Taylor Faust

Professor Smith

English 101 – 029

8 December 2016

Essay 4

For centuries, body image and physical beauty have been two major ways that people, and women in particular, see their worth and their desirability. Their view of the own attractiveness comes from how they think they are perceived on the outside by others. Humans are not innately born with this form of self-hate. Media cultivates much of this destructive culture and starts to have an effect on a person’s view of who they should be at a very early age. One of the biggest proponents of media or literature that cultivates this culture of self-hate for young women is the fairytale genre. As a genre, fairytales idolize a perfect life of happiness that all begins with the female lead herself being perfect in every way. This idealistic view of the perfection a woman should have has a great impact on younger more impressionable women and even older females that turn to treatments such as plastic surgery in hopes of maintaining the youthful beauty that they have been told is most attractive in the media.

Beginning at an unbelievably young age, young girls are told how they should look and act in order to achieve perfection. One of the main sources of this pristine image comes from the fairytales that they are read from day one. Although there are some outliers, most fairytales follow the basic storyline of a beautiful and flawless princess being saved from some sort of distress by her prince charming and him falling in love with her because he is overcome by her beauty. Though some aspects of a princess’ description can be beneficial to value such as bravery and strength, these noble qualities are not usually emphasized as being the most important and are often rooted in the princess’ beauty and perfection. By looking at fairytales, flawlessness and beauty are seen as two of the most distinguishing characteristics of women. In “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood” by Charles Perrault, he mentions that “the princess had all the perfections imaginable” (503). For the entire first four paragraphs, having such perfections is the only way that the princess is described. This makes it seem as though all a girl needs going for her is beauty.

These images of the importance of beauty and grace have a major affect on the way that young girls begin to view themselves. The pressure of achieving this perfection at such a young age can contribute to future body image issues and young girls objectifying themselves. As described by Bailey in The American Journal of Psychology, the objectification theory describes that “experiences of sexual objectification socialize young girls and women to behave as though their bodies are object to be evaluated solely by their appearance” (2). 