The Impressions Made by Unrealistic Images of Women

Under society’s customs for decades, young women have found themselves immersed in the pressure and anticipation to have exemplary bodies. Nearly every young woman prefers to be slim, have a perfectly shaped body, that is beautified by applying pounds of makeup to their face but does not appear ridiculously overdone. Who’s responsible for these measures imposed on young women? When a young girl picks up the model on the cover of Vogue being called flawless, naturally it’s easy for her to then aspire to be a real-life imitation of the that model. These companies produce magazine covers shown with girls’ images daily. As if keeping the perfect body wasn’t hard enough, our culture also forces girls into the forever expanding world of composition, however, body image is a surging subject for young girls. Advertisements and pictures of lean female models are all over. Young women are measured and perplexed by their physical appearances with attire intended to raise their physical structures; social media, magazines, the society, marketing campaigns, advertisements, and the fashion gurus add to a strand of excellence.

Depression is when an individual has feelings of hopelessness and has very little energy to accomplish tasks; many people have tremendous trouble sustaining an interest in life. In today’s culture, girls have become more depressed in adolescence compared to boys (Stice and Bearman). One of the major influences on why girls are frequently more depressed than boys, is that girls struggle to obtain the perfect body in their own eyes. Findings show that, compared to teen boys, teen girls have higher body shame. Fifty-three percent of adolescent girls reported being dissatisfied with their body after the study (Knauss). Low-self esteem, combined with depression, can potentially be very dangerous for young women.

First, Pipher blames the low self respect of adolescent girls everything from parents to peers, but mainly faults our society as a whole. We are all guilty of getting caught up in the media, television, and magazines. “Have you seen Rosie? She has lost so much weight!” “Oprah gained all of her weight back and more!” These are just a few of the comments that are made after watching two of the most watched talk shows. I know these comments sound harmless, but to a young girl who is struggling with the perfect body image these comments reinforce the importance of appearance. Pipher also points out that intelligent girls are more prone to depression because they are more aware of their surroundings and therefore more aware of the new constraints they face as they leave childhood. Our society idealizes tall, dark

For example, in the article “Advertising and Image” researchers say that 23% of models weigh less than the average female and because of this 80% of 10-year old girls report having dieted. This happens because teens try to become just like the models on tv and magazine ads.

Under society’s norms for decades, young women have been put under the pressure and anticipation to have perfect bodies. That is, thin and curved, beautified by applying pounds of the makeup to their face but not appear ridiculously overdone. Who’s responsible for these standards imposed on young women? When a young girl picks up the model along the cover of Vogue being called flawless, it’s easy for her to then aspire to be a real-life imitation of the photocopy. These companies produce magazine covers shown with girls’ images daily. As if keeping the perfect body wasn’t hard enough our culture also forces girls into the forever expanding world of composition, however, body image is a pressing issue for young women. Advertisements and posters of skinny female models are all over. Young girls not only could be better but need to be more upright and feel driven to throw the perfect figure. Moreover, girls are evaluated and oppressed by their physical appearances. With supplements and apparel designed to enhance a facial expression; social media, magazines, and marketing campaigns and advertisements add to the burden of perfection. The fashion industry is a prime object of body image issues, as they believe clothes look better on tall and svelte women. Established on a survey participated by 13 to 17-year-old in the U.S., 90% “felt pressured by fashion and media industries to be skinny”, with more than 60% routinely compares themselves to models, while 46%

The media is one of the leading causes of self esteem and body image issues in not only women but men as well. This is due to the fact that thousands of advertisements contain messages about physical attractiveness and beauty. Examples include: commercials for clothes, cosmetics, weight loss, hair removal, laser surgery and physical fitness. The effects of advertising on body image have been studied by researchers, psychologists, marketing professionals and more. Researchers, Mary Martin and James Gentry found that teen directed advertising negatively impacts self-esteem. The advertising industry is setting unrealistic expectations for teens about their physical appearances by using models with "perfect bodies." The modeling industry today has put many pressures on models, causing them disorders of both mental and physical illness. These disorders then creating the look of the “perfect body” have now lead to unrealistic expectations of body image for society.

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

In today’s society, many adolescent girls are dissatisfied with their body image due to comparing themselves to the media’s unrealistic ideal thin body. Since they grow up in a world filled with mass media such as television, films, magazines, movies, music, newspaper and the Internet, it is very easy to come across this ideal body image (Morris & Katzman, 2003). As teen girls associate with this ideal thinness they tend to be dissatisfied with their own body image, which can put them at risk for serious eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa (Kerr 2010). Depression also plays a part in the dissatisfied body image of adolescent girls as well.

Researchers have discovered that “ongoing exposure to certain ideas can shape and distort our perceptions on reality.” (Mintz 2007) Because young girls are subjected to a constant display of beautiful people in the media, they have developed a negative body image of themselves. Those who have a negative body image perceive their body as being unattractive or even hideous compared to others, while those with a positive body image will see themselves as attractive, or will at least accept themselves and be comfortable in their own skin. During adolescence, negative body image is especially harmful because of the quick changes both physically and mentally occurring during puberty. Also, young girls are becoming more and more exposed to the media and the media keeps getting more and more provocative. Young girls are looking to women with unrealistic body shapes as role models. It’s hard to find, in today’s media, a “normal” looking

As a woman I constantly feel the pressures of society every day. So it is of no surprise to me that teenage girls often are reportedly more depressed than males. According to Boyd and Bee (2012), 22 percent of adolescent girls experience depression, a mental state that is marked by sadness and low self-worth lasting for more than 6 months, compared to the 11 percent of males. Society’s double standard of attractiveness between males and females could explain these findings, society has a huge prominence on thinness that is predominantly aimed at females. During puberty females acquire more fat and will become more rounded, while males tend to be more lean and muscular. With this put into consideration, more than half of adolescent girls

Since the fashion industry plays a huge role in the spread of eating disorders as many teens look up to models’ body types, the industry should hire models with more realistic and diverse body types to set a more positive examples and curb the negative effects of body shaming. Teen magazines that target adolescent girls are the second most common source of images that sexually objectify images of girls and women (National). If there is a decrease in such images and an increase in body type diversity in these magazines, body negativity among adolescents will decrease even with the same average amount of exposure to media. Furthermore, “plus-sized models” should be represented more frequently and stop being labeled as such; it is demeaning and

When girls are exposed at a young age to the stereotypes of media, they begins to believe differences and flaws are bad. This exposure causes them to morph into what they are told is “ideal”. According to nationally uses research from the university of Texas “the average american woman is 5 feet 4 inches tall and 166 pounds...most female models are 5 feet 11 inches and usually wear a size double zero to zero at 107 pounds” (2016). That means that the average model is very underweight based off of their BMI (body mass index). Girls see these model and believe that is what they must look like. They will label anyone including themselves who does not have the body of a model fat, ugly, gross and unhealthy. In reality as those girls strive for a “perfect” body they become unhealthy and grotesquely thin. Social media’s stereotypes send a bad message to young

A magazine advertisement’s main selling point is a model or the “perfect body” that all girls dream of having. We all think that these advertisements cause no harm. But in reality, teenage girls are developing self-consciousness and sensitivity around their peers. They worry that their shape, size, and muscle tone is all wrong. On womensenews.org, Joan Jacobs Brumberg, author of “The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls”, states, “The body has become the central personal project of American girls.” A lot of young women start to question themselves, “Am I pretty enough?” or “Am I skinny enough?” Because of these questions, most girls end up depressed or having suicidal thoughts. A 15 year old girl wrote on a website stating that she worries that she’s not good enough.

Throughout the years, models have been progressively been getting skinnier. "Size 6 (UK size 10) was a normal size" (Littlejohn). There are many downsides to the super thin models of today. They cause unattainable standards of beauty for people which leads to eating disorders such as bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating. This is affecting models and teenage girls the most, peoples health is being sacrificed for "fashion", and it needs to stop.

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.