Facebook Wall Photo: Comparing Pictures
10 hours ago - Sam Katz Is this a joke? Paris
10 hours ago · Michael Dorman slutty paris
10 hours ago · Christian Trebon The left, I hate blondes and paris is too skinny.
10 hours ago · Brandon Metten right
10 hours ago · Joe Aldor paris b/c the of the photoshop.
10 hours ago · Christina Clancy left because it's classier. Sexuality is beautiful when done tastefully.
10 hours ago · Lauren Perez Left. The right is trash.
10 hours ago · Chris Potrykus even tho paris hilton is a trashy slut, i say the right.
9 hours ago · Oliver Burke the left.im kinda obligated to say my mom looks sexier though. haha. honestly the left though. lets the imagination run a little more and paris is always a negative.
9 hours ago · Rachel McGowan left
9 hours ago · Eric M. Garcia i say the right.
9 hours ago · Jake Willison The blonde one is way sexier, the one on the left looks rather mannish.
9 hours ago · Nathan Prodigalidad I would go with the right
8 hours ago · David Carver yep right for sure only cause the left one looks nasty
7 hours ago · Melissa Jamero the one of the right. maybe because the picture is clearer?
6 hours ago · Jj Jessup The left- because brunettes are always better.
6 hours ago · Geneva Mueller This is hard. All personal reputations and picture clarity aside (Betty Paige is classy, Paris not so much), I would say the right. Her body looks elongated more, thighs/butt accentuated by the light and/or airbrush technique (which makes a significant difference in the cognitive perception of an image), and more flesh is being shown. However, IMO, brunetttes usually ALWAYS take the cake. Sorry, Betty. Its just not a good shot.
5 hours ago · Christa Keizer left- she's classier, showing less skin (there's more to take off haha)
5 hours ago · Anthony DiSano Paris. Even though she's usually ugly. Her curves, the position, the skin tone and the look she's giving is much more sexy.
4 hours ago · Eddie Javier right. right. right. ...right?
4 hours ago · Melissa Jamero my boyfriend says right--the way the left is sitting looks like she's "whoring" the right is more seductive.
3 hours ago · Jocelyn Cruz I think the right. Mainly because the left picture is more posed. The right one looks like she is caught in action.. likelaready crawling towards a guy. also, the body position. It make her look longer
about an hour ago · Donny Campbell Girl on the right... color better accentuates the curves and contours of her body. She has a more sensual pose... and not to mention the fact that I love blondes hahaha
Although this only represents a very small portion of the young adult age group (ages 18-25), this example was meant to show how women represent themselves in the mass media and how this representation is ever changing over time. I picked two random "sex symbols" from two different time periods, both the 50's and now, and chose photos that fit in the "sex appeal" catagory. What I wanted to represent was how sex appeal is different in every time period and what might be provacative and scandalous at one point becomes discreet in another. What was seen as obsene back in the 50's, a scantily clad pinup girl poised seductively on a couch, now is seen as minimal compared to obscene photos of the present. These photos were chosen at random to see what the young public thought of the representation of "sexy women" and who in fact was "sexier" and why. In trying to sample which women would be more attractive to both men and women, I found much more than a common survey of appealing looks. Since as they say a picture is worth a thousand words.
What I first noticed when I looked over the responses on the photos was the language used to describe each woman. The one thing I was sure to do was pick woman that were well known media figures, because a woman's representation is not only how she looks but the reputation she holds. The words associated with Paris' representation included "slut, ugly, nasty, and skinny". What's odd is that even though Paris was the clear winner of the sexiest picture, many said that they picked it because of the "light" or "position", not because of the woman herself. Its odd that many picked Paris as having the sexier picture, while adding "even though she's trash" or "even though she's ugly". With the image of Paris also comes the reputation of a "slut" and the scandals from her past, making her entire package come together. With a sexy photo of Paris Hilton comes the immediate reaction of "disgust" in some cases. Although Bettie Page was an obvious second, its odd that the majority of women that responded picked her, using words such as "elegance and classiness" to describe their choice. This points out a big difference in the way that men and women find a woman "sexy" and the differences between appeal. Men have been known to like a raunchier side with less work for the imagination, while women look for confidence as well as poise with a glint of seductiveness. This is both proven and disproven with these photos, with many of the women following the norm in saying that they like the class of Betty Page while some women agreed the contours of Paris' photograph was better. There were also a few examples of men taking the "classy is better" stance for Betty Page, however the majority stayed with men for Paris Hilton and women with Betty Page. This however cannot be pulled as a norm for it usually deals with the person and their idea of "sexy".
Another key aspect that swayed the choice had to do with both the pose and the look of the photographs. Many pointed out how the positioning of Paris' body was what won them over, with a much more seductive and elongated pose. Its obvious that the poses differ between the photos, with the 50's photo being more reserved and inward while the current photo is posed to be sprawled and looming towards you. Many of the pinup photos I found in 50's were similar, with provacative poses facing away from the camera and body language seeming very enclosed. This may come from the fact that "provacative" was at a whole different level back then and to even pose away from the camera was pushing the envelope. Photographs, although scandalous, were much more tasteful in the 50's. Today, pushing the envelope is hard to accomplish with our bar of "scandalous" being much higher, since the Bettie Page photo can be seen much worse in any Victoria Secret catalog. Along with the positioning came mention of the lighting and designing of the Paris photo. Photoshop is an important tool of our time when it comes to mass media, and when it comes to photos such as these never do they go untouched. Everything from the way the light hits their body to the look of the skin is important in a final pitcture, and photoshop makes it possible to alter and perfect each and every aspect. This is a huge difference from the photographs of the 50's to now; back then a photo was real and as perfect as the scene itself. Nowadays it doesnt matter what the model even looks like with the wonders of modern technology. Many agreed that they chose the right photo because of the look as whole and the editing of the picture, which makes a huge difference in how women are represented as "flawless" when in reality this perfection only exists on a computer screen
-Ashley Loera
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