Issue date: 9/10/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Martin Wood [Click to enlarge]

Most college-aged women would agree that society's pressure to look a certain way is high. According to a study conducted by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, only five percent of college women who were surveyed admitted to having plastic surgery.

However, an article published on StateUniversity.com states that 40 percent of those surveyed said they would consider cosmetic surgery in the near future. More than half of the women surveyed also said they would be too embarrassed to tell anyone about their procedure.

So are we, as young women, being pressured into changing our appearance just to fit in with what is deemed the "norm?"

Some students on campus feel that regardless of the women representing us in the media, Sac State women are still able to determine the way they are viewed.

Senior environmental studies major Regina Wolins feels that a few women presenting themselves in a sexual manner should not skew the perception of the mass.

"Should our reputation as a college be in jeopardy if an older alumni, like Tom Hanks, got a DUI? What's the difference?" Wolins asked.

Simply because the most prominent former and current students who are in the media right now are beautiful and sexually appealing women, the female students of Sac State shouldn't feel as though they are pressured to appear the same.

In fact in the survey of college women conducted by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the most common procedures received were minor ones like chemical and facial peels. In addition 28 percent of people disapproved of surgically changing their appearance to feel better about themselves.

Director of the Women's Resource Center Patricia Grady feels that the women of Sac State shouldn't feel pressured to conform to the standards set by the women in the media who currently represent them.

"The media and the images do have an impact now as to whether Sac State has a reputation for having really sexy or risqué women, but I don't know that these examples would really hold up to creating that impression," said Grady.

Grady also hopes that women on campus would look instead to graduates such as news anchor Christina Mendoza, who often visits the school and participates in charity work.

"Obviously (Mendoza) is an attractive woman, but she is also very articulate and intelligent," said Grady.

Grady remembers an urban myth from her youth that women of prestigious collegiate institutions were unattractive.

"I grew up on the East Coast and it used to be believed that the women that went to schools like Barnard were ugly," said Grady.

Grady goes on to recognize the old school of belief that all intelligent women are ugly. This belief has been highly disproved by college graduates around the world that have excelled in fields such as politics, medicine and communications.

It shouldn't matter then that women who have excelled at Sac State chose to enter into fields like television reality shows, beauty pageants or pornography. Those choices, like so many we as women make, are personal.

So why don't we, as intelligent collegiate women, make up our own perceptions of what Sac State women embody? Instead of seeing it as pressure to conform to the current standard, not only the women of Sac State, but all women who feel they are misrepresented, should strive to create a higher standard.

If we can become just as, or maybe even more, successful than those who came before us, we can change the way the outside community views us.

Amanda Pollard can be reached at apollard@statehornet.com.

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