The Medias Influence on Body Image

The Media’s Influence on Body Image

It is hard these days to turn on the TV and not see a ridiculously skinny actress or model, and consequently feel bad about ourselves. Considering that most of the population is not extremely skinny and made up all the time, it is wrong for the media to broadcast that women should strive to look like this. While I do promote a healthy lifestyle and that women should be active and eat nutritiously for their own happiness, the celebrities on TV are not the type of people that we should aspire to be for many reasons.

The majority of women in the United States cannot afford a personal trainer five times a week and an in house chef to prepare all of our meals organically. The media boasts these freakishly skinny women all the time, and thus sends horrible messages to the young population of teenage girls and even younger. The media should illustrate what it means to live a healthy lifestyle, not one full of eating disorders. If I were ten years old right now, growing up watching 5 foot 11, 105 pound women all the time, my understanding of beautiful would be slightly distorted too. The fact is that, genetically not many women are extremely tall and weigh a little more than 100 pounds. And to me, it is not beautiful to see these lanky, tall creatures parading fashion runways while their bodies swim in their clothes. Why is this look so sought after? I really do not understand.

There have been shocking results to studies proving that the urge to be thin is starting at an increasingly young age. According to mediafamily.com, “In a survey of girls 9 and 10 years old, 40% have tried to lose weight”. This is greatly disturbing news. I cannot even fathom thinking about my body image at such a young age. As a matter of fact, I don’t recall judging my looks until late high school or even college. Mediafamily.com also provides that, “Teen-age girls who viewed commercials depicting women who modeled the unrealistically thin-ideal type of beauty caused adolescent girls to feel less confident, more angry and more dissatisfied with their weight and appearance”. I find this appalling and depressing. This makes me never want to even have children. I would never want anyone to be born into a generation full of girls who are miserable about their body image because they compare themselves with the 0.00005% of the population. The issue concerning girls and their body image is something that needs to change. I’m not sure how it can be done, but the media definitely has the power. I pray to God that eventually it will be “cool” to love your body because its one of a kind. We are given one body and one life and its important to realize how fortunate we are to have that, and that we should take advantage of living a healthy lifestyle for ourselves, not for someone else’s image.