Research Activity

Kjrstin Allen

Mass Communication 102

Research Activity

“Take a fashion website and put together a list of ways the fashion industry molds the way we perceive ourselves and our bodies.”

Today, the fashion industry tends to mold the way we look at ourselves and our bodies in many different ways. When searching fashion and fitness magazines I came across many different magazines that try to direct our way of living but decided to take a deeper look at the magazine Glamour. Glamour’s website, http://www.glamour.com, listed headings including Do’s and Don’ts, Health, Fashion & Beauty, News, Sex & Men, Horoscopes, and Body By Glamour. In each of these sections Glamour attempted to mold and encourage the thoughts and perceptions of American women.

In the Do’s and Don’ts section I was amazed at what I found. There is one link that is titled Don’tspotting where you can literally add shocking pictures, rate how horrible these people look, and then comment on it. It is like a designated way to bash on other people’s lives. Comments on some of the pictures include things like, “I just threw up a little in my mouth!” and “She is in court for murder because 90% of people that see that picture are now dead.” After looking at these I began to feel very insecure about the way I look. Although I might leave my house thinking I look great, somebody might take a look at me, think I look horrible, snap my picture, and post it where people can laugh at it and make very degrading comments. These people are not treating others with respect. The classic schoolyard bullies feared by everyone have an opportunity to shine in this area.

Under the Health tab there is a lot of useful information. Readers can learn about calories and how to count them, cervical cancer, cautions about antidepressants and much more. I found this area to be very informative and helpful. Many Americans don’t know much about how to diet healthy or cautions with taking medications. This tab provided information that the average person can read and understand. I enjoy the fact that they are not posting information about how to loose weight, but instead how to improve quality of life.

In addition to these main tabs there are many other links throughout the website. One particularly interesting link was a blog titled Life with Cancer, http://www.glamour.com/lifestyle/blogs/editor. This really touches me that women are talking about their experiences and their fight for life against cancer. The amazing thing is that they talk about the wonderful things in life and even make fun of their experiences. These women give me hope that someone can live such positive lives when they are facing death.



















After fully searching this magazine online I found that it left me feeling like I can be a confident woman. Even though there are a few shockingly horrible areas, like the people bashing area on the Don’tspotting, I learned many things like how to diet and eat healthy, to be confident and to look forward to the good things in life. I feel like this fashion website can help women to improve their life as long as they stay away from the Do’s & Don’ts tab.