Morality Television

The idea of gender representation in the media is foreign to most. Everyday Americans see hundreds of advertisements. More often than not there are hidden messages that send out a skewed ideal of beauty, particularly in women. This socially constructed view of beauty perpetuates issues such as negative self-images, eating disorders, and low self-esteem in American females, especially young women. The message sent is that of vulnerability of women along with the idea that beauty equals perfection. Never the less, the media continues to cloud the minds of American viewers with these distorted ideals. This creates a very narrow frame for women in the media.

Television networks often attempt to argue that their programs do not have a strong impact on their audiences, but are merely entertainment. However, if people were not affected by the images that they see in the media, then shows like "The Swan" would not exist, because no one would be so obsessed with their looks. Dieting now starts regularly in the 2nd grade. Where else would children get the idea that an individuals worth is based on their looks, but from the images they see everyday in the media. In the 1960s Marilyn Monroe was a size fourteen. Since then, incidents of eating disorders have doubled, increasing in all ethnic groups. Today, the average model ranges from a size zero to a size two.

FOX is using public airwaves to make people feel bad about themselves rather than focusing on issues that could make the world a better place. They are more willing to continue the problem of eating disorders, dangerous unneeded surgeries, and the like rather than putting on programs to combat these problems Women hate everything about themselves so they buy product after product to make themselves look like the woman on the magazine cover or on TV who is airbrushed to the extent that she does not even have pores on her face--which are required to live! So note that FOX isn't doing this to help the people they make over, but they are making sure that this continues to occur by saying to America that it's not ok to have the face and/or body you were born with. They're not helping the people, they are creating the fears that keep people feeling inadequate and keeping their advertisers happy.

This is a call to action to anyone who will not stand for this anymore. This petition calls for The Federal Communications Commission to censor this show by taking it off the air. If you disagree with these heinous crimes against humanity, we ask you to boycott The Swan and its sponsors and tell the FCC to take action by donating your signature.