Beauty pageants, Barbies and icons like Marilyn Monroe all three put out messages in terms of beauty and sexuality when it comes to women in the 1950s. Messages that are inherent in beauty pageants were very negative when they first began in the 1920s. When the pageants first began in the 1920s, women were only scored based on their body parts, including face, torso and legs. They had guidelines on what constituted beauty, and this sent out the message that the way that a woman body looks is the only thing that women should be concerned about, and if you don't qualify for these pageants then your body is not perfect in their eyes, resulting in low self-esteem. Even though a talent portion was added to the rules of the pageant, and one of the awards included a $5,000 college scholarship, looks still controlled these pageants. I think that the 1948 contract supported this message because the contract included a rule stating, “Contestant must be of good character and possess poise, personality, intelligence, charm, and beauty of face and figure.” (1948 Pageant Contract) They added …show more content…
There was a line in the jingle of the commercial that said, “My Barbie doll is small and so petite, clothes and figure look so neat.” (Barbie commercial) This can put off a really negative message to the young girls that watch this commercial and play with these dolls. It tells them that their figure is something they should be concerned about. It sends out the message that being small and petite is the ideal figure for women, and it can have them second guessing their body image, resulting in unhealthy habits. This message is clearly supported in the lyrics of the jingle. Reading the blog article, ‘Happy-To-Be-Nappy Barbie’ said a lot about Barbie and race. The author states that even though there are black Barbies, there are no exotics features about them, they are classic white Barbies painted brown. (Happy-To-Be-Nappy