This study covers a series of issues, including the experience of individual confinement, the feeling of the body’s enthusiasm, how to express support and respect for black life, etc. In addition, the researchers also recorded the persistent anger of young people towards the mass media, who think that the mass media is too heterosexual and the definition of beauty is too narrow. Researcher Gill said that the criticism of perfection runs through the whole research like a bass track, and young people often tell me that they are overwhelmed by pictures that are too perfect. Moreover, colored women, disabled women and people with different gender often tell researchers that they rarely see people like them in the media.
Image source: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain
This research report raises some very special questions, that is, how the appearance standard of the crowd has been narrowed, and how the functions of smart phones (zooming in or taking screenshots) and editing and filtering apps such as "Facetune" have contributed to this society, in which young people feel that they have been under strict scrutiny by their peers. 90% of women said that they would use filters or edit photos to adjust their skin color, reshape their chin or nose, lose weight, brighten their skin and whiten their teeth before publishing photos.
Young women who participated in the study also said that they often saw advertisements or push notices about cosmetic surgery, especially about teeth whitening, lip augmentation, breast augmentation and rhinoplasty; As a 21-year-old young man said, the idea of social media means that once you read it, you may never forget it. Researcher Gill said that nearly 100 million photos will be posted on Instagram every day, and we have never become a vision-oriented society; Posting on social media will get praise and appreciate the strong pleasure brought by attention, but it is also a source of great anxiety for most young women.
Researcher Gill said that although this research is very important at any time, the unique background of COVID-19 pandemic and blockade makes it particularly urgent. This research report emphasizes the destructive impact of this epidemic on the mental health of young people. At the same time, this study helps to reveal how different samples from young people spent this challenging period, which also provides more general insights for their lives. In some ways, young people’s familiarity with online tools and platforms (compared with the elderly) will make them better prepared for the blockade period. During the blockade period, many aspects of life need to be online, including work, education, psychological and health services, and social life. As this report points out, these young people may experience greater pressure and pain in other ways. (Biology Valley Bioon.com)
Original source:
Ninety percent of young women report using a filter or editing their photos before posting
by City University London
Professor Rosalind Gill, from City, University of London’s Gender and Sexualities Research Centre, has today published a new report to mark International Women’s Day.
The report—Changing the Perfect Picture: Smartphones, Social Media and appearance Pressures—is based on research with 175 young women and nonbinary people in the UK.
Covering a range of issues—experiences of lockdown, feelings about ‘body positivity’, how to show support for Black Lives Matter—the research documents young people’s persistent anger with a mass media that they deem ‘too white’, ‘too heterosexual’ and too focused on very narrow definitions of beauty …….