Almost every day of our lives we are exposed to the media in at least one form or another. Television shows, magazines, newspapers, radiobroadcasts, videogames, books, and the internet are all different outlets of media— produced and published images and ideas that are circulated and communicated around communities, nations, and the world. How often do we stop and reflect on how these images and ideas shape us or if they even affect us at all? An article by an aliased blogger, “Media and How It Affects Culture”, claims that we as a “mature and healthy culture” will not be affected by different notions displayed in the media—that the media is a reflection of society already (MJFANDE). In response to this claim, what the author fails to acknowledge is that the illustrations seen on television, in video games, and other media outlets are not reflections of society in the real world, but reflections of the human imagination designed to entertain, inform, and in some cases influence. The outrageous amounts of violence and vulgarity I have seen on television have not ever been condoned in a real world arena, yet these negative actions occur at an increased rate, proportionate to the availability of access to media. Is it completely fair to say that the increased amounts of violence in schools have no relation to the increased amounts of violence depicted in videogames and television? Also, is it rational to suggest that the thousands of anorexic women and even more women who deal with body image based depression have no connection to the fact that almost every successful female figure depicted on magazine covers and in movies are in pristine physical shape and often depicted in a sexualized context. It is clear that mass media has a hand in creating and popularizing toxic culture in these aspects and among others. In this piece I will use these examples to demonstrate how