The Media’s Influence on Teenage Body Image In today’s society, teenage girls are constantly being pushed and pulled into a million detrimental directions thanks to the media. With television, magazines, cell phones, and computers, women are constantly faced with advertisements and suggestions from the media. It is becoming impossible to avoid them, because they practically are everywhere we turn. Advertisements for make-up, hair products, and clothing are among the few that are the most influential to adolescent girls. They tend to feature flawless faces and very thin models.
It isn’t fair for a girl to open a magazine and think that the images they see are how they should look. A girl shouldn’t open a magazine and see a pore-less woman with eyes bigger than her wrist and think this is what she should strive for. I remember when I was younger and opening a magazine and seeing these girls and wondering why I was a size 9 pants in grade 7 and these girls who were older than me were a fraction of my size. If I cried that I was too fat and put myself on diets at 11, someone else is, too. The average girl starts her first diet at the age of 9… the average girl is starting her first diet before she is even out of middle school.
Media targeting teenage girls are emphasizing the ideal of thinness as beauty. (See How do I teach my teen media literacy? When you stop and think about the fact that the average height and weight for a model is 5'10" and 110 lbs, and the height and weight for the average woman is 5'4" and 145 lbs, it's easy to see why this creates a tremendous health risk for young girls. The problem of the media using girls who are way too thin and not healthy has not gotten better over the years, even though the issues it causes for teen girls has become well known. Recently I watched a show called America's Top Model and was horrified at the bodies of those young women.
The most influential programs offer media literacy as part of the education process. Glamorous movie stars, skinny models, and endless pictures of beautiful women bombard all aspects of media. Young, impressionable teenage girls look at these
The slender, “beautiful” women are regarded as influential, successful, and erotic. This being said, it is very much so based on facts and reason, also known as logos, in the aspect that real life is often viewed this way. Throughout Elementary school up to High school, no one wanted to be best friends with “the fat kid”. As the world already knows, girls and women in general seem to stress over their physical appearance and have been especially concerned about weight for many years now. The emotional effect media has on a woman’s mindset, or ethos, could very well send her overboard into what is commonly known as an eating disorder.
“For millions of Americans held hostage by the pervasive emphasis on being slender, losing weight becomes an obsession that takes over their lives” (Congressional 1101). Eating disorders are not only physically harmful, but they are also a mental illness that many can not over-come. “Psychiatrists and feminists cite numerous social pressures that make women strive for unrealistically svelte, fashion-model figures” (1101). The stigma associated with eating disorders has kept individuals suffering in silence, making funding for research scarce, and created barriers to treatment. Low self esteem is what many girls have now days often caused by undue pressure on how they look.
Ana is a young woman who is at the beginning of experiencing life. She has strong family values, wants a good future… and is a little overweight. Her mom Carmen, throughout the movie, tells her to lose weight because if she did, she would look good. Ana does not listen to her mom, she loves the way she is, and this is a myth she proved wrong. Her mom continues to remind her how overweight she is and says things like “Look at you!
But we have to realise now that it’s just society’s norm in this day and age to have the hour glass figure and not ‘let yourself go’. At that age I was terrified to get without my parents but these girls are willing to give up seeing their parents again if they are able to fit into a bikini for summer. Since when has it been so bad to be yourself instead of trying to be someone you’re not? Sandra Laing from the biography/drama ‘Skin’ realised this hard way after several efforts of trying and failing to be a part of the white community that was neglecting her for the majority of her life. Growing up my mum told me not be some one that you’re not and if your happy the way you are than why change.
Studies have shown that over 60 percent of women were unhappy with their bodies, as they have been raised comparing themselves with Barbie and other various models of the fashion industry. Women are left feeling inadequate and bad about themselves, which can lead to eating disorders. Kristen Overman, a mental health counselor says, “What’s frustrating for most women is that they’re generally stuck with the body type they have.” Body image, and girls’ perception on what they should look like, starts at adolescence, at home, with our parents, and in school, when trying to fit in with the rest of the girls their age. Acceptance becomes a priority at this age. Studies reveal children are going on diets in as early as the fourth grade.
“When quizzed, they rattle off a list of favorite designers as if they're reciting the periodic table, instantly recognize the significance of Glickman's purse being a Jil Sander, and rhapsodize over the genius of Andre, a personal shopper at Mazza Gallerie's Neiman Marcus. (Alter).” Fitting in can be crucial at a younger age. You want to know the latest trends and wear what everyone else is wearing. Although, in some cases just showing you can afford a certain brand shows your high class status. In Alter’s article, the girls all state where they buy clothes, what they wear and all have personal shoppers to help them find new trends.