Laine Sterbenz, A Student From The University Of Kentucky

In the media today skinny models are pictured on the covers of magazines with their faces covered in makeup. Sometimes models are photo shopped to look smaller than they are originally. This portraying the perfect woman to be skinny and very beautiful. Allowing kids to believe that you have to be small and covered in make-up to be beautiful, when in reality beauty comes in all shapes and sizes.

It is proven that models nowadays weigh 23% less than the average woman.Girls believe that to have the ideal body, you need to be toned and slim, wheres for guys being muscular is the definition of perfection. The problem starts to become much severe , when it ultimately leads to serious habits such as eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia and in most cases, suicidal attempts.

Girls don’t just simply decide to hate their bodies, society teaches them to. I think ads that show “perfect” models are creating insecurity and self-consciousness for teens. For example, “ads help limit our understanding of our worth and our full potential.” (SB pg. 126) The ads that show beautiful, slim, and flawless models make teens suffer from certain illnesses like anorexia.

Cindy Crawford in a magazine interview states, “‘do you look at me and want to puke?’ Evidently, they’re not hearing or paying attention to a deafening ‘Yes’ from the seven million American girls and women who, according to Dr. Vivian Meehan, suffer from eating disorders” (Zimmerman). Even if you don’t have an eating disorder, you are still affected by the media and supermodels. Saying to yourself “If I had those shoes I’d look as stunning as her”, models are used to sell products but instead sell their bodies and the products are just vamping that up. Models leave millions of young impressionable people, striving for an unachievable perfection. Dr. Morris Fishbein says, “Of all of the fads which have afflicted mankind, none seems more difficult to explain than the desire of American women striving for the barber pole figure.” (Zimmerman). Why is being a bean pole so sought after? If the media

One may believe that slim celebrity pictures make people avoid being that weight, while it is also believed that these celebrities may be causing a weight drop in people around the world. Kelly Cutrone, owner of People’s Revolution, states that models are born with the characteristics needed to model, and these models are not unhealthy. Also, Psychologist Douglas Bunnell states that stars simply show the horrors of eating disorders, and how people should avoid disorders of this kind. However, it seems as though the models are underweight as many have passed out because of dehydration. In refutation to Bunnell, it seems, through studies, that smaller celebrities inspire young people to become the

These young women feel an overwhelming need to make their bodies “better” in order to look like a model in a magazine. This may seem harmless, but it leads to young women turning to extremely excessive exercise routines and restricted eating in order to obtain their dream bodies (Fitzsimmons-Craft p. 144). Habits such as these lead to plenty of health problems, including dehydration, anorexia, and bulimia. The combination of body dissatisfaction and social comparison is toxic to young women’s physical and mental health.

Kilbourne goes on to add that society shows you that you have to be skinny in order to be attractive. In the video Killing us softly 4 it is shown how pictures of models in ads or commercials are being photoshopped. Photo’s of models being edited is important to show , society what a women should look like. The way women should see themselves how they truly are, on must be confrontable in their own skin. Women often compare themselves what the media and the fashion industry say is the fad. Media and

Model’s work so hard to have the perfect body for magazines and other things but it is not enough for people they have to photoshop everything that is natural for a girl and it makes girls self conscious about themselves. The interest in this topic is that this is a serious problem,girls should be proud of there body but people think that if a girl is fat then that girl does not care and if a girl is too skinny that girl is trying too hard. In the 1840’s people were fat because it showed that that person was wealthy and could eat a lot, and if a person is skinny you could not afford to eat. But by the 1920’s dieting and calorie counting were apart of daily life. There is way too much pressure on girls to have the perfect body because girls think they are not as pretty as the girls in magazines, society is also the problem because society thinks if a girl is not skinny that girl is not pretty, they always try to change girls because nothing is

When Victoria’s Secret is allowed to have models prance around on screen but Lane Bryant Ads (lingerie for plus size women) is banned then there’s a problem. The media is portraying these models who are thin to the point where it is unhealthy. And the media is feeding society lies. A perfect example is of Gerran Tyler. Tyler was a 12 year old supermodel. She walks the run way for clients like Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, and Betsey Johnson. She’s tall, thin, the perfect model because she hasn’t hit puberty yet. She walked during New York Fashion Week and posed for these designer brands advertisements. This body type is unachievable for almost all adult women (Roberts). Somebody in their twenties or thirties doesn’t have the ability to look like a twelve year old girl, but this is how these designers are telling us to look. Tyler had an amazing career and high expectations but the fame didn’t last long. As she got older and hit puberty she began to develop boobs, hips, and curves. She began getting less and less bookings. Her supermodel career was virtually over. “Eighty percent of 10-year-old American girls say they have been on a diet” and the, “Number one magic wish for young girls 11-17 is to be thinner” (Missrepresentation). This self-esteem problem with young girls is a result of these unobtainable ideas of beauty. Jennifer Siebel, creator of the documentary Missrepresentation, says

Having a skinny body is very important in the modeling industry. Bigger women always get turned down. This makes them feel unhealthy and not as beautiful as the other women that are modeling. The hard part for models is to keep their weight down to a certain number, otherwise, they are not allowed to model anymore. Today, in America many women are suffering from eating disorders, and other negative behaviors which make women do things to their body that they should not do. Men are attracted to healthy women regardless if the woman is older. Most modeling agencies prefer skinny women because they believe having smaller women as models would attract men there to support them. The media thinks being overweight is ugly which is unfair for bigger women because women of any size should be able to model. The media shows thin women on television

The media group that retouches images skews the “normal” body image of people through many of its outlets, including models in advertising and magazines, and actors in TV and movie productions. “The average model portrayed in the media is approximately 5’11” and 120 pounds. By contrast, the average American woman is 5’4” and 140 pounds” (Holmstrom, 2004). This statistic shows how the media manipulates consumers into believing that because they are not what the average model looks like, they are not living up to a certain standard which implies that they need to look like that to be beautiful. Another research fact that shows a similar concept is that, “In the United States, 94% of female characters in television programs are thinner than the average American woman, with whom the media frequently associate happiness, desirability, and success in life” (Yamamiya et al., 2005). This association of female thinness and happiness, desirability and success makes consumers believe they must achieve this unrealistic thinness to achieve more ultimate goals and fulfillment in life. “The media also explicitly instruct how to attain thin bodies by dieting, exercising, and body-contouring surgery, encouraging female consumers to believe that they can and should be thin” (Yamamiya et al., 2005). This idealization of thinness in the media is seen so much, and is extremely harmful to women’s self confidence and is often associated with body image dissatisfaction, which can be a precursor to social anxiety, depression, eating disturbances, and poor self-esteem (Yamamiya et al.,

The article compares top models to athletes who show exemplary professionalism and discipline to maintain their figures for their jobs. The author indignantly states that sports stars are never scrutinized for their weight qualifications and extreme dieting methods in the way models are, even though athletes often suffer from eating disorders and diet excessively and obsess about their weight. In addition Anorexia is very low compared to obesity, according to Hilton, and although anorexia and bulimia are indeed horrific psychological conditions, the numbers of those struggling with obesity in the U.S. are much higher than those with anorexia. Hilton also questions how women have risen up and gained so much respect over the years, through the women rights movement and various feminist organizations, yet are portrayed too dainty and delicate to cope with dissonances between the “Bambi-limbed aspirations of the catwalk and our own wretched, cellulite-smothered carcasses.” (Hilton).

“To be happy and successful, you must be thin,” is a message women are given at a very young age (Society and Eating Disorders). In fact, eating disorders are still continuously growing because of the value society places on being thin. There are many influences in society that pressures females to strive for the “ideal” figure. According to Sheldon’s research on, “Pressure to be Perfect: Influences on College Students’ Body Esteem,” the ideal figure of an average female portrayed in the media is 5’11” and 120 pounds. In reality, the average American woman weighs 140 pounds at 5’4”. The societal pressures come from television shows, diet commercials, social media, peers, magazines and models. However, most females do not take into account of the beauty photo-shop and airbrushing. This ongoing issue is to always be a concern because of the increase in eating disorders.

Basically, the media is doing nothing but using subliminal messages. The way they portray the models in magazines, it only confuses a human’s mind. This makes them believe that they must look like them to be considered beautiful. Often in magazines, when positive values, success, love, and happiness, a thin person is shown. This not only completely lowers a “healthy”, or a plus sized person’s self-esteem, but the media also tries to make it seem as if in order to be happy and successful, a person must be skinny (Piazza). Every day, companies come up with a new beauty product, or a new diet product to leer someone into buying it to make themselves beautiful. New products every day completely sets aside the idea that natural beauty is already beautiful enough. According to the media, though, people need these products to look more humane, or look younger and thinner. The media also using editing and

While it’s fashion week in London, the size “zero” models start to prepare for the big show by purging to be as thin as possible. Most models starve themselves in order to achieve the “waif”, stick-thin figure; it becomes so addictive, almost like second nature that it further leads to serious eating disorders. From recent studies, today’s model weighs about 23% less than the normal woman. Clearly, most models do not depict the average woman. Men and women all over the world follow the influences that the fashion industry provides. They believe that the fashion industry depicts on what society should be acknowledged as, picture-perfect thin.