Introduction
Women have made significant advancements in the past decades including taking up family roles and leadership responsibilities. Culture has a lot of significance on how a woman looks public, but the images of women portrayed in the media are unethical and unfair. Sexual images of women portrayed in the media have a drastic impact on women and their body images. Additionally, women clothing have changed over centuries with many designers focusing on inventing designs to pleasure men. Images shown in the media each day are a source of identity for modern women who aim at looking attractive and sexy to belong to a particular class. The more women are exposed to media images the more they become dissatisfied with their bodies. The media should protect the image and identity of women. It is unfair the way woman is sexually projected in the media.
Discussion
Changes in women clothing over centuries
Women have been victims of fashion and beauty since the ancient times. In the past, clothes were just a basic need and there were no much ideas of fashion and styles. During the middle Ages, in the 16th century, clothing for women became imperative. The type of clothes worn just differentiated the poor and the rich. In the sixteenth century, only the rich could afford silk and cotton clothing while the poor wore woolen clothes. The trend kept changing each century until the twentieth century when fashion and design became an everyday phenomenon in women clothing. Between the years 1900 and 1920, women clothing composed of simple clothes. Women had more respect in the society and wore long skirts and dresses that covered most parts of the body. However, as the years went along women started wearing short skirts that revealed the ankles and outlined bursts. The influence of the media on women clothing had started taking effect. The modern era between 1920 and 1940, women clothing entered the new era of fashion design. Women started wearing constricting clothing that were fitting and revealed some body parts. The flapper styles of short skirts with small waistlines were a common trend in early twenties (Fashion Forward).
The fashion revolution started in 1960 where most youths became completely revolutionized the fashion and design world. Youths started rebelling against traditional clothing styles and embraced new and modern fashions. Fashion designers experienced challenging moments trying to keep pace with the fast changing clothing trends. By the year 2007, women clothing was fully influenced by the media and social class. The introduction of the technology through the internet made it possible for people to search for fashions and designs from other places. Additionally, frequent advertising in the media affects women’s choices of clothing. Most advertisements promote beautiful images of women of all ages, sizes, and shapes. The anxiety created in the woman’s mind makes her dress in unethical and unsocial manner in the name of fashion and competing with other women. (Britton 11) claimed the beauty industry has negative impacts on body image, self-esteem and perception of beauty.
Women clothing have experienced drastic changes over the last few centuries as fashion and innovations take center stage. Popular apparel fashions and clothing styles keep changing each day. Since 1900 to the present, women clothing have undergone changes with the introduction of new phrases and statement. Additionally, the type of clothing worn by women defines her class in the society. Examples of statements and names used to describe women clothing include wide-leg bell bottoms, deliberately ripped jeans, rear-enhancing bustles, and short flapper dresses. The above and many other descriptions act as major fashions and styles making up different changes in women clothing until the twentieth century.
In the twenty-first century, women clothing was characterized by style, fashion, and class. The presence of the ready to wear industry promoted ever-growing challenges in the women clothing industry. Most women clothing emphasize on breasts, hips, and buttocks. The fashion industry led to the creation of the corset. Wearing corset introduces many side effects to a woman. The corset squeezes the body but changes the woman’s body appearance to make her more attractive and sexy. The corset exerts a lot of pressure in the body that affects the health of the woman (The Pragmatic Costumer 2). Most media advertisements demonstrate women wearing corsets, which look beautiful and attractive. In the same manner, other women follow the suit and purchase such garments without considering the long-term effects they have on a person’s health. The 21st-century women clothing expose most body parts especially the breasts. Additionally, women with larger and curved hips appear more attractive to men. The corset fashion allows modern women expose all these to men, but most women have endured painful suffering because of wearing the corset.
People who made significant changes in women fashion
The media affects the positive image of women in the modern society because of introducing fashions and styles that do not demonstrate the real nature of women. The topic of the negative body image of women has found a lot of debate in the modern society. Some fashion designers have introduced some changes in the fashion industry to keep the good image of women. Coco Chanel made a significant impact in the women fashion by changing women’s fashion. Coco was voted the most influential fashion designer. She studied changes in women fashion and designs over centuries and came up with new clothing styles that created less impact on the society and respected the woman’s image. Firstly, Coco introduced trousers for women and made it a popular fashion in the community. She was a conservative woman who preferred sailor’s pants to swimming costumes while in the beach to avoid exposing her body to the public. Her influence was high and many of her followers embraced the same style.
On the other hand, Coco came up with a suntan in the 20th century. The suntan helped in covering the body and people could not easily differentiate brown from the black skin. The design received a lot of acceptance from many of Coco’s followers and was associated with wealth and beauty. Additionally, Coco designed a Jersey specifically made for men’s underwear. The design was simple, comfortable, and practical and more popular than the corset (Anonymous).
Oprah Winfrey acts as another woman creating a lot of impact on women and fashion by emphasizing on traditional fashions. Oprah hosts women show that focus on women’s life. Despite hosting one of the most popular media shows in the world, Oprah knows how to control her life and never influenced by latest fashion and trends. She dresses decently for her viewers and acts as a role model for many young women being mislead by advertisements in the media. Viewers of the Oprah Winfrey Show love and trust her because she engages them in real talks that have a lot of significance in human life. Oprah appeared in many magazines and advertised for many companies, but she is always presentable (Evans 37-44). Oprah makes a lot of significance in women clothing industry. She advices her viewers to overcome media temptations that make women go almost naked in the name of fashion, class and style. A woman of high class does not have to show off by wearing mini-skirts and exposing all her cleavage. Dressing decently attracts a lot of points and decreases sexual desires from men
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Impact of media sexuality on women’s wear
Women live in constant scrutiny about their beauty and would do everything possible to ensure they become attractive and sexy. The society through media representations influences the image of the woman. The media image and the body image have a great correlation among European girls aged 7-12. Exposure of teenagers to television and other forms of media such as social media channels affects their mode of clothing. On the other hand, the advancement in technology has increases exposure to many forms of media where women get information on fashion and beauty. Additionally, introduction of portable devices such as Smartphone and tablets that are internet enabled enhance frequent communication and between people from all corners of the world. The impact created by such devices affects the shape and image of women in the modern society. For example, women admire ideals created by the media inform of models and celebrities that have the negative impact on women (James 3).
On the other hand, the media exposes women to a lot of unnecessary information related to human sexuality. The media presents a woman as a sex tool for creating attraction and advertising products to men. Women go to an extent of dieting and wearing shaping clothing to develop good shapes similar to those advertised in the media. Most girls and young women never understand the underlying objective of media advertisements. Advertisements only convince people to buy products with the aim of making profits and never worry about side effects to consumers. Women go to an extent of risking their health just to conform to the high beauty standards shown in the media (James 4). Top celebrities spend millions of money on plastic surgery and other beauty processes only to look attractive and sexy in order to feature in top selling magazines. Kate Thomas from (Daily Mail) identified Charlotte Crosby showing off her slim figure in a short fitting dress that exposed her thighs.
Advertising has gone to extreme levels where industries use naked women to advertising their products. The relationship between woman’s economic roles as consumer, advertising, and the consumer goods in the industry explains sex-roles played by advertisements in the media. Most commercial target women as their first customers; hence, focuses on manipulating the female image to persuade more customers to buy. The method the media projects a woman while advertising company products interferes with the cultural and social understanding of sexuality. People are continuously exploiting the woman’s body for advertising ignoring other aspects of woman’s personality and rights (Ceulemans, and Fauconnier 3-9). The media is responsible for numerous health, and physical effects experienced by women in the modern society as they try to look like other women used in advertisements.
The way forward
In order to educate women on the bad influence of media on their sexuality and lifestyle, women started media literacy programs. The main objective of the media literacy program is to create more awareness to women and girls about messages and images portrayed in the media. The program teaches viewers about the negative effects of media on individuals and the society. Many advertisements draw viewers into employing unethical means to look good and attractive. The program has created a lot of significance in the life of modern women and girls. The pioneers of the program realized that the media portray certain standards for women that do not fit their present class. Women from the black ethnic group are more affected by media advertisements as they try to reach the class of white counterparts. In order to make the society aware of negative impacts of media on women, the literacy program takes socioeconomic and racial grounds into consideration (Ossola). On the other hand, parents should limit their children exposure to media by educating them on the need to look natural and avoid engaging in beauty programs.
Conclusion
The media creates a lot of significance to the life of a woman. The discussion demonstrates how women clothing underwent different changes to the present designs and styles. Additionally, the media is accused of portraying a bad image of women in the society by using them as sex objects in advertisements. The works of Coco and Oprah were significance in changing the mode of clothing in women by encouraging casual and decent dresses that cause disturbance to the wearer and the society. Therefore, media secularity should cease from projecting women unfairly.
Works Cited
Anonymous. Seven wonders: How Coco Chanel changed the course of women’s fashion. September 4, 2013. Web April 29, 2015 http://www.wonderlandmagazine.com/2013/09/seven-wonders-how-coco-chanel-changed-the-course-of-womens-fashion/
Britton, Ann Marie, "The Beauty Industry's Influence on Women in Society.” Honors Theses. Paper 86. (2012).
Ceulemans, Mieke., and Fauconnier, Guido. Mass Media: The image, role, and social conditions of women. Paris: United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. 1979
Evans, David. Women in business. England: Pearson Education Limited
Fashion Forward. The history of 20th century women’s clothing. May 2, 2007. Web April 29, 2015 http://www.randomhistory.com/1-50/003clothing.html
James Nicole. Society’s Influence on the Perception of Beauty. n.d. Web http://www.essex.ac.uk/sociology/documents/research/publications/ug_journal/vol10/2013sc111_nicolejames_final.pdf
Ossola, Alexander. The media’s effect on women’s body image. 1 September 2010. Web 29 April 2015 http://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/the-medias-effect-on-womens-body-image
The Pragmatic Costumer. With and without: How wearing a corset affects you and your clothes. September 17, 2012. Web April 29, 2015 https://thepragmaticcostumer.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/with-and-without-how-wearing-a-corset-affects-you-and-your-clothes/
Thomas Kate. Charlotte Crosby shows off her toned figure in bodycon dress as former Geordie Shore co-star Sophie Kasaei also looks noticeably slimmer. 26 April 2015. Web 29 April 2015 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3056051/Charlotte-Crosby-shows-slim-figure-bodycon-dress.html
