sides of the spectrum, whether the liberal viewpoints would have cancelled or delayed the use of the bomb or whether the conservative approach would have still caused the U.S.to use the bomb in the war of the Pacific and to argue the difference. The reason for contesting the use of the atomic bomb is because I believe if people especially those in power would have known that those effects would last through the 21st Century then more discussing would be on how to prevent from using it, then to make the atomic bomb a focus to end the war in the pacific. It has been well documented that the use of this weapon takes on a more conservative approach to military tactics. A liberal viewpoint would consist more humanitarian ideology so it is hard to believe that a liberal would agree the using of the atomic bomb even though the damage was currently unknown. To begin it is important to acknowledge that there will never be a solid answer to the question, only a varying opinion both often going back to the same conclusion, that yes it was necessary. The first essay will be in support of destroying Hiroshima and Nagasaki which takes on a more conservative approach, not just