True Beauty

"Our image of beauty is really scary, more today than I think it's ever been. My eight-year old niece has talked about dieting. I don't ever remember thinking about my weight at that age," said by Barb Elliot for the Dove campaign (Media Awareness Network).  The media has such a strong influence on how a woman's body should look that even eight year old girls are worried about their weight. Can you believe that, an eight year old? The media has caused some serious problems for girls and women of all ages for what true beauty really is. The media wants us to believe that true beauty is based on physical appearances but it is not. This problem has been going on for years. A study mentioned in an article in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology said that in 1992 there were 10.5 times more weight loss advertisements in women's magazines than men's magazines, which is also the same ratio for eating disorders (Eric Stice, Erika Schupak-Neuberg, Heather Shaw, and Richard Stein). Another study mentioned in the same article said that after being shown pictures of thin, average, and heavy models,women had lower self-esteem after seeing the thin models. They were dissatisfied with their weight (Eric Stice, Erika Schupak-Neuberg, Heather Shaw, and Richard Stein). These problems have been around for a while, and a change needs to happen.

Physical appearances are not what make up true beauty. True beauty is your personality and who you are as a person, not what you look like. One solution to prove this is to take out weight loss and dieting advertisements in magazines for teenage girls and women. By taking away these advertisements, it will take away the constant reminder of the media's flawless body image. Being physically perfect will not be thrown into girls' faces or be the center of attention. Girls and women would then be able to just be themselves.

Another way to prove this to women is for the media to focus not on body image, but on personality and achievements. There should be more articles on women who have done something important, or achieved some great award, not on how some woman lost 30 pounds in a month. Many articles focus on women losing weight and how they did it. But this should not be what girls aspire to do. They should aim to write an award winning novel, become a scientist, an astronaut and walk on the moon, win the Nobel prize, or president!