Madison Davis
English
Mrs. Petersen
April 14, 2015
With the dawning of television, celebrity boundaries began to blur. In much the same way as if you were to remove partitions in a room where two distinctive social situations were taking place, television presented different groups of people with new perspectives of other groups that they otherwise would have never been introduced to. As television became widespread, groups began to mingle together due to the easily accessible and widespread programming, and the population combined. Although fame could be thrilling, losing all of your privacy, due to paparazzi, not only threatens your safety and sanity but creates unneeded drama and predominantly false accusations.
The more refined television became, the more the world seemed to resemble direct interactions and para-social relationships formed (Meyrowitz, 1985). Television users rapidly began to feel as though they personally knew television personalities and cared about them in the same manner they cared about their close friends or family.
Horton and Wohl stated that television never shows an ending that exhibits the actors coming out of their character, which often leads viewers into believing that what they view is truly the actors’ identities (Horton & Wohl, 1963). This perception created opportunities for photojournalists to capitalize on actor public engagement. Carl O'Connell stated.
The origin of the name Paparazzo is argued, but its onomatopoeic resemblance to the Sicilian word for an oversize mosquito, papataceo, made it easy to compare with Fellini's statement: "Paparazzo suggests to me a buzzing insect, hovering, darting, stinging" (O'Connell, C., 2015).
Paparazzi journalists have increased with America’s intense need to become intimate with celebrities lives. Paparazzi’s have become aware that the more consumer desire the more money their photographs are worth. Thousands of dollars can be made by one good picture. Embarrassing, shocking, or breaking news photographs can propel a paparazzo’s career to notoriety. Intimate shots of females or temper tantrums can bring thousands of dollars and provide numerous job offers to paparazzi. The more popular the star the profit for the photograph.
In order to discover the most desired stories about celebrities; paparazzi instinctively use extreme strategies to stalk many celebrities. For example, one of the most shocking incidents was the death of Princess Diana in Paris in 1997. The car accident was caused by paparazzi being in pursuit of Princess Diana. Her death caused a controversial debate about the behavior of the paparazzi, the danger the celebrities are in and the issue regarding privacy in the media. The death of Princess Diana raises fear in celebrities up to today.
Most of the stories written on magazines concerning celebrities are amazingly not true, the reason for the fabricated tabloids are to entice buyers and to make more money off of the magazines. With these dishonest stories, it not only affects the celebrities themselves, but the readers who read and believe each story that come out. Influencing many young readers and shattering the idolizing of many teenagers and people in general. With false claims in magazines, the celebrity in question may be an idol to many people out there and with negative, personal information coming out, it may cause for negative influences.
The connection that female celebrities have with male paparazzi journalists is not too different from a relationship that of a pornographer has with their female clients. There is a definite stereo type of the paparazzi being aggressive, masculine bullies that prey on the vulnerability of famous people. Female celebrities caught in situations where their chest are bared or their genitals are exposed are often placed on tabloid features. Most paparazzo are males and often capture female shots in sexually explicit positions. Many times pictures of female celebrities are cropped in order to expose body parts that consumers will gravitate to for their own gratification (Mulvey, 50). The domination of the female body in a highly graphic manner is not just to view her image, but to capitalize on women as sexual objects. Each image is usually convoyed with comments about their provocative clothing or lack thereof. Not only is their sexuality targeted, but their personal hygiene and how eye appealing their physique is to the viewer.
Fashion is an important part of objectification in celebrity gossip ( ). If the outfit is tight or does not provide enough coverage she is likely to be blamed for the photograph. The more a woman is labeled voluptuous or embodies blatant sexuality the more lewd and derogatory comments this woman will received. These women are often blamed for exposing their bodies or choosing to wear inappropriate clothing and labeled highly sexual. Exposed celebrity photographs along with lewd commentary tends to send a negative message to women about how they should behave, what they should wear and their place in society. The tabloid generation insinuates that the more often a celebrity’s body is revealed by the paparazzi the less reverence the public should give that woman. Not showing a woman’s full body and only looking at her sexual organs is one of the earliest forms of objectification and sexualization in the media (Kilborne, 1979).
When enough emphasize is placed on a particular part of a body the body part becomes an object and not part of a whole person. The body part becomes either an object of admiration, disgust or sexual desires. When the female anatomy becomes heightened the image produces a desire to buy whatever is associated with the celebrity and their lifestyle. The need to develop into the image of that celebrity often leads to over analyzing one’s own flaws.
The female anatomy has been shamed, assaulted, sexualized, and animalized throughout the celebrity gossip industry. Young girls fantasize about mirroring their favorite celebrity. Physical health, such as anorexia, mental health issues, such as depression and low self-esteem has become a serious concern in the last twenty years (Stice, et. al., 2000). Men’s attitudes towards women’s physical beauty are also influenced by perceptions created by the media. Men are becoming more attracted to women that have changed their appearance by plastic surgery or other type of beauty altering techniques. Although it is important to understand how men are portraying women, it is more important on how women view each other. The Barbie doll look, becomes an image that women strive to achieve, but fall flat to duplicate. The sexualization that the paparazzi create is a problem that is becoming more normalized in today’s culture.
The concept of sexualization formed by the paparazzi to advertisers and the mass media to girls (as eventual women) is that they should always be sexually available, always have sex on their minds, be willing to be dominated and even sexually abused, and to be seen primarily as sexual objects (Meyers, 2008, p. 58). The media continues to inaccurately portray women and their roles in society, while impacting the way some women view themselves. The paparazzi is egoistically concerned with supplying its own monetary goals rather than serving the needs of the people.
As a nation, it is critical to understand the importance of recognizing that some of women’s existing physical and mental health issues may be swayed by what the paparazzi sends out as mass media. Advances in technology and the rise of media outlets intensify symptoms of inferior body image, low self-esteem, depression, anorexia, and other health issues. The rise of the mass media has created a high standard of beauty that is literally unreachable anymore without cheating, usually by harmful means such as extreme dieting or plastic surgery.
As long as women are ranked on their appearance more than men, and the criteria of female attractiveness become significantly higher and more uncompromising, women’s physical and mental well-being will continue to be at risk. Public awareness is so important right now in order to begin shielding the essence of women and public actions need to be taken in order to safeguard a healthier media for young girls growing up in this culture and generations of women to come. In the interim, it is important to be aware of our society's importance on appearance and that we understand what the socially approved standards of beauty are. We must each make a individual position and conscious endeavor to discard and not suppress these standards. If women begin developing persistent ideas about their body image on their own and discard existing standards, they will succeed.

Work Cited
D’Zurilla, C. (2014). Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting, Henry Cavill broke up, but the paparazzi stayed. Retrieved on April 19, 2014.
Horton, D. & Wohl, R. R. (1963). Mass communication and para-social interaction:
Observations on intimacy at a distance. In P. Olson (Ed.), American as a mass society (pp. 548-568). London: Collier-MacMillan Limited. Harassment to the celebrity and their family.
Kilborne, (1979). “Killing Us Softly 3”. Retrieved on April 22, 2015, www.mediaed.org/assets/products/241/presskit_241.pd Meyers, M. (2008). Women in popular culture: Representation and meaning. New Jersey:
Hampton Press, Inc.
Meyrowitz, J. (1985). No sense of place: The impact of electronic media on social behavior. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, “The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader, 50.
O'Connell, Carl, Paparazzi history: The history of the paparazzi photographer. Retrieved April
13, 2015 from http://www.carloconnell.co.uk/paparazzi-history/
Stice, Eric; Hayward, Chris; Cameron, Rebecca P.; Killen, Joel D.; Taylor, C. Barr
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol 109(3), Aug 2000, 438-444. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.109.3.438