We have already briefly touched on women in reality TV shows and women on television in general. After seeing Amanda’s post, the one show that came to my mind was The Girls Next Door. I’ve never really seen this show before, but I have seen clips on it on The Soup. So, I decided to do a little research and find episodes on You Tube. What I found was that this show definitely does not portray women as positive role models for younger girls. This show is about Hugh Hefner and his three “girlfriends”. The show exposes their lives and the lives of playmates and the playboy mansion.
One clip that I found shows one Hefner’s girlfriends revealing that as earlier as age five, she has wanted to be a playmate in the magazine and look like these women. This just shows how media can affect girls at such a young age and put these images of the “perfect” woman in girl’s heads. Personally, I think this is incredibly sad. When I was five years old, I definitely had no idea what Playboy magazine was. But it just shows that depending on how you are brought up and what your soundings are can affect your idea of how you are supposed to look and act. The clip than goes on to show some of the “new girls” that are going to be appearing in one of the upcoming magazines.
How do you think magazines like Playboy affect younger girls and boys? With having this reality show, do you think this encourages younger girls to want to participate in Playboy, or even just want to look like these women?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_W16WX8Xas
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I think that Playboy magazine has definently affected young girls and boys' view of women. For girls, they see the ideal that they have to live up to to be considered "pretty" and "loved" by others. For boys, I think that the magazine reinforces the idea of women as sex objects, not human beings.
ReplyDeleteI think that the show, although I admit to watching it, puts these negative messages out there even more to young, impressionable boys and girls. Hugh's girlfriends constantly try to make him happy, or impress him. In some way or other, Hugh has rescued them from thier previuos boring and mundane lives. Although Heffner has given these women better lives, as far as material things go, he uses them to his own advantage. It seems to me that he takes in vulnerable women to continue his own image and Playboy empire.