She wakes up. The first thing she does is look in the mirror. She greets her face with a look of disappointment; She looks at her body with the same dead expression. She mumbles to herself wishing she could look like the other girls.
She goes on with her morning routine, showers, spends at least an hour making sure her hair is perfect, picks out her outfit, something slimming, and then spends at least another 45 minutes on her makeup. She will do this every morning, with hopes of looking like those other girls, those perfect girls society expects women to be, the ones with a perfect face, thin and tall body, long healthy hair, and loads of makeup. Millions of girls are subjected to impossible expectations like this.
Women and young girls are exposed to ridiculous amounts of pressure to look like the girls they see on magazine covers. This kind of pressure can have a huge effect on women and girls. The media’s influence affects everyone all the time. The media has a ridiculous reach across all types of people. The media can even get to children and start affecting them. The media spreads society’s perception of beauty and perfection like wildfire across all outlets.
Women and young girls are exposed to a mass amount of pressure because of this. Writer Heather Gallivan, says that over 80% of girls at the age of 10 fears to be “fat.” Society’s expectations can cause low self-esteem, eating disorders, and even cause people to become so depressed they become suicidal. It is a gut wrenching feeling to realize how many women and girls feel this way. Photoshop is the industries favorite weapon. They use it to touch up skin to look perfect, slim people down, change eye color, etc. Writer, Camira Powell, shares that a study has shown that over 70% of women feel depressed, ashamed, and guilty after looking at a fashion magazine for 3 minutes. 3 minutes of staring at photo-shopped models are causing people to feel ashamed of themselves!
All of the body-hate and low self-esteem can lead to eating Disorders and distorted self-image of one's self. Over 50% of teen girls use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting, and taking laxatives. All of these behaviors are tied to eating disorders. Dosomething.org says that 95% of people with eating disorders are between the ages of 12-25, and only 10% of people with eating disorders will get help. Anad.org points out that eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses and 20% of people suffering from anorexia will prematurely die from complications related to their eating disorder, including suicide and heart problems. Finding your own sense of style should be fun for a person, and it should be something they enjoy. Women shouldn’t have to feel like they have to dress or look a certain way. One should do what makes them feel confident whether that is wearing a lot of makeup or none at all. Women should be able to feel beautiful no matter how they choose to present themselves.
No one should have to dread looking in the mirror or find getting ready for the day as a chore. The media should use the power it holds to make women feel good about fashion and makeup, not make them feel unworthy and depressed. Young girls are going to deadly measures just to be “perfect.” Maybe it is time to teach women and young girls that beauty is being yourself and doing what makes you happy. So, instead of shaming people for being different, it is time to embrace everyone’s differences and take a stand on societies idea of beauty. Be the generation to change the industry and make all women feel beautiful. Don’t forget to stay true and stay beautiful.
