46% of young girls in today’s culture are significantly distressed about their body size and shape. Humans start to recognize themselves in meaningful ways at about 18 months and begin perceiving themselves as physical beings in toddlerhood. The social media closely relates happiness with good looks. This leads children to believe they need to be a certain size and look a certain way in order to be accepted in society. The media negatively influences society’s perception of beauty by extenuating externals. However, true beauty is internal.
Although we have a media driven society, and spend a lot of time watching television, the media is starting to realize not everyone can fit into one specific box. T.V. shows such as Ugly Betty, Roseanne, and Gilmore Girls have forced us to reconsider the notion of what is ugly and what is beautiful. While we are at, it also makes us reconsider what is ethical and what is realistic. An air of desperation and fear resonates from unmoving foreheads and giant lips plastered in magazines and on T.V., and that says a lot about Hollywood tossing aside anyone over 35. In addition, this emphasis on youth and perfection trickles down to the culture at large.
A quick skim on any current women’s or teen’s website will reveal a series of photos of women who fit the standards of beauty in our culture. These photos are in no way indicative of what a real woman looks like. Even when editors attempt to publish stories that reflect issues in girl’s lives, typically, the photos on the facing articles do not match up. If advertisers believe that catering to particular fears and desires will sell a product, they will use that information to get inside their clientele’s heads. By manipulating the minds of their readers, they will get the things they are after; sales and profit. In order to stop the constant spread of insecurity and doubtfulness in teens we need to elude the pressures of fitting society’s standards of beauty. To begin, the amount of time spent on the Internet and watching television needs to be controlled. We need to be prudent about exposing ourselves to the media and we need to ignore the pressure our culture puts on us to look a certain way. Teens need to be sure they are limiting their exposure to corrupted websites and television channels that promote fitting the asinine expectations society expects of us. If teens would tell themselves at least one