Sex and Beauty Image of Term Paper

The tone is personalistic and is parallel with the narrative style used by the author in her analysis. Furthermore, McDonough's choice of words is simplistic, primarily because she aims to give understanding to her audience the main arguments she presented. All throughout the article, there is a conscious effort to sensitively discuss the issue for the sake of its audience, which are primarily, women, and secondarily, parents of female children.

Contrasting McDonough's essay with that of the editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle entitled, "Beauty and the Barbie Doll," it is evident that the arguments presented are oversimplified. A reader may get the idea that what the editorial points out is the argument, "Barbie is the only factor that strongly influences female children's concept of beauty and sex." It does not take into account other factors that may influence children's attitudes and behavior, such as what McDonough centers on in her essay.Furthermore, the editorial assumes a more formal and perhaps 'politicized' version of a critique of Barbie dolls.

Though McDonough's article made a huge impression on me, I also take into consideration the fact that both essays cater to various audiences: the editorial piece was meant to target parent mainly, while the essay by McDonough was meant to be a literary piece-cum-social critique of critics concerning the negative influences of the Barbie doll. However, McDonough is more successful in capturing her audience than the editorial piece, primarily because it takes more than formalized and politicized language to convince women and parents about the positive and negative affects of Barbie dolls on female children......