The Disproportionate Value Within Society

During February, a photo of the Keeping up with the Kardashians star, Kendall Jenner went viral as she promotes her fellow sister Kim Kardashians new fashion brand, posing in a tiny, red bikini.

Within the same week, a photograph of Alyssa Carson, a NASA astronaut in training at just the age of 19 years old was also uploaded online. However, most of you may have never even heard of Alyssa Carson or her accomplishments mainly because the media hasn’t even touched upon it. But you have probably heard of Kendall Jenner, or at least the Kardashian family who, by the way, got famous because the release of a sex tape a family member ‘leaked’. And yet, the media continues to talk about them, draw attention to them and promote them to millions of viewers.

The media didn’t release any content on Alyssa Carson, so I’m going to for you. Carson was only 3 years old when she told her dad she wants to be part of the first team to travel to Mars. Since then, Carson has completed all NASA’s space camps, aerospace tests and at the age of 12 was even invited to talk at a NASA convention about her love for the red planet. And now, at just 19 years old, she is the youngest ever trainee astronaut and is a member of the team who will be the first to visit Mars. Some pretty astonishing accomplishments.

On the other hand, the media continues to contribute to Kendall Jenner framing the ideology of what a female should aspire to look like through endless articles, social media posts and videos. Although we can’t blame this on Kendall. The amount of coverage the media shows around any beauty influencer out there is bound to impact young women, meaning the media is the building block for the belief that all women should look and behave a certain way. Whereas, in reality, they are just unrealistic ideas on a screen forming unrealistic goals because who knows what someone actually looks like in the flesh.

This poses the question of what message is the media constantly displaying? Perhaps it’s to be drop dead gorgeous or to cut down your diet and physically work yourself mad to gain an unhealthy weight. Whatever message the media has been humanising for years, Alyssa Carson is the archetype for proving these expectations are distorted, impractical and misdirected. It is about time somebody did. It is about time somebody obstructed what the media perceives as a ‘normal’ lifestyle. In reality, the media is just a communication mechanism which is becoming so deadly, no one can see it. Helping humanisation or captivating it?

Written by Mabel Lee

Photography by Hattie Nicholas