Advertising Thin Women

This leads to the next point made by Gill (2008), which is the invisibility of what it costs to obtain such a figure used in midriff advertising. When using only conventionally attractive women, advertising is usually only using thin women. The invisible struggle is explained as the processes of attaining such a thin figure, while unrealistic and sometimes achieved through unhealthy means, they must not be seen struggling with weight, and if they are, it should be portrayed as effortless, creating an illusion that these women are slim, and therefore happy and empowered (Gill, 2008). Gill (2008) further suggests, that when these behaviours are made obvious, they are to be done so in ways that encourages the participation of these behaviours,

This is supported by the study on young cheerleaders who viewed revealing clothing advertising, focusing mainly on the midriff, later had an increase in eating disorder prevalence and clothing-related body image (Torres-McGehee et al., 2012). However, it could be argued that with plus size models such as Tess Holliday and Nadia Aboulhosn becoming increasingly popular over the last few years, that advertising, specifically midriff advertising, could be heading towards a more body positive direction, which could also be healthier role models for adolescents and women. However, these women are still struggling to become mainstream models, usually modelling online, not in magazines or billboards’, meaning their exposure is low. Their facebook and instagram profiles are also filled with ridicule from both men and women who body shame them for their weight, this could then negatively impact any women with body dissatisfaction who reads these

This is supported by Thompson and Donaghue (2014) who noted that sexual empowerment in a sexualised culture pushes and pulls young women, regulating their behaviour and enforcing these women to participate in the current sexualised ideal and to demonstrate themselves as modern, liberated, and feminine. This behaviour would then not be considered empowering, when women and girls are viewing advertisements such as the midriff, and then feeling compelled to present themselves in the same manner, instead of an over sexualised objectifying way, otherwise they face being considered prudish ,and that they do not own their sexuality. Furthermore, Malson, Halliwell, Tischner, and Rúdólfsdóttir, (2011) explains that the shift from images where women are sexual objects to women as sexual subjects with sexual agency, from a feminist perspective be considered a positive and progressive shift, however, there are more underlying factors in midriff advertising, which leave women still being labelled and shamed for attempting to own their sexuality. Their study found young women, who did not identify as feminists, while they sometimes construed these images of the midriff as positive, sexy, and independent, were also more frequently labelled negatively, referring to the women in the images as bimbos, slutty, and as sexual objects. This