Ladies, it's the media's fault, right?

Every woman I know, even the most resilient, independent, outspoken women, has a tendency to conform to some degree or another. Conformity refers to individuals changing their outlooks to better fit in with a group. A multitude of researchers, including Williams (2002, 2004, 2007) demonstrate that people mold themselves to fit into the group because of a gut-wrenching fear of being ostracized, excluded, or any other form of social punishment (if you will). This phenomenon of fearing the consequences of being a deviant is referred to as normative influence. Once again, as women, we might kick and scream that we don't want to fit the norm, but at the end of the day, who among us don't want to look like the supermodel or actress gracing the covers and pages of every magazine you can buy. Yes, men are subject to this, as well, but let's be real, ladies, we're much worse about it. Because of the way media has painted beauty, we all believe that we MUST look like they do, and the way they look has changed drastically, as with our view of ourselves. Once upon a time, not too long ago, women with a little extra were seen as beautiful. The curve made you "womanly." We, as women, were cool with this. We all wanted the Marilyn Monroe glamour (I'm using "we" very broadly here because I wasn't alive quite yet). Then Twiggy came along and the fashion scene lost an absurd amount of weight and the industry demanded tall, thin women who were beautiful and maintained a teenage boy's figure. Now, not only do women want to mimic this look, but men expect us to be this way. If we're not, then we're out of the group. We might not have friends, much less a male partner. And let's be real, none of us want to end up alone. That aside, who wants to be the ugly, fat girl in the group? Nobody. To an extent, each one of us wants to be that head-turning, hottest-girl-in-the-room beauty who grabs everyone's attention. It makes us feel good about ourselves. However, more than wanting to be the best sometimes, we're really just looking to fit in because no one wants to deal with the consequences of not being part of the "group" of pretty all around us. So, is it the media's fault for pouring these images into our heads for us to obey, or is it our fault for following these trends?

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References 

Williams, K. D. (2007a). Ostracism. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 425–452.

Williams, K. D., Govan, C. L., Croker, V., Tynan, D., Cruickshank, M., & Lam, A. (2002). Investigations 

        into differences between social- and cyberostracism. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and    

        Practice, 6, 65–77.

Smith, A., & Williams, K. D. (2004). RU there? Ostracism by cell phone text messages. Group Dynamics: 

        Theory, Research, and Practice, 8, 291–301.