The Real World?

I don’t know if I can gauge how the media’s portrayal of women has changed in my lifetime. My relationship with the media has changed significantly since I was a teenager. Since I have come to college I have begun to challenge these ideas of body image. When I came to college I suddenly became aware of how the media effected girls. I never really watched MTV or fell for Abercrombie and Fitch so I was unprepared for dorm life. In my dorm there were girls who were glued to MTV and subscribed to fashions blindly. In my small world of high school I didn’t realize that this cult of pop culture existed. These girls tried to be like these reality television stars. I remember the first night I spent in the dorm all the girls were putting on really skimpy outfits to go out in. I was so naïve; I had no clue you were supposed to dress like this for party. I felt rather inadequate in my jeans and modest tank-top. Living a year in a dorm I had a good taste for what the media was doing to women. I felt like a lot of the kids in the dorm were trying to reenact “The Real World.” I was introduced to the ideas of hook-up culture, Uggs and bulimia. A lot of these girls were really smart too and they would hide it in order to appear more attractive. I have never been able to understand that and from this point on I began to experiment with my comfort level in rejecting these norms. I guess there is this myth that when you go to college you become really liberal and stop shaving your legs. Well that happened to me. I stopped wearing make-up, shaving and bought my clothes at the thrift store. I think the biggest hang up I have with the way media portrays women is how they are supposed to silenced, meek and sexual. I have found that by being vocal and expressing who I am was the biggest revolution for me. You don’t need quit shaving, you can still wear Uggs but a least speak your mind and make conscious decisions.