Week 10-Body Image

Dear Typical College Girl,

It is extremely sad to me the fact that you are so focused on what the media in magazines perceive as “beautiful.” You are looking at the models who practically starve themselves to look a certain way, and then on top of that, magazines computer enhance certain aspects of these girls so they aren’t even real for the most part. So when you look at magazines and say “I want to look like her,” you are striving to look like someone who doesn’t even exist! A study showed that about 70% of girls feel that magazines affect how they feel about themselves and that they strive to look like them. I don’t think that is very healthy for you to be reading so many magazines and longing to look like the models in them. Often times girls develop eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia because they are trying to obtain the ideal look or weight because of what they see in the media. I find it interesting that back in the 1940’s, Marilyn Monroe was the big idol for teenage girls. She was looked at as the perfect body size and shape. And nowadays she would be considered overweight, because now models and celebrities are stick thin! On the cover of almost every women’s magazine you see some famous celebrity with a seductive face and a skimpy outfit, revealing a flawless body. All the articles in the magazine are about improving your body image and become more beautiful. It is all focused on outer appearance and having the best clothes, hair, makeup, etc. You never see any articles about “discovering your inner beauty.” These days, outer beauty is everything! It is really sad to see this because it is really not all about outer beauty and more and more girls are believing that it is. An experiment showed that the ads shown in these magazines can be broken up into five different categories: beauty products, entertainment, food/beverage, clothing/accessories, and public service announcements. Almost all of those have to do with your body or looks. I just hope that you don’t feel like you have to look like any of these girls in magazines, because as much as the world may say that outer beauty is everything, it is more about your inner beauty and how you feel about yourself. Don’t let a magazine show you how you are supposed to look.

Sincerely,

A Friend