I have been pretty busy with school and other stuff ever since the beginning of spring quarter. Therefore, I didn't have much time for web surfing and to check what kind of blogs were on the home page of "Yahoo" (Taiwan). Finally, last weekend, after finishing my biology readings, I decided to take a break and "catch up" with what was going on on the internet. Not surprisingly, even after a few weeks, the blogs on the home page were still sharing about the same topic: how to lose weight. It shocks me how even a 15 years-old girl was talking about her weight losing experiences as well. I discovered that girls 
who write these kind of blogs are usually under weight already. They would post their personal information such as their height and weight on their blogs to show their progress. Most of them have an average height of 5 foot 3 but all of them weigh only around 100 pounds. One other interesting things I found out about these bloggers is that they usually write, "I will keep trying hard to lose more weight" or "Going to get rid of another 10 pounds by next month" as their way to end the blog entry. It seems to me women or even young girls can or will never be satisfied with their appearences and body images. 
I often wonder wonder what would the motivation to lose weight be for a young girl. Could it be because she wants to fit in with rest of the girls around her? or because of her seeing other adults or friends doing so? or could it simply be because that is the kind of thing she is taught to do by the media (such as advertisements and celebrities' images). I realize that on "Yahoo" (Taiwan) home page, most of the products being sold are about how to make a girl's body look thinner. Products such as "skinny lotion," weight losing tea, and even clothes (the advertisement lines for clothes are usually "It will make you look 10 pounds thinner) are all very popular. It is almost like anything that is related to weight reduction is adored by females of all ages. This is closely related to the topics we have discussed about in class- like how the ideal image for a woman is tall and thin, and how that is why models always have to try so hard not to eat in order to keep their weight low. I don't really know when this started, that calling someone skinny or thin is accepted as a compliment, and there seems to have an equal mark between attractiveness and thinness. It is kind of sad for me to see this type of standard for beauty building up for women and young girls, and the struggles they are going through in the attempts to achieve such standard.
who write these kind of blogs are usually under weight already. They would post their personal information such as their height and weight on their blogs to show their progress. Most of them have an average height of 5 foot 3 but all of them weigh only around 100 pounds. One other interesting things I found out about these bloggers is that they usually write, "I will keep trying hard to lose more weight" or "Going to get rid of another 10 pounds by next month" as their way to end the blog entry. It seems to me women or even young girls can or will never be satisfied with their appearences and body images. 
I often wonder wonder what would the motivation to lose weight be for a young girl. Could it be because she wants to fit in with rest of the girls around her? or because of her seeing other adults or friends doing so? or could it simply be because that is the kind of thing she is taught to do by the media (such as advertisements and celebrities' images). I realize that on "Yahoo" (Taiwan) home page, most of the products being sold are about how to make a girl's body look thinner. Products such as "skinny lotion," weight losing tea, and even clothes (the advertisement lines for clothes are usually "It will make you look 10 pounds thinner) are all very popular. It is almost like anything that is related to weight reduction is adored by females of all ages. This is closely related to the topics we have discussed about in class- like how the ideal image for a woman is tall and thin, and how that is why models always have to try so hard not to eat in order to keep their weight low. I don't really know when this started, that calling someone skinny or thin is accepted as a compliment, and there seems to have an equal mark between attractiveness and thinness. It is kind of sad for me to see this type of standard for beauty building up for women and young girls, and the struggles they are going through in the attempts to achieve such standard.
Nice start. One interesting question would be what kind of feedback do these young women get? Do they get rewards or punishments from posting that they want to lose more weight? I'd like to see more overt connection to course concepts, for example you discuss several agents and mechanisms of socialization - if you used those words it would make the connection really clear. Overall, great example of body image pressures and the way they play out in these blogs.
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