Pop. culture and beauty PLEASE HELP ITS FOR A PAPER

ok so I'm writing a paper on popular culture and beauty ideals and I need to give examples of how pop culture shapes and maintains beauty ideals and gender norms. The only problem is that I dont listen to popular music or watch alot of popular shows so I really need help. I need specific examples from movies, tv, or music. gender norms are pretty much stereotypes (ie men should be strong, support family, should have sex with many people and women should be attractive, stay at home, arent smart, and that type of thing.) beauty ideals are just what society considers attractive.

please help me if you can.

just talk about music and how it doesnt really matter what you sound like, as long as youre beautiful, then the soundguys take care of the rest and youre a star for looking good and making shitty music. ie) justin timberlake's latest song sexy back, i admit its catchy, nothing more, but it doesnt even sound like him.

Just a few that popped to head...
The Jade and the Chav one may not mean alot to you as I don't know if you are from the UK...

An example? Well I am really stoned here....but what about like Britney Spears and her sexually explicit lyrics or her sexually suggestive lyrics...same goes for music like the BEP's lyrics....or the pussycat dolls "don't ya" lyrics...or Paris Hilton becoming famous for being a hot skinny dumb blonde....or talk about how all ads are about sex and hot women..no matter what, even like food commercials and shit. Maybe talk about reality TV shows and how they have shows like The Girls Next door which is about Hugh Hefner and his 3 girlfriends.

Talk about why these things are influencing women of today...

Is that in the right direction????

....and as far as how society shape gender norms..well it starts from the beginning. Boys are put in blue the second they are born, girls are put in pink. Those colors will always be associated with boy/girl. When a little boy falls and cries, he is told to be a man and be strong, and that boys don't cry; or basically have emotions for that matter. Girls are told that they are little princesses and that it's okay to cry and be emotional. In school you are taught at a very young age what boys are supposed to do and what girls are supposed to do. I am too stoned to think of really specific details here...

yes right direction. thank you

Why don't you talk about why we keep on blowing each other up?

i didnt get to choose the topic, and the class is about women and inequality so it wouldnt really work

Sex in the City is a good example I think. It potrays women as shop-a-holics who sleep with as many men as they possibly can with the least amount of love attarction possible. To put it, it makes the women in that show seem like sluts which can potray in real life.

I need another music example. everything so far has been great thanks

Well, if Sex In The City helps society produce more sluts, I suddenly like that show a lot more! ;)

i think by far the best example lays in todays RAP and HIP-HOP: theres a dilema now about who was the biggest crack dealer and got shot the most times................reflects on stereotypes/gender norms because kids look up to 50 Cent and his hott ass girlfried Vivica Fox and think of how COOL/BAD/RICH he is and that shapes his schema for drug dealers and gang members.......and therefore shapes their behavior......and then for the girls wishing to mary someone like 50 Cent...what are they supposed to act like besides the girls in his videos: barely clothed phatty girls giggling their goods

You can also show how our ideas really haven't changed that much. Teachers love that shit. Like how 70's clothing has made a comeback. Shouldn't you be doing the work yourself? That's how you learn.

there are 7 other things the paper has to address, so yes i am doing the work myself. i can relate it to society, and i know how pop culture shapes things, i just dont know specific examples of it in music and stuff.

Have you heard fo something called Cosmo? MTV? there not that popular so I wouldn't think so ;)

In my opinion.. there is no pop-culture, but many sub pop-cultures... :)

There is subcultures within popculture.

i dont watch mtv or read cosmo.

Neither do i but they show that girls should be anorexic and basically be retarded and bitchy but they have toi be beautiful. Guy have to be buff and rich. Otherwise girls WILL NOT tlove them.

Can you also use examples from advertising? The thing I think of when I think of gender "norms" and influences from popular culture particularly relate to the fashion industry and fashion magazines. They've set a standard for what's supposedly beautiful, and by their standards, tall, very thin girls with symmetrical features are the be-all, end-all beauty standard. It's the same trend we see in Hollywood and the movie industry. Young, slender, symmetrical women are the ones who get starring roles and enjoy the most popularity and attention. Almost any movie or television show, including "Sex and the City" will be an illustration of this.

I don't know about pop-culture standards, but there is a science to beauty. A reason why we find certain people attractive. I wonder if I can find a link about it.

I can't find the orignal site where I read it, but here's a site on a pretty face. Nothing to do with your paper (sorry), but interesting non the less.

http://www.beautycheck.de/english

yeah did you hear about what they're doing in spain? the women have to be at least 125 lbs in order to do a fashion show now

that is interesting. thanks for the link