Flaunt, Flaunt, smiiiiiile, twirl and strut off. Girls all over the world are watching this commercial for a new product, but more than that they are seeing a stick thin model walk around on the screen. Is this, constant, idea of perfection in the media, causing teen health issues?
Media’s idea of perfection is rising everyday in their expectations. For example, Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth, beautiful women in their day, would now be considered “fat”. But is this “perfection”, unattainable? Plastic surgeries, airbrush, and photogenic representations make society’s perfection impossible. In a certain episode of “Phineas and Ferb” the boys older sister Candace, tries desperately to be approved as the next flawless girl. This example may seem naïve, but it has a very real point, in the end Candace realizes that this lady, in the head of flawless girl company, was purposely trying to make her model beauty, unmanageable.
This example leads me into another topic. Many of these young models today are being used to make someone, or something look better. I have seen that many commercials, using models to advertise, are for dieting products. According to The National Institute of Mental Health, every day, Americans are spending an average of 109 million dollars a day on dieting products, many of which are harmful to our bodies. Have you ever noticed as well, that the skinny girls in movies and books are often portrayed as better, than the “chubby” characters? In movies and books the “perfect” girl is always the main character, the one with all the friends, all the smarts, all the guys and all the awesomeness, where as the “fat” character is usually the “bad-guy” or the lazy bum with no friends. What is this saying to teens all over? it’s saying that if you’re not perfect you may as well give up now, you’re never going to be popular, or cool, or the hero in this life, leave that for the “perfect” girls.
Some say, that the models on TV are motivating people to be healthy, and supporting the idea that being “skinny” is healthy. It is not true. Most women models today weigh up to 25% percent less than the typical women and maintain a weight 15 to 20 percent less than the standard for healthy. Barbie Dolls, the ideal human body, is actually disproportionate. If a Barbie doll were to come to life it would neither be able to stand up or use the bathroom, due to it’s abnormal “perfection”.
Teens are the most vulnerable to this pressure. They are in a constant state of trying to figure out who they are, who they want to be. This is a very impressionable stage. What thoughts are circling through teens heads when they see “perfection” plastered all over the media. They are constantly thinking, “am I skinny enough, do I need to lose weight, would I be more popular if I weighed less?” With Barbie dolls being seen as perfect, and books and movies portraying skinny as awesome, it’s no wonder teens are developing eating disorders. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, between 5 to 10% of girls in America have anorexia nervosa. According to the CRC Health group, between 5 to 20 percent of the anorexic population, will die.
Death is not “perfection”. And neither is what their offering you on the screen. Don’t let the media influence you, everyone has a chance at life, and fame, or whatever your dreams are, just because you don’t weigh 100 pounds, does not mean you can’t get your dreams. Don’t go anorexic, you are perfect just the way you are.