SOCIOLOGY PAPER

When you told us about this twenty five “research paper” on the first day of class, I automatically started brainstorming ideas of what I might want to write about. From the start, I was extremely apprehensive due to the fact that I had never written a paper longer than five pages and this was my first legitimate research paper. However, it was not until I saw examples of past papers that I understood that you were not looking for twenty five pages explicitly of research, but that this paper you assigned was more to log our research progress. After seeing previous research papers from your former students I was able to have a much clearer understanding of what you are expecting from this paper. This paper is geared towards helping us expand on our research skills, as well as being able to learn about a topic that interested us in sociology.

Seeing as though this was my first sociology class, I took to the internet for some guidance as to what I might want to write about. I did some research online looking up other research paper topics that students who took Sociology classes had written about. However it did not take me long to figure out the direction I wanted to go in due to my feminist ways. After looking up different ideas, I found that sexualizing women in the media had become a recurring theme in many different articles I had been reading. I typed in Google “what is a good topic to write a sociology paper on?”. I found “Great Research Topics” on hubpages.com and “Sample Topics for the Sociology 101 Paper” from midlandtech.edu. They basically just gave me a list of topics that seemed to interest people in sociology and from those two sources I knew I wanted to write about women and how they are portrayed in the media. I did not take a specific topic from either of the sources I only used them to guide me towards the topic I wanted to write about. I myself am a feminist and have been from the time I was able to understand that women should have the same amount of opportunity as a man does, so I knew this would be the perfect topic for me. A common belief among us “feminist” women is that women are victim to injustices because of our female sex. It is also believed, and in many cases proven, that men are at a greater advantage due to the fact that they are males. For example, men to this day on average still make more per dollar than a woman does ( http://www.iwpr.org/initiatives/pay-equity-and-discrimination ). Nonetheless, the views that feminists have can be a whole other research paper on its own!

As stated, my personal views guided me to the decision that I wanted to write about the demeaning image young-women have in advertising. I have been interested in this topic for quite some time now, but have never taken the time to actually learn or research exactly what it is about society and their need to sexualize women at such a young age. Since I was younger, myself as well as many other young girls often wondered what it takes to be one of these beautiful women on a magazine or in TV advertisements. It took some growing up to understand that a lot of these women presented in the media are in fact not as perfect as they appear to be but that a lot of their exotic features come from computer programs such as Photoshop. However, it would be a disservice to these women in the magazines to not appreciate them for their true beauty, the beauty that does not require media adding special effects.

Once I realized I wanted to write about the young-woman and how they are portrayed in advertising, I came up with the very general topic “Image of Young Women in Advertising” and discussed it with you. My enthusiasm for this topic was appreciated by you, but you kindly told me that my topic was unfortunately not narrow enough. At first I was a little upset because I thought what isn’t specific about “The Image of Young-Women in Advertising” but after doing more research I realized that this paper was too short to talk about all the forms of advertisement and how young-women are represented in all of them. When starting my preliminary research I tried to focus on the youth in advertising more than women in general because I felt as though it was more specific. While doing this research I used key words like image of young women. I then realized that I should maybe change young women to adolescent women. From there I started searching in google the image of adolescent women, adolescent women in the media and realized that there were too many forms of media to write how women are represented in each of them. At this point I had a research topic that could help me to write a novel's worth of information, not a research paper. I also realized that with Google I was going to spend more time trying to find credible articles and sources that would be appropriate for a research paper than was necessary. So from there I used all the same phrases, but instead I started using Google Scholar.

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While searching women in advertising an article The Sexual Objectification of Women in Advertising: A Contemporary Cultural Perspective ( http://pure.au.dk/portal/files/10594/8_-_sexual_objectification_of_women.pdf ) came about, where I found useful information but finally understood how broad of a topic I in fact chose. As I continued reading this article, I stumbled upon a section discussing the sexual objectification of women in advertising and the effect it has on attitudes of women in society. After reading this section, I became interested in the fact that the role portrayal of women in todays media in fact affects how society believes a woman should act or look. Researchers Ford, LaTour and Lundstrom (1991 ADD CITING HERE) surveyed the attitudes women had towards female role portrayals in advertising. The results of this survey said that while women are still critical in the way they are portrayed in advertisements and still thought that advertisements treated them mainly as sex objects, women today are much more forgiving of companies that portray women as sex objects than they were decade ago or even a year ago! (CITE HERE)I became utterly fascinated with the fact that women in modern times are less concerned with how they are viewed as a gender and started to question why women are more accepting of being publicly degraded in todays society. So I decided I would base my research question off of how women are depicted in the media.

How are young women portrayed in the media?

SUB1: How does this portrayal affect young women’s self esteem?

SUB2: Does the media really affect young women’s opinion of themselves and their gender on a whole?

SUB3: Has the attitude of women changed over time when it comes to how they are portrayed in the overall media?

I originally thought that the research question and subquestions would be a good guide to help me start my paper, but I myself felt as though the main question itself was too broad. After discussing my topic and showing my peers(Christina) what I had come up with, I was advised to possibly narrow my topic even more. I was told that while young women may seem narrow, it is overall a very general question that she suggested may be hard to answer. She suggested to possibly narrow it down to how young women are portrayed in a specific part of the media, perhaps television or magazines. However, when previously doing preliminary research I found that there was not enough information about how young women are portrayed in one specific type of advertisement. It was not until I spoke with you again when you confirmed uneasy feelings I had about my topic and told me this was also not specific enough. I started to think that maybe I did not do enough preliminary research. So I decided to take a different route with it, and do my best to find a research question for my topic that went along with what your requirements while also trying to branch off from my original general topic. I must say it was not easy, but I knew this topic was something I needed to write about while I had the chance so I knew I had to come up with a more narrow topic. I was starting to learn that before I figure out research question I needed to examine journals, books and do more preliminary research to make sure that I had enough information to prove my argument.

At this point I realized I had come up with a research question and sub question to follow, but it seemed as though I was actually lacking in research, big time. Before I handed in my first draft, I thought I was on track with some of the research I have done. But in reality I had no solid research, and nothing that was going to help me with a research paper. So I decided that even though I would be taking my paper a different route, I would still use some of the keywords I had gathered before. I used key words like adolescent, young women, advertising, anything in hopes to find a direction I wanted to head to.

Using the phrase, women in magazines on Google Scholar helped me to find a wonderful paper “Women in Britain” (file:///C:/Users/Library/Desktop/WomenInBritain.pdf), however this article was geared more toward British women, but it seems as though the objectification of women in the media is not only an issue in America, but global issue as well. This paper was a great read, but I thought that since the paper focused on Britains media issues that it may take me away from my goal which was to narrow my topic. I wrote down a few notes that I thought might be of some use for my paper in the future, but there is a slim chance that I will be using much information from this source. As for sources that this source cited I found nothing that see would really help me further in my research.

I began to feel as though I had to start from square one. So I spent time in the library looking up all types of different questions related to women in the media and came upon the keyword body modification. I started looking into body modification through the Rider EBSCO databases and came across what I thought would be sufficient amount of information for a paper. I began looking up new keywords like body modification, women and body modification, and body image. Growing up made me become resentful of that fact that the media has a need to make less superior women compared to celebrities feel inferior and self-conscious. I myself have had plastic surgery due to an uncomfortability with my self image so I knew it would be something I could relate to and would be interested in learning about.

I came across an article Women and Weight: Gendered Messages on Magazine Covers (CITE ARTICLE HERE)  that provides credible proof that feminist researchers have reported that the media does provide women with this distorted view that there is an ideal that women in our society should strive to look like. For the majority of the female population this “image” is close to impossible to attain. Due to the fact that women are unable to resemble this “beauty ideal” they are left with feelings of inadequacy. (Faludi, 1991; Freedman, 1986; Wolf 1991) On top of the media feeding women these unrealistic expectations, cosmetic manufacturers and weight loss programs try and convince women that if they purchase their product or take part in their programs then they are able to eliminate their imperfections (Freedman, 1986).  I found this article to be the perfect fit for the direction I was trying to take my paper. I started to question why the media needs women to feel as though they have to mirror an unrealistic image in order to feel good about themselves. What is this “look” that women strive to achieve?

Does the media’s ideal of what a women should look like effect a woman's self image enough to undergo body modification?  

SUB1: How are women portrayed in the media?

SUB2: Why do women feel the need to obtain this look?

SUB3: Has body modification increased in recent years?

SUB4: What is the difference between advertisements for women and advertisements for men when it comes to bodily appearance?

My topic seemed to be coming together. So I wanted to make sure when doing my research that I had an understanding of exactly what body modification and body image was, so I started to use the keyword body modification in Google scholar which led me to an article from Bradley University on Body Modification & Body Image. This article seemed to help me understand exactly what a body modification was. Many people believe human bodies to be products of nature however, human bodies are also products of culture. There are many different reasons why cultures, all around the world, modify and reshape the bodies of their people (Barker & Barker 2002: 88-93). This article helped me to answer sub question two, “why do women feel the need to obtain this look?”. Some of the reasons are to mark social status, to conform the body to ideas of beauty in their culture, to present information about one’s personal qualities and accomplishments. For Americans, some body modifications like henna tattooing in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, neck elongation in Thailand and Africa, or tooth filing in Bali might strike us as strange, weird or even exotic (Larkin 2004; Marker & Barker 2002: 88:93). However, what many Americans do not realize is that we modify our bodies as well. Body-building, tanning, ear-piercing, cosmetic surgery, and dieting are all forms of body modification. In fact, practices such as body piercing, tattooing, and scarification are all becoming increasingly popular in the United States. Up until reading this article, I had no idea that ear-piercing, tattooing and tanning were considered forms of body modification. I wrote down notes from this article that I thought would help me tie in my research at the end of the paper.

The Body Modification & Body Image article, also gave the divided opinions on the benefits of body modification. The opinions are divided due to the fact that some believe that body modification can improve self- esteem. However, contrast opinions say that it is culture that values youth, sexuality, and appearance more than experience. These opinionists believe that today's culture has a narrow idea of what beauty is (Jeffreys 2000: 409-427). Well do we, do we as a society have a distorted view of what beauty really is?

From there I decided I wanted to find information that helped me get closer to answering my questions. I knew that I needed to do more research and that I would not be able to answer them all at once, but I wanted to start using articles to help me get a jump start. I did not feel the need to answer each question completely yet. Meaning, I wanted to gather all my information together and jot down notes from each source that help me answer my sub questions first because as I was finding resources I was finding information throughout them that could help me to  answer more than one question. One source was not answering one question, I was finding that I could use multiple sources to answer a sub question.

When using the article, Women and Weight:Gendered Messages on Magazine Covers I found that authors such as Nemeroff, Stein, Diehl, and Smilack(1994) examined men and women’s magazines to see if different types of magazines portrayed different messages for men and women and whether this has changed over the course of a 12 year duration. The articles of focus were centered on behavioral means used to attain the physical ideals. The three categories of magazines they focused on were traditional magazines, fashion magazines, and modern magazines. In 12 years, they found that overall the women’s magazines presented many more body-oriented articles than magazines targeting male readers. However, they do say that weight loss articles increased over this period time for men and decreased for women. This indicates a gender-related change in trends. It also appeared that the frequency of health articles seemed to increase in mens fashion magazines but not in women’s fashion magazines. In their conclusion, in their comparison between the different types of magazines, the researchers found that fashion magazines were the most centered on body image. Modern magazines were least focused on body orientation and traditional magazines were somewhere in the middle. I thought that this information might help me to answer sub question 2 “why do women feel the need to obtain this look?” because the way these weight-related messages on the covers of magazines were presented to the readers imply that losing weight may lead to a better life (put sighting here).

For sub question 4, I found what I thought to be good information to possibly answer the question. In Women and Weight: Gendered Messages on Magazine Covers, magazine covers were separated according to the gender of readers and each cover was looked at by use of a checklist. This checklist was to see how visual images and text were placed on each of the covers. It is usually the cover of the magazine that influences the reader to buy it, hence why it is important to examine the messages that are being presented to readers on the covers of magazines. (Lee, 1998, p.1)  DiDomenico and Anderson(1992) wanted to see if the statistics of eating disorders in the general population would reflect the number of articles focused on dieting and body shape in the 20 most popular magazines read by men and women. After their examination they found that 10 magazines most read by women had a significantly higher amount of diet articles and advertisements than the 10 magazines most read by men. They made note of the fact that men’s magazines advertisements that focused on bodily appearance were centered around changed in body shape such as “bulking up”. Women’s magazines on the other hand focused on changes in body weight and losing weight. Twenty-five percent of popular women’s magazine covers contained messages related to dietary habits and weight loss. DiDomenico and Anderson suggested that popular media may be giving society gender-related norms by implementing weight and shape ideas of society. The problem with the ideas that society is setting for people is women feel the need to mirror this “thin” image, when not all women are capable of looking like the women on these magazines. This article helped me with sub question 1 “how are women portrayed in the media?” and sub question 4 “what is the difference between advertisements for women and advertisements for men when it comes to bodily appearance?”. However, although women are portrayed as thin I knew that was not enough to answer question 1 so I made note of the fact that I needed to gather more information for that question. Nonetheless, I thought this article made it clear that the ideals for men and women are represented different in advertisements.

In the Body Modification & Body Image article I found information from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery(ASAPS). In 2008,  Americans spent 10.2 million in cosmetic surgeries (Mann 2009). In 2008, there was problems in the economy which led to a small decrease in these procedures. However, in the last decade cosmetic surgery has increased dramatically. The majority of cosmetic procedures are performed on men, but since the year 2000 men’s use of cosmetic surgeries have increased by 20 percent (Atkinson 2008). This helped me with sub question 3 “has body modification increased in recent years?”. Clearly, yes it has increased but is plastic surgery the only body modification procedure that has seen an increase?

As I started doing more research as stated earlier, I learned that many things are considered body modification. In past years, body piercing, tattooing, and scarification were looked at as a deviant act. However, they have become much more mainstream and socially acceptable despite their association with deviant social groups.  In a study of American college students it was found that 60 percent of women and 42 percent of men had piercing (Kaatz, Elsner, & Bauer 2008). While some look at piercing as a way of fashion, a lot of people are starting to look at is a way they can control their bodies. In addition, the idea of tattoos is also starting to become looked at as a way one controls their identity and expresses their individuality and creativity(site Bradley University). A recent study says that one who is moderately to heavily tattooed have “an increased sense of self-confidence after having pierced or tattooed their bodies” (Carroll & Anderson 2002). Scarification is also becoming increasingly practiced in today's society, although it is not as common as piercing and tattooing. Scarification is when one cuts or burns their skin leaving permanent scars that form patterns on the skin.  All the information I gathered, helped me to start to answer sub question 3, “has body modification increased in recent years?” and the answer is clearly yes, again. Many people do not look at forms of body modification in a negative way anymore but as a way to control their body. Tattoos are now mainly looked at as a means of moving on or commemoration. In todays society, it is common to find people with disabilities or illnesses tattooed because people see it as a way to claim ownership of their bodies (site Bradley University).

Another body modification procedure that has seen an increase in recent years is tanning. The Body Modification & Body Image stresses the fact that the American views of tanning have changed drastically in the past century. In the Victorian era of America women having pale was the ideal. Women during that time actually wore hats and gloves to keep their skin out of the sun. In the Victorian era many people earned a living by working outdoors, so having pale skin indicated that this person had enough time off to be inside enjoying leisurely activities. However, in the 20th century people often work indoors so having a tan complexion is a sign of affluence and that one has the time and money to being enjoying their off time by the pool, traveling, or enjoying an outside sport such as golf (side Bradley University). Suntanning in todays society is associated with both health and wealth. Therefore, proving sub question 3 that body modification views have changed in recent years. Tanning today brings in about $5 billion a year and has become an addiction to some aspiring to fit the new physical ideal. Tan skin has become an ideal physical trait in American society, women and men will wait on lines at tanning salons knowing that it causes cancer and wrinkles due to their low-self esteem and need to fix their physical “flaws” (site here).

I knew that the Body Modification & Body Image article was going to be of help from the beginning, but as I continued to read this article I started to think I needed to either add a sub question or change on of mine. I began thinking that instead of wondering why women feel the need to obtain this look (sub question 2), I would look at how the idea of body modification has changed in recent years because I was coming across a lot of information that could help me to answer such question. It was a note that I wrote down, and if I find enough information to answer that question I will probably change it.

As I continued on with my research I found it to be become much easier due to the fact that once I found resources I would look at what references those resources used and expanded from their. At times I found it more helpful to use the references my resources used than to look for my own because the resources I was using were found from Google Scholar and I knew that whatever references the authors of my articles were using had to be credible, but obviously I  looked into it to make sure.

citations:

feminist: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/feminism.htm

http://pure.au.dk/portal/files/10594/8_-_sexual_objectification_of_women.pdf

( http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1018848332464 )