Media and its Affect on the Teenage Body Image

The standard way of thinking while looking through magazines is to compare ourselves to the people we see in them. Innumerable teenage girls assume that the media’s ideal beauty is unrealistically thin women. Looking up to adults as role models, we are constantly influenced to be on a diet, to not eat as much, and to feel poorly about yourself if you aren't thin. Growing up with this expectation to be skinny, some women develop bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating. Americans today tend to believe that we can be as skinny as models if we just eat less, work out more, and get plastic surgery. Consequently, with technology growing, you can now alter a photo using an application called photoshop. Photoshop is a tool commonly used in magazines to enhance a photo to it more appealing to the consumers. The problem is, that many teenage girls don't notice the subtle changes the photo has gone through. Therefore unrealistic beauty standards women have been given are what makes us have negative body images.
The ongoing battle we face with our bodies can be brutal, but with teenagers growing into their new bodies they are more susceptible to a negative body image. With technology booming, and internet being easily accessible the youth is very much involved in social media such as Facebook to be in interaction with their friends and classmates. “The findings also showed that more time spent on Facebook was associated with more negative feelings and more comparisons to the bodies of friends. They also found that for women who want to lose weight, more time on Facebook led to more attention being paid to physical appearance. This included attention to one's body and clothing.” (Increased time on Facebook…body images). Although it might see...

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...to us to help lower the percentages of eating disorders, and help women love their bodies.

Works Cited

"Introduction to Body Image: Teen Decisions." Body Image. Ed. Auriana Ojeda. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003. Teen Decisions. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 20 May 2014.

Bennett, Jessica. "The Fashion Industry Promotes Eating Disorders." Eating Disorders. Ed. Roman Espejo. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Why Skinny Models Are Making Us Fat." Newsweek (8 Feb. 2007). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 20 May 2014.

"Increased time on Facebook could lead women to negative body images." Mental Health Weekly Digest 21 Apr. 2014: 66. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 20 May 2014.

"Overweight High School Students." Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 20 May 2014.