Media Impact on Young Girls - Article Example

Media Impact on Young Girls Introduction Young girls in the United s of America and all over the world have been struggling with body image for a long time. The media has been no help in making the women comfortable in their skin. Being thin is considered the ideal body shape that the women require to have in order to gain approval from their peers and the media. The young women and girls lack a proper role model to guide them on feeling comfortable in their skin. Most of the young girls, therefore, look up to women in magazines and models as a source of inspiration for the kind of person they want to be and how they should live their lives. The article will focus on the challenges the young girls go through trying to look like the women they see in the media. Body Effects of Pressure from the Media to the Young Girls The modeling industry puts much pressure on the young girls who want to be models to have a perfect body shape. Teenagers are the ones that are most affected by the pressure from the women they see to be perfect. Having a healthy body weight is considered as being fat and thus not ideal for any teenager. Reading magazines and seeing how thin the models look is a source of inspiration for many young girls around the world. There are girls whose dreams and aspirations are to become a model, but they are not thin enough to be good at the job. The idealization of the small frame has had a lot of adverse effects on the young girls. Teenagers in the social media and those who read magazines have low self-esteem as they consider themselves not as perfect as the women they see in the magazines (Sanders 4). Flat stomach with a tiny waistline is considered gorgeous. The lack of self-esteem on anyone has serious consequences in the kind of life the girls lead. Today’s young girls desperately need role models and people to look up to while growing up. The media does not help in giving the girls the right kind of role models (Cochrane 1). There are several incidents where young girls have become anorexic and bulimic in order to fit with the society’s ideal body. The models themselves are under constant pressure to be gaunt in order to fit into the designer clothing. One is supposed to be flat chested and not have any curves to be an ideal model. The young women who go into the modeling world at a very young age end up being frustrated and confused about the type of body image they should possess in the modeling world. The effects of the pressure are healthy eating conditions. Most of them are constantly on a liquid diet to impress their employers. Other models result in drug abuse after constant rejection in every modeling agency (Sanders 5). The effect of not being accepted as you are and in your body size has led to the death of other teenagers who result in excessive use of drugs and alcohol and even suicide. The modern media houses and social media have increasingly held up thinner and thinner body image over time. There was a study on girls aged between 10-14years on what is the ideal body shape and image for a lady. The girls described a model has the perfect body shape. Most of the girls confessed that they felt insecure after watching music videos from music artist who have a thin body frame. Their dreams are to have the same body type as the women in the music video they watch. The saddest part is that the young girls are not aware that most of the pictures of models and famous people in the magazines have altercations to look perfect. The thigh gap in the photos is enhanced, wrinkles made to disappear by airbrushing and the fat and pores made to go from the look. It is a serious matter that the young women believe that there are people who look picture perfect. The reduction of the size of the people who appear in the magazines is the most troubling part (Cochrane 8). The western culture idolizes thin frame, and it has gone into the teenagers’ head. There are articles on magazines and advertisement that suggest that having abs and a flat stomach is the ideal body shape for any woman. The youths end up starving themselves or eating unhealthy meals thinking it would help in having abs and a flat stomach. A study suggests that 70% of teenagers get influence on how to live their lives from the magazines. There are many issues in the magazines that have relation to the body image and appearance. Reading the magazines and coming across all this type of content can make the teenagers feel bad about their appearance. They feel they are not worthy or thin enough or pretty enough. The results are teenagers striving to visit plastic surgery clinics in order to acquire a perfect face and a perfect body. The teenager developing body is different from the ones they see in the magazine, and the comparison they make between the two is not healthy for the growth of any young girl. The young girls then fall into depression thinking they are not as beautiful as the magazine woman or the models she sees on television and social media (Sanders 7). There is much anxiety from a person not being comfortable in their skin. There should be many support programs and advice to the youth to help them be comfortable in their skin. Pop culture should also come up with role models who do not have a thin frame as the ideal body image that the young girls should have to be considered beautiful. Role of Parents The lack of parental interaction with their children is one of the major reasons the young women have involvement in body images and appearance obsession. The young girls get about only ten minutes interaction with their parents per day according to studies. The time they spend on the media is close to three hours a day, and it affects their mindsets significantly. The young girls take drastic measures in an effort to emulate the things they see on the media houses. The dissatisfied girls get proactive in trying to change their body image (Sanders 8). The problem is that their body cannot do the things they want it to do at that particular moment. The result is depression and the eating disorders they develop as earlier mentioned in this article. The parents of the young girls should spend extra energy in trying to make their daughters think about how unrealistic the people in magazines look. The images the people in magazines portray are not the body images of an ideal young female. Things like the curvaceous Barbie doll with the small waist and curvy body is not realistic. The western culture and the media portrayal of women is unrealistic, and the young girls should be able to learn that from their parents. The parents’ involvement in their children’s life can help them be secure with their body image and help them the reality behind the images in magazines (Cochrane 10). Empowering young girls and women start at home with the kind of advice they receive from their parents. Empowerment of the young girls to control the effect of the media in their lives is the most effective way to stop the obsession with body image. Social media is notorious in America in affecting the health of teenagers. Advertisements on ideal body weight and shape should also not affect the young women in believing that they are beautiful (Cochrane 12). Empowerment can be through support programs, talks and getting role models who would encourage the young girls. The role models would also help the young girls have constructive ideas on the way they would like to lead their lives. The young girls should be encouraged to focus on school and built a real career instead of trying to have ideal body images. Investing in the young minds in using their intelligence as a way of life and a tool to progress in life is a good way of preventing the young girls’ obsession with body image. The young girls do not understand the kind of beauty they possess regardless of their body shape or size. Listening to the media could hurt their self-esteem and mind in that they would not be able to perform their best. The work of the role model is to ensure the young girls know their self-worth, and the real beauty lies in hard work and determination in being better than what they are at the moment (Cochrane 15). Being comfortable in their skin is a plus in ensuring the young girls do not let the images they see affecting them. The rise in plastic surgery clinics should not debar young girls from focusing on their goals to going into the beauty therapy of plastic surgery that would later be harmful to their health. The definition of sexy should not be that of a woman with a thin frame that looks unhealthy and painful. A happy girl is a beautiful girl. The younger generation could be more content with themselves if they did not entirely focus on their body images and the pressure from the media for an ideal body shape. Conclusion The impact of the media on the young girls has adverse effects more than a positive effect. There is pressure for the girls to look picture perfect and have the same body images as the unrealistic images in the magazines. There is a need for more role models to assist the young girls in accepting themselves and not wanting to be like the models in the magazines. Works Cited Cochrane, Kira. “Role models: someone to look up to”. The Guardian Newsletter. 2010. Sanders, Erica Lauren. “The Influence of Media Marketing on Adolescent Girls”. Undergraduate Research Community Journal. 2009. Read More