If you open any fashion magazine you would see thousands of photographs of what women are “supposed to look like.” Long legs, small waist, flat stomach, tan skin, big eyes, pouty lips, and a perfect head of hair. There is an endless list of expectations for women that goes beyond just physical appearance. Young girls feel so much pressure to conform to these standards that society sets and it ends up killing their self esteem, body image, and sometimes, unfortunately, it literally kills them. The world of high fashion glamorizes only one kind of body type, tall and thin. Seeing only this body type repeatedly can give the false impression that this is the body that everyone is supposed to have. When young girls see these images of what they’re “supposed” to look like everywhere they turn, eventually they start to question themselves. They begin to look in the mirror and see a million things they don’t like and wish they could change. More and more girls are developing eating disorders and struggling with their body image. When this begin? When did only one type of body become the ideal body type? This tunnel vision of what perfection is has caused so much harm to young girls, and even boys.
In the past, body image and the desire by young girls to want to be skinny was actually quite the opposite. Women wanted to be curvier and and more filled out rather than having their hip bones and collar bones popping out of their bodies. Advertisements often showed curvier women with tips on how to look more like them. The world of high fashion and skinny models was completely separate from everyday women. Women did not aspire to look like the women in fashion shows and in the magazines because they knew that they were not about to walk in a fashion show. They knew that they were real girls who didn’t have to look like they were about to walk in a fashion show.
The mental effects of the media's portrayal of the perfect body can lead people to resort to unhealthy ways of losing weight to achieve the specific look they imagine in their head. For example, men and women who think they are overweight do not eat because “they want to lose weight” which can lead to eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia. Bulimia is a food disorder caused by mental insecurities. Doctors recommend that people who suffer bulimia should see a psychiatrist, and the symptoms include compulsive exercise, taking laxatives, and throwing up, which can cause serious health problems both long and short term. Anorexia is a similar disease where you lose extreme amounts of weight in a very short amount of time by eating very little and vomiting a small amount of food that is actually consumed.
When people look at dogs or cats and they see their bones they look at them like they are sick. They do not look at them like they are beautiful. Why is it any different for humans? Why do so many girls aspire to have their bones sticking out of their bodies when for other animals this is a sign of being unhealthy. Society can brainwash these young girls so much to make them believe that they aren’t beautiful unless they fit a certain description.
The way someone looks is such a small part of who they are. There are so many more things that make a person a person than just the way they look. People get so caught up in physical appearance when in reality that is just a small part of who we are.