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Media and its influence on body image
Body image and self esteem among teens
Body image and self esteem among teens
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Women have always been under extreme pressure to look a certain way. These double standards are news to nobody. However, lately they have been pushed on younger audiences. Teenage girls have to deal with a great deal of compulsion to look pretty, and the strive to meet these demands can have negative impacts on both their mental and physical health. A struggle among many Americans today is body image, particularly with weight, and no group faces this at quite the rate of teenage girls. The percent of teenage girls who are or think that they should be on a diet is at 53%, and the percent of girls from ages 15-17 who have acknowledged having an eating disorder is at a frightening 13%. The percent of 10 year old girls who are afraid of being …show more content…
That would be hypocritical of me, seeing as I wear a pound of it per day. Girls should be allowed to express themselves in any way and to look however they want. However, the trouble comes when girls are expected to wear makeup at all times and begin to feel uncomfortable without it. At least one in five girls between the ages of 8 and 18 who have worn makeup before associate their “bare face” with feeling insecure, unattractive, and unappealing, and over a quarter of girls who regularly wear makeup rarely or never leave home without it (“From Barbies to Blush - New Survey Reveals Young Girls Are Wearing Makeup Earlier Than Ever To Hide Their Insecurities”). Personally, I feel incredibly insecure leaving the house without at least concealer and mascara on. This is the effect of years of growing up seeing airbrushed magazine covers, advertisements targeted towards girls, making them feel inadequate in order to sell a product, and other unrealistic cultural messages. Just watch an episode of Toddlers and Tiaras. This can cause girls to have a negative self-image and begin self destructive behaviors, not to mention acne cosmetica, hormone imbalances, eye infections, and more (Alvarez). Makeup is a creative and fun thing, but it is no longer enjoyable when you are forced to wear it because you feel like something’s missing without
Due to these unrealistic images and ideals during this impressionable developmental stage, it is not surprising that adolescent girls make up 95% of individuals who suffer from eating disorders (ANAD, 2013). Clearly, media images and messages greatly contribute to the development of eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa (Edwards, 2008, Maclagan, 1998). Dokter describes an eating disorder as, “a reflection of a person’s degree of unhappiness with themselves” (1995, p.208). Mitchell adds that eating disorders are a “disturbance of delusional proportions in the body image and body concept” (Brooke,2008,p.15). Eating disorders include: anorexia nervosa, bulimia, binge eating, and other non-specified eating disorders. It is crucial for individuals with eating disorders to seek treatment due to the fact that it is life threatening. Of all mental disorders, eating disorders bear the highest mortality rates (ANAD,2013).
As part of our culture, while growing up boys and girls are expected to learn the basic skills to fulfill the "roles of their gender." For boys this includes learning all of the the routine maintenance on a car, to work out and be stronger then the girls, and are usually expected to be better with electronics. While at the same time girls are steered towards learning how to cook, clean, and look pretty. All of the female roles require a lot of practice and trial and error before they can be mastered, but the hardest and most time consuming skill to be learned still remains applying make-up. Just as anything else (even writing an essay) the finished product always seems so simple and easy enough to be done by a child in a few minutes. Although, in reality girls spend years doing trial and error to find out what looks good on them and a few more years making it look "natural." This is necessary for every girl go through on her own, to be able to have her own look. However, there is a routine make-up application process that will help any beginning girl with he basics.
By allowing younger girls and teens to be portrayed as grown woman in advertisements, our teens are losing their young innocence. With society’s increasing tolerance, this epidemic will continue to exploit our young daughters, sisters and friends. Young teens feel an enormous amount of pressure to obtain the ‘ideal’ perfect body. Trying to emulate the advertisements seen in the media and magazines. As a result, more girls and woman are developing eating disorders.
“There’s no magic bullet; there’s no pill that you take that makes everything great and makes you happy all the time. I’m letting go of those expectations, and that’s opening me up to moments of transcendent bliss. But I still feel the stress over ‘Am I thin enough? Am I too thin? Is my body the right shape?” –Anne Hathaway. It seems as if every young girl’s desire is to become a model. Eating disorders affect an increasingly large number of people, especially young women, in today’s modern societies. One study even found that some girls are more afraid of being fat, than of a nuclear war or getting cancer. The most common types of this disorder are anorexia, bulimia, and purging, each having a discrete effect on different people. Right now, one percent of all American women- our sisters, mothers, and daughters, are starving themselves to death.
As women, we get looked at and is given a “score” based on how we look. If a woman look doesn’t meet the standard then they will be placed at the bottom of the list and their self-esteem goes down with their score. Putting on cosmetics has been shown to boost self-esteem and according to science, women simply feel prettier when they’ve got it on. When women look their best, they become more confident in themselves, giving them a push away from the confidence gap. Makeup can help women feel more confident to go for that leadership position or fight for
What are cosmetics? Asking this question seems to be easy to answer because at this moment almost everybody knows about beauty stuffs, especially, for girls and women who use them in daily life. Some are obsessive cosmetics users; this kind of people has to put on makeup routinely. Despite of being home, they still wear makeup. Some appliers do makeup only when they go out or have exclusive occasions such as dating, meeting or entering festivals. The results of doing makeup are tend to be informed in positive ways such as creating great appearance, covering skin’s problem or attracting other people. In my university’s life, almost of my girl classmates wear makeup and it is like a common issue seeing girl with makeup. For some companies or
They don’t have to try so hard to fit in this society with makeup on. Makeup should make them feel comfortable about themselves and a way to boost their self-esteem and have high confidence in themselves as well. With or without makeup, women shouldn’t have to compete with others either. Also, women shouldn’t have to wear makeup if they don’t want to. The main reason to having makeup is to build confidence and that women should feel good either way, with or without makeup. Women should wear makeup as if it is a form of expression and creativity. Women and young girls should just have fun with makeup and to apply what they are comfortable with. Many women don’t just spend hours on their makeup for nothing, they do it because they like it and it’s fun to do. Putting on makeup is hard work and they feel good when it’s put together and unique because they did it and it’s their artwork that they did. With makeup, confidence is key for a women. Having confidence can just make others feel good about yourself. Makeup can be a way to express yourself and is now considered an art. Doing makeup on someone else is basically painting a canvas. Women are beautiful in every shape and form and should just use makeup for themselves and to appreciate the features and flaws that they
However, makeup can effect some woman negativity. Women who think that makeup is “obligatory but unwanted”, and would rather spend their time more wisely than putting on makeup do not feel confidence when they do put on makeup
It seems like every little girl dreams of becoming a model. They want to be thin and pretty like the models they see on television and in magazines. Often the desire becomes an obsession and young girls see "thinness" as being a needed characteristic. For many girls, the teenage years are spent trying to acquire this look. Females are trying diets and are exercising like it is a competition to see who can lose the most weight the quickest. The obsession of many young girls over their appearance or weight has led to a growing number of people who have developed an eating disorder to try to deal with their lack of self-esteem or other related problems.
That leads to them starting to use more makeup than they used to youth, and at the same time, the makeup industry itself begins to generate and produce a lot more and are forced to produce new products. the pressure of society leads women to spend part of their money on make-up, by which I mean that at the same time it is almost part of their daily viuda, since some jobs even require their female employees a certain percentage of makeup so that its appearance is always the best, and always give a good first impression, and all this for the good of the obvious company. It's amazing how schools in my country forbid students to wear makeup to attend school, and they take it as a demerit if they do. At the same time it is worth mentioning that the teachers of these institutions in my country, if they wear makeup and it does not matter, because they are authorities, in my point of view I do not look at it right, since the teachers do it to look good, also the students have That right to look good like the teachers who wear makeup. With this I do not mean that the teachers should not be authorized to use makeup, only that I look unfair that they can and that the students can not.
Young girls take makeup as a way to fit in, and sometimes jealousy plays apart like "They were said to be envious of her good looks"(Bullied to Death for Being Pretty). How girls are looked upon can sometimes give off a sense of shame or envy. The world brings upon a way of life, a way of living to societies needs in a way where a thirteen year old is putting makeup on her face. Influences from the media involving makeup as well as photo shopping models in magazines causes a
I choose to discuss the long-term effects of makeup on teens and how it affects the skin. In this article written by Dr. Manny Alvarez talks about how makeup can be what’s causing damaging acne; it can also leave your skin damaged for months or even years. Next, he talks about how there was a study done in Brazil; and 45 percent of women who wore makeup daily had some type of skin disease that was linked to making up. Next, in certain kinds of makeup they put chemicals that have been linked to infertility and forms of cancer. Imagine your loved one in a life threatening situation because they put their favorite foundation and concealer on to feel beautiful for the day.
While some makeup brands claim to be healthier for your skin than others, but they’re all the same. In fact, makeup can cause more problems than we actually know, including acne, cancer, or even eye infections. Makeup really is putting women in danger. Makeup products vary from quality and ingredients; some ingredients can clog pores in your skin. It covers up acne, but also aggravates it.
Teenagers constantly worry about their body image. Magazines, newspapers, and television don’t exactly help to boost their confidence. The portrayal of stick thin woman and body building men forces teens to believe they need to achieve that “perfect” body and look. The biggest issue of these images being broadcasted to teens is the effects that the images have on them. Teenagers who obsess over their body image can experience stress due to trying to impress others, develop an eating disorder, and neglect, and even jeopardize, important aspects of their lives when they focus too much on their body image.
It's a way for some girls to express themselves, because if you really think about it, makeup is a type of art. You need to