A look at how young women's identity and self-esteem are influenced by standards of beauty set by today's society.
Written in 2007; 2,558 words; 22 sources; MLA; $ 77.95
Paper Summary:
Using symbolic theory and identity theory, this paper describes the internalization of symbols portrayed in the sexual consumerist culture and looks how these unattainable standards make self-verification near impossible. Self-verification--a matching of self perception and perceived identity standards--is a crucial part of one's self-esteem. The inability to feel we've attained the society standards creates a disturbance in our cognition and makes us feel incompetent and unworthy. This paper looks behind the production of fashion magazines and what implications these consumerism-driven values have on today's young women's self-esteem.
Outline:
Sexuality & Consumerism
Symbolic Interaction with Identity
Behind the Production of Fashion Magazines
Internalization of Identity Standards in Magazines
Implications of Low Self-Esteem
Conclusion
From the Paper:
"Self-esteem plays an important role in both our cognition and behavior. As Cast & Burke (2002) suggest that self-esteem serves as a self-motive directing our behavior; to an extent where we could be creating opportunity structures or social contexts that allow self-verification. Young women are at their transition phase in entering womanhood. They are unattached to major life demands, still exploring in the field of romance and sex, finding their identity. This explorative stage leaves their self-esteem and identity particularly vulnerable especially when they are the targets of the consumerist market. Sexual consumerism projects certain values that symbolically interact with young women's identity; and in turn has an effect on their self esteem. There are two main values in the contemporary brand of "femininity": being sexually seductive and attainment of physical beauty."
We have thousands of high-quality term papers, research papers, essays, book reports and dissertations on every topic. At AcaDemon, you can download those term papers to help you write yours! You can be sure that the term paper, essay, book report or research paper you download are top-quality, competitively priced and high-level work.
This Free Term Paper Abstract is a part of our Term Paper Library.Here you can purchase research papers, examples of essays, academic dissertations, articles, notes, analytical papers, book reports, stories and poems. We have thousands of persuasive, point-of-view, narrative, critical, compare and contrast and other types of essays in our Library. You can also find here Term papers on "Sexuality and Consumerism", Essays on "Sexuality and Consumerism", Research papers on "Sexuality and Consumerism", Student papers on "Sexuality and Consumerism", Book reports on "Sexuality and Consumerism", Dissertation on "Sexuality and Consumerism", Thesis on "Sexuality and Consumerism", Summary of paper on "Sexuality and Consumerism", Articles written on "Sexuality and Consumerism".
Look for more research papers, essays and book reports on