Essay Sample on Media’s Physical Standards for Men and Women

📌Category: Beauty, Entertainment, Health, Human Body, Life, Mental health, Social Media
📌Words: 1498
📌Pages: 6
📌Published: 13 April 2022

Men and women pay a lot of attention when it comes to the media. The reason is because the media demonstrates the way people want to look. That is when physical, facial appearance, expenses, and mental health come into play. There are causes and effects on the outcome of these standards. Men and women also have differences when it comes to their reactions, but at the same time, they still share the same standards. Both men and women share standards for their physical appearance, and media plays a significant role in the effects. 

Female body standards affect the way they feel about their physical appearance when it comes to their body, face, and health due to different types of media. There are a lot of different media like social media, TV shows, magazines, and movies. When women see a model for example, they tend to want to look like the model because that is the way a woman should look like. For instance, “[a] red flag is expected to go up if a woman is described as “having sharp elbows or being brusque”(Belkin). This shows that women tend to want to look a specific way so they won't feel left out. Women don't just pay attention to their bodies, they also want to make sure they have perfect skin and facial features. For example, “Still, they found average women’s daily face routine involves the application of a whopping 16 products”(Elesser). This just shows how women spend lots of money on products for their faces because it is really important for them to have great skin.  When it comes to facial structure, women tend to want their face to be slime and sometimes even want their nose to be small instead of having a big nose. Women also want to live a healthy lifestyle just like some influencers. They tend to want to have everything put together and make it seem like their life is put together. For example, a healthy body, healthy eating habits, and exercising. On the other hand some man standards are a little different. 

Physique, facial appearance, and weight are the standards that men are mostly held to when it comes to media. Men obviously take the way they look a little more serious than women would. For instance, they need to have muscles and look more bulky. When men and young men watch movies like for example a Marvel movie they see the superheroes look fit and how they are supposed to look like. So men tend to believe that if they look like that they are strong and powerful and they can do anything because they feel like a bigger person. There are other reasons such as “the "ideal," steroid-boosted bodies of actors and models and because their muscles are all they have over women today” (Cloud 1). Men also tend to want to look good for women because they feel like that's the only way they can get people's attention. Men also pay more attention to how their face looks. They feel like they need to have the perfect colored eyes, jawline, facial hair, and the nicest hairstyle. Captain America is seen as one of the most handsome superheroes and it places a big role in mens standards. If men have body fat, they look at other men in the media: “[n]ow, young men are inundated with the pressure to have Captain America’s washboard abs and bodies devoid of an ounce of body fat” (Abdelmahmoud). Men feel pressured to have a six-pack, huge muscles, and pecs. Which leads them to working out a lot and figuring out what can help them achieve those goals. Furthermore, the standard females see in the media, they cause more effects. 

Mental health and physical effects of female standards include plastic surgery and financial effects. Females tend to want it more easily and decide to get surgery done instead. The reason why is because they want to get everything done as soon as possible, and they want their results to be shown right away. Nowadays, having a BBL is the most popular form of plastic surgery for women that comes from social media. Females also get surgery done on their faces for example, a nose job. Women sometimes get a nose job because either their nose is too big or it is too small. There are also women who get botox and lip filler and they both have to do with what women put into their face. The reason why women do all these types of surgerys is because people tend to talk about the way they already look. For instance, “Girls are more likely than boys to have a negative body image”(Office on Women's Health). People judge women and young women when it comes to how they look. Which can lead them to having depression and making them feel like they do not belong. Depression can lead women to having mental health problems and even anxiety. Females spend lots of money on different types of facial products for example, “The women surveyed who said they routinely spend money on their appearance spend an average of $3,756 a year (or $313 a month), which adds up to $225,360 throughout their entire lifetime” (Groupon). This shows that females are willing to spend tons of money just because they need to look a certain way and also because people tell them they need to look perfect or they need to change. Men also experience effects due to the media and the standards it represents. 

Men experience mental and physical effects that lead to steroids, eating disorders and expenses. Males can workout and do different types of exercises that can help them grow their muscles but some of them decide that they would like them bigger which leads them to taking steroids. Steroids are a type of medication that helps men but can also have side effects. For example some of the side effects are weight gain, increased appetite, muscle weakness, blurry vision, easy bruising, lower resistance, and many more. There are effects that men think are okay and it can help them gain but at the same time there are bad effects. Men are willing to pay lots of money for the gym so they can workout: “[l]ast year American men forked over $2 billion for gym memberships--and another $2 billion for home exercise equipment. Men's Health ("Rock-hard abs in six weeks!" it screams every other issue) had 250,000 subscribers in 1990; now it has 1.6 million. In 1996 alone, men underwent some 700,000 cosmetic procedures”(Cloud 2). This shows that men are the ones who spend more money on gym memberships and spend lots of money so they can have their own workout equipment at home when they can go to the gym. Men tend to get eating disorders such as binge eating; this can lead to serious health problems and mental problems. For example, “males are more likely to struggle with binge eating disorder and Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) as opposed to anorexia”(The Truth About Male Body Image Issues). When a male is feeling a certain way they are not the type to talk about it so they keep it to themselves which can be really bad for them. Mental health and the eating disorders can affect them in many ways such as messing with their personal life like their family and friends and even the relationships with their partners. 

Consequently, men and women share some of the standards represented in the media. 

Males and females share some of the standards in terms of their physical appearance and lifestyle. Men and women both want their bodies to be the ideal body standard. Men and women tend to want the perfect body shape, perfect skin, and even facial appearance. They both want to look beautiful and handsome: “hair and skin quality were identified as the top appearance concerns by both” (Groupon). This shows that females and males need to look good and they both want to achieve that goal because they want people to look at them like they have their life together. Females and males also tend to want to live the perfect and healthy lifestyle of people who are in the media. For example, a healthy body, fit body, healthy diets, and perfect skin. They want to have everything perfect and in place. For instance, during the pandemic that was going on people couldn't go out which made them addicted to the media because they had nothing else to do. Figure 1 best summarizes the similarities of men and women. When someone is really addicted to media it can make males and females believe that they need to live the life others are living.  

In conclusion, When it comes to media, male and females both have the same causes but some are different, which is also true for the effects. Females obviously have different effects and different standards when it comes to their physical appearance. Men also have different standards and effects when it comes to their weight and facial appearance. They both want to have a perfect body and facial appearance that leads to both spending lots of money on different types of areas so they can look ideal. All of these ideas that women and men have are important because they feel like they need to achieve what other people have and because young men and young girls grow up watching these people in the media. This makes them want to be like people they see in the media, and it can affect both in many ways that can even lead to women and men making serious decisions, such as endangering their lives.

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