Dear Congress,
Hello. Let me begin by stating the obvious: you do not know me, and I do not know you. To you, I am just your average, 19-year-old girl who just finished her second year of college, has a job, and owns lots of clothes. You would never look at me on a street, because I am simply just average – not super skinny, not plus sized, just average. And just like 78% of your average, American girls, I was unhappy with my body at the age 17. In fact, I also fall into the 53% of American girls who were unhappy with their bodies by age 13. Why was I unhappy? Well who can be happy with themselves when pictures of stunning, slim brunettes and tall, skinny blondes are thrown in their face from the first time they see an advertisement?
As a young 15, 13, 10, 6 year old, I did not know what photoshopping was, I just saw pictures of women and thought that was what I was supposed to look like. I strived to look like those girls. My friends and I would buy magazines and try to follow their exercise and fitness inserts even though we all fell into a normal weight category and were all involved in some type of physical activity - we didn’t need to lose weight, but we thought we did.
When I was 17, I went to therapy. I would cry to my therapist about my weight because I would hear boys whisper about me behind my back because they thought I was chubby. Was I actually chubby? No. Did I believe it and stare at pictures of models and think I was? Yes. This is one story. This is one story of someone who had parents who noticed a change in their daughter’s behavior and got her help before something bad turned into something worse. However, some people are better at hiding things than I am. The statistics and stories speak for themselves – allowing companies to continue to photoshop their models to look overly skinny (and I am sure those models look fabulous without the photoshop) is hurting girls everywhere and enforcing the idea that someone is only acceptable when they are skinny.
Diversity in terms of body shape is a necessity – who will protect the girl who is just average but hides her food in her bedroom? Who will protect the girl who smiles and tells her parents that “she already ate” when really she hasn’t eaten in the last two days? Who will protect the girl who eats but secretly exercises for five hours a day? The media will not listen to us – models and celebrities alike have already spoken out against photoshopping, and so has fashion companies such as Modcloth and Aerie. It is up to us to tear down this disastrous idea that every girl must be the size of Kendall Jenner otherwise she is unworthy. I ask you to support the Truth in Advertising Act of 2016, because I never want to see another friend purge herself. I never want to here of another girl starving herself, and I do not want my young cousins to grow up feeling the way I did. One way to prevent this, is to start by telling the media to forget the freaking photoshopping.
Sincerely,
Bridget Gross
I encourage all of you to support this act and to write letters to Congress in support of this act. If we all come together, we can stamp out this toxic ideal of perfection.
For more information on the Truth in Advertising Act:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/4445
If you are interested in ModCloth’s stance and support of the Truth in Advertising Act:
http://blog.modcloth.com/2016/06/16/support-truth-in-advertising/
In case you are wondering where I pulled my statistics:
http://depts.washington.edu/thmedia/view.cgi?section=bodyimage&page=fstfacts
