Unrealistic Beauty Standards

It is apparent that with the increasing popularity of social media today, there has been a shift in dietary changes within our society. Individuals are subconsciously changing how and what they eat. The question arises, why are so many young women dissatisfied with their bodies, despite their size? Although there are several forces believed to play a role in this dissatisfaction such as peer criticism and parental influences, the thin-ideal body is dominating the media (Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008). Thinness is largely emphasized and praised for women in magazines, television shows, movies and commercials (Stice & Shaw, 1992). Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder that stems from this ubiquitous obsession to be thin and is often associated with a pathological fear of gaining weight, distorted self-body image and emaciation (The American Heritage® Science Dictionary).

One reason mass media is so effective at portraying unrealistic body types as normal is because the mass media helps to set what is perceived as normal. In an article about the mass media’s role in body image disturbance and eating disorders, J. Kevin Thompson and Leslie Heinberg state, “A sociocultural model emphasizes that the current societal standard for thinness, as well as other difficult-to-achieve standards of beauty

Picture the world controlled by the media. Could you imagine how ugly, scarce, and hateful it would be. What would you do if a magazine or a television show told you that your body weight had to be twenty pounds lighter to be all most perfect? Would you actually consider the fact or let ignore it? Teens, mainly girls, will be sucked into these magazines. (National Eating Disorders Info Centre 15) These could be magazines like Seventeen and Cosmo Girl. In addition with many others of course. All though, the media is a bad example at times it is not precisely the main issue for negative body image. (National Eating Disorders Association 1) All though, these constant screaming messages the media produces

Chronic dieting, low self-esteem, depression and, high levels of body dissatisfaction were among the major issues women face when addressing their body image (Gingras, Fitzpatrick, & McCargar, 2004). The severity of body image dissatisfaction have increased to such a dangerous state that it was added to the DSM-IV as a disorder now called body dysmorphic disorder (Suissa, 2008). One of the main reasons for the prevalence of these conditions in women was due to contemporary Western media, which serve as one of the major agent in enforcing an ultra-thin figure as the ideal for female beauty (Saraceni & Russell-Mayhew, 2007). These images and models presented by the media have become the epitome of beauty, pushing women who internalized these images to dangerous extent to attain these norms. According to evidence from previous studies, contemporary Western cultures have influenced women to an acquired normative state of discontent with their bodies, which have become the source of maladaptive eating practices, negative psychological outcomes, and, chronic health conditions associated with eating disorders (Snapp, Hensley-Choate, & Ryu, 2012). The seriousness of these body image conditions among youths and women have also led to congressional actions.

What makes someone beautiful? This striking question has always had a complex answer rather than simple. Society makes their interpretation of beauty with many standards that qualify for the “most beautiful people” in the world. America's picture of the perfect lady is extremely thin however full figured. America’s picture of the perfect gentleman is also thin, yet very fit. It’s always one thing or the other, never one choice. The public has their own particular rendition of what beauty looks like, yet american beauty happens to have a stance amongst the most startling standards. These standards of beauty that women see each day impact their confidence and self-esteem negatively only to push them to discover ways to fit into these unrealistic beauty criterias. Beauty standards in America are ever-changing, but society has yet to absolutely accept the average, everyday woman.

The Dove Beauty Campaign is a campaign to help women all around the world the world realize that beauty comes from within. The pressure on looking perfect and having the “perfect” body is stronger than ever, especially on teenage girls. The main reason behind wanting to look perfect has a lot to do with photoshopped images of those we look up to, like celebrities and models. Many women don’t realize how admirable they are because of their insecurities. The definition of beauty has been corrupted by society causing campaigns, like Dove, to change the way women see themselves.

Everywhere you look we have billboards, posters, ads, and magazines with images of beautiful people on them. It is these pictures that capture not only their physical perfection, but their delightful lives; the majority of them portraying females. Women full of happiness and sheer bliss including their super brilliant white teeth, long luscious hair, and sexy curves sending a message that if we can posses these attributes then we, too can have a satisfactory life. Beyoncé recently addressed the issue of unattainable beauty standards, as well as the struggle for true happiness in her new song and music video “Pretty Hurts” where she depicts how obsessively hurtful it is to want to be perfect or the epitome of beauty. Surgeries becoming

The pervasive and disturbing growth of eating disorders has become more well- known in the last the fifteen years, but the issues surrounding body image, and the idealized way in which women have constantly been portrayed in the media have been pervasive in American society for decades. Women who rely too much on the media for what should dictate their appearance will more likely suffer from negative effects including eating disorders and self-mutilation. Body dissatisfaction is an enhanced form of weight concern; however, in order to understand body

Also, beauty standards have dangerous effects for teens, such as physical and economical effects of the increased cost of beauty and cosmetic surgery. Beauty is not cheap, and the reflect is this high cost. Increased sales of beauty products are due to people trying to abide to the beauty standards. “Americans now spend more than $40 billion dollars a year on weight loss products and programs” (The Body Project, 2017, para. 3). Television commercial and magazine ads showcase trendy products that will guarantee to show weight loss or to change one’s appearance. The idea is that a beauty is just a credit card buy away, so buying the product will result in instant beauty (The Body Project, 2017, para. 2). Teenage boys are also in this economical effect. It persuades them to buy grooming products and fragrances to transform them into a man (The Body Project, 2017, para. 7). In addition to the forty million dollars spent on weight loss products and program, Americans spend fifteen billion on cosmetic surgery, with the numbers rising each year (The Body Project, 2017, para. 5). The cosmetic industry suggests with the use of their products will make skin look flawless. This industry is worth twenty million dollars of airbrush skin (The Body Project, 2017, para. 6). Teens buy into their industry while using their allowances to buy products to even pores and to cover flaws. Their ideas that buying these products will make them more

It 's not a mystery that society 's ideals of beauty have a drastic and frightening effect on women. Popular culture frequently tells society, what is supposed to recognize and accept as beauty, and even though beauty is a concept that differs on all cultures and modifies over time, society continues to set great importance on what beautiful means and the significance of achieving it; consequently, most women aspire to achieve beauty, occasionally without measuring the consequences on their emotional or physical being. Unrealistic beauty standards are causing tremendous damage to society, a growing crisis where popular culture conveys the message that external beauty is the most significant characteristic women can have. The approval of prototypes where women are presented as a beautiful object or the winner of a beauty contest by evaluating mostly their physical attractiveness creates a faulty society, causing numerous negative effects; however, some of the most apparent consequences young and adult women encounter by beauty standards, can manifest as body dissatisfaction, eating disorders that put women’s life in danger, professional disadvantage, and economic difficulty.

With the media being a very popular way of communication and self expression in today’s culture, it influences the way of younger generations to be more involved in today’s technology, and to allow them to influence the world by the press of a button. But one of the topics that is very controversial is that in today’s society is the high expectations of what they think a girl has to look like, from girls not having stretch marks or scars, to magazines and photographers using photoshop to convince readers that the model looks like that. With all of these being factors that there is pressure is high for many girls around the world, this has to resolved.

We live in a world surrounded by beauty standards, From the Moment we step foot on earth, until the day we die, we are taught that if you are beautiful, you are happy, wealthy, and have fun. Even as children, we learn that beautiful princesses and princes will live happily ever after, while the witch or troll lives in pain and rejection. Gorgeous Hollywood stars are the royalties of our society, and no matter what age you are, we all share one thing in common: beauty is important. The beauty industry has taken advantage of this and advertise unique products that will change beauty standards. Covergirl, a leading business, is ruling on top on most beauty companies in the US. The ad I chose from 2016 features In this ad,beautiful red-headed model standing with the company's (Covergirl) blue eyeshadow on her eyes. To the side, a couple of tubes of the eyeshadow with one open container. The shimmery liquid eyeshadow is an eye catching and is sure to make people look. Above the eyeshadow, there is writing saying "Fade-proof. Waterproof. Ignore-proof!"in big, bold text, to catch the future customers eyes. Covergirl is written slightly up the model in metallic purple. The text is written this way to compliment the eye shadows shown in the picture, and to interest the reader. After researching, Covergirl isn't as good as it seems.

Demi Lovato once said, “I’m not going to sacrifice my mental health to have the perfect body.” However, today we find that many individuals are doing the completely opposite. In Susan Bordo’s, “Globalization of Eating Disorders” essay, they fall into the media trap, the self-image trap, where they are concerned of what people may think about them. Americans nowadays have pageants, modeling, and media to thank for this absurd notion. Fit women, along with strong men give this motivation to others to want to be like them. Most people should be comfortable with their own bodies. Americans are mesmerized with media and enthralled by one’s body image, and ,as a result, face ramifications like eating disorders and anorexia.

Too many times to count, I’ve observed it in my sisters and friends—double and triple checks in the mirror, scrutinizing glances at every reflective surface, and guarded smiles for photographs. Society preaches the importance of self-worth, while simultaneously giving us endless, unattainable examples of perfection in the form of TV shows, celebrity Instagram accounts, and photoshopped advertisements. Because of the media, beauty standards are implausible, and this consequently results in plummeting levels of self-confidence in girls of all ages. Due to this skewed view of the importance of looks, it has become impossible for girls to differentiate between their God-given beauty and the reflection that they strive to behold in the mirror.

There are obvious unrealistic beauty standards in today’s delusional society, which are resulting in mental and physical health problems in young girls. The media is fixated on what the perfect girl should look like and girls are practically killing themselves to look that way. Between photo shop and filters, people are able to make anyone look “perfect”. Many people in our society do not realize that the pictures they see in magazines and online are fake and photo shopped to the point where it does not even look like the same person. Girls end up doing unnatural things to try to achieve this look because, they think that’s how a “healthy” girl is supposed