I Am Not Fat!
Magazines at the grocery store, commercials on TV and movies playing at local theaters, all of these forms of entertainment seem to be harmless outlets of creativity. Yet these very forms of media affect women all over the world and tell them what they should physically look like to be deemed as beautiful in society. One may not believe that the media is up to such a terrible act, but subconsciously women believe what the media portrays as beautiful. Today’s pop culture demonstrates the impact of self-image and the effect it has on society and the way the society should look. Ads and pop culture enforce a negative outlook on the body image, which affects young women throughout the society. There are many aspects of today’s society that effect women within this pop culture and the way they have started to look at their bodies and see themselves as below average because they are not measuring up to the standards of society. In all reality, media and advertisement must know the effects it has on the young women and their body image in the world, but choose to ignore the fact because of the success that has sky rocketed in the past years. Not many people can ignore the media and find themselves beautiful no matter what features they have, but the ones who do such things are confident and strong while growing up in this tough and harsh world.
Ads within television, magazines, newspapers, etc. all have some direct correlation to the media having an effect on the body image of young teens. These ads show beautiful models with long skinny legs, blonde hair, and blue eyes laying on the sand of a tropical island in front of an extraordinary horizon. Although an average person would find this remarkably unbelievable, many of these girls still believe every aspect of the media and constantly judge their bodies and who they are. Young girls going through puberty and stages that are awkward and familiar to all see this portrayal of women and what is thought of as beautiful and instantly idolize these women. The human eye sees “300 ads per day and probably do not notice half of them even though we have been exposed (Smeesters). Being exposed to so many ads daily, the brain subconsciously judges a young teen’s body image and these teens automatically find themselves inadequate in comparison to these ads. To a great extent of these advertisements, it begins to tell one who they are and who they should be (Kilbourne). When growing up as a young girl and going through the middle school horror days, the girls’ body and maturation are huge factors. The last thing these girls need is the media telling all of them exactly what they should look like and who they should be in this world. The ads through television and magazines constantly show young girls with perfect bodies, hair, teeth, and extremely clear faces, all of these things being untrue in reality. When teens see ads such as these they tend to believe they need to look just like these girls because these ads tell women what is most important in life is how they all look (Smeesters). What these teens are unaware of are the countless hours these models put in to get that one perfect picture for that one ad that also involves airbrushing, which contorts the entire ad itself. These models in the ads never have any flaws with their appearance, which makes these teens have a strong belief that if they show a flaw within their body image they are not “perfect” within society. What most of these young girls do not realize is these models that they are idolizing weigh 23% less than a typical women should weigh at that certain height and age (Clark). These ads contort the eyes of these young girls into believing that they should look identical to these models and when they realize that they do not look like them, they lose self-esteem. Unfortunately with these ads, some teens begin to change the way the eat, or do not eat at all to become more and more like these women society deems perfect. Body image reflects the way these women try to lose weight being that on average 44 percent of young teens are trying to lose weight throughout the world (Charles). These teens grow up constantly looking at these magazines that show models that are in no way healthy in the way they are treating their body and these teens always tend to want to look just like them. The ads bring out dangerous factors in these teens’ lives when it comes to their body image and how they begin to take care of their bodies and become unhealthy to start to look like these models. In a perfect world these teens would see the ads and still be happy with the way they look but in today’s world, no girl feels as if their body is beautiful.
The ads on television and in magazines are not the only things in a young girls life that affects her body image. Movies, sit coms, music, and reality television, shows that the effects of body image are all around. Every television show that airs involves the perfect main character with the perfect body and hair that seems to be perfect in every aspect. Young teens watch television on average of 34 hours a week that consists of constant reality shows of perfect women (Smeesters). With the constant hours of television, teens cannot escape the “beautiful” women of the society whether it is an ad or a show. When witnessing all of this negative media day in and day out, these girls fail to find ways to see their body as beautiful in their own eyes.
With the negative effects surrounding the media left and right, there are positive aspects in the Hollywood life. There are wonderful role models to these young teens such as Adele and Jennifer Lawrence who constantly tell the media that they do not mind what their body image looks like, they have a talent they are using and their weight should not be a factor (Poyntz). Having women such as them in the media does put some positive outlooks within the pop culture and how it can positively affect the girls around the world. If the young teens begin to idolize these women in Hollywood that are confident with how they look without a weight loss program, then these young teens should be able to grow up finding themselves beautiful no matter what they look like and no matter what the media wants to portray. Reality TV shows such as Keeping Up With The Kardashians are constantly showing the girls getting their makeup done, eating salads, and running on the treadmill to show the world how they get the bodies they have. When young teens watch these shows religiously they see what they believe is a norm in society and begin to alter their body image to look more like what they see on television. Little do these girls know, the women on TV are under stress of their own because they have to keep up a body image that will help their reputation throughout the media. Being that most of these women in the shows are predominantly white females, with blonde hair, and blue eyes, the women that do not have such features automatically put themselves lower on the scale of their body image. The pop culture has spread television watching throughout society but on top of just watching television these kids want to become just like every actress.
A young teens body image is something that affects one on a day-to-day basis whether it is good or bad. Having a negative outlook on one’s own body image can lead to a self esteem issue which as growing up as a teenager is something you do not want to encounter. Self-esteem is all about how much one feels they are worth and valued (Cussins). When one does not feel perfect in these worthy categories, they begin to suffer in their own self-esteem issues regarding their body image. Studies have shown that most teens growing up through middle school tend to suffer from sort of depression due to bullies degrading them about the way they look (Mahaffy). Interestingly enough, the ones bullying are the ones with the lowest self-esteem regarding their bodies (Hunt). Some girls are lucky enough to be able to have the genetic capability to look like these models in ads or on TV when they are going through puberty, but for the majority of these teens that is untrue. Having a bad outlook on your body image while growing up effects on average 75 percent of girls self-esteem through their life because of the effects it has on that person while they are growing up (Mahaffy). Being overweight and unable to be capable of looking like that Victoria Secret “angel” can be a downslide of a young teens self esteem because they find themselves unattractive in the eyes of the society. Unfortunately, the society does not go against the opinions of these models being deemed beautiful and constantly try to push these models to show off more of themselves (Clark). Teens growing up that rely on themselves to look just like what society wants, are set up for failure. Self esteem is not an easy thing to boost when growing up and having the effect of your body image not being what society views as “perfect” is even harder. When a young girl looks at herself everyday in the mirror, she is her own worst enemy which contributes in such a negative way to trying to increase self-esteem.
Body image has a big effect on young girls in today’s society due to the amounts of advertisements and shows that try to prove one type of a body as ideal or perfect. The media may not agree with all society has to say but it plays a huge role in the lives of young girls as they grow up and try to find confidence in themselves. As any young girl, going through that tough awkward stage is dreaded, but to have the media right in your ear and in front of your face 300 times a day showing you what “perfect” is, is even tougher. Young teens are cornered by advertisements every day with a body image that these magazines find “reachable” if “you just do these certain steps”. How a young girl feels about the way she looks is a huge part of being able to grow up with confidence and be able to grow through life being happy with the way one looks. If only these teens allowed themselves to be happy with who they are and find themselves worthy enough to be deemed as beautiful, the media would soon change. There seems to be no happy medium in the media today, one is too fat, or one is too skinny, but if you are right in between those two you are just perfect. Any young girl going through puberty would find it difficult to find a happy spot with her body and being happy about it is key. It seems to be a transition society cannot face because these young girls cannot seem to be happy with themselves if they do not look like that Victoria Secret model walking down the runway. The pop culture has had a huge effect on the body image of young girls and how they choose to look at themselves. Body image and self-esteem are key to a healthy and confident life growing up as a woman and the society needs to realize such a problem it has created and take in to consideration the effects it has on young girls everyday. Being that the media needs to realize the problem that has arisen in the society, the girls themselves are the first step to solving such an issue. A girl is her own worst enemy until she looks in the mirror and deems her own self as beautiful without the media telling her so. Although the media is such a harsh critic in the everyday world, hopefully these young girls will learn how to ignore the media and see their true beauty inside and out.

Bibliography
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Charles, C. (n.d.). Skin bleaching, self-hate, and black identity in jamaica. (2003). 33(6), 711- 728. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3180843

Kilbourne, J. Killing Us Softly. [Video file.] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cakLF_16I4