The average female’s self-esteem plummets at the age of twelve, the common time period where most females are going through the process of puberty (“NYC Girl’s Project”). This is also the time that popular media presents the social cultural standard on body image; the mind set that a person can never be “too rich or too thin” (Serdar). An image that is nearly impossible to be obtained, even for the idealistic female model, who struggle to be “unique”. The media has a profound effect on females and how they come to perceive their bodies, for this specific reason we need to change the societal norm. In the early 1900’s the Gibson Girl highly influenced society, much like the Barbie of the late 1900’s. Charles Dana Gibson, the creator of the …show more content…
The result has created a potential increase in negative body-image. Adonis Complex said, “There’s often a vicious circle here: the more a person focuses on his body image, the worse he tends to feel about how he looks- obsession breeds discontent.” (“Body Image”). Media is always the first to say that they do not, in fact, have an impact on someone’s body image. Rather they claim that body image is affected by other factors that influence young girls. A prime example of this is the distribution of Barbie dolls in the United States. As years progressed, children grew up wanting to be skinnier. However, Kim Culmone, VP Design at Mattel, stated that the “Barbie body” does not negatively impact the personal image on how children grow up to see themselves, but often it is the household environment. For instance, the way mothers approach concerns about their own personal weight gain or bodily proportions can affect children and how they come to view themselves (Stampler). At least 80% of adult women are unhappy with their body image. This is the fault of mass media. Due to a woman’s dependence of false idealistic physical attractiveness, they could negatively affect their daughter, but they cannot help how they were influenced to perceive themselves ("Mirror, Mirror. A Summary of Research Findings on Body Image"). Mothers want whats best for their children, but how can they truly know whats best if the media is so