Over the past few decades “supermodels” have painted a picture of what a woman’s body should look like. Supermodels have always ruled the media but in a generation where social media is so prevalent, these beautiful women are hard to ignore. Even if you do not follow their Instagram accounts, pictures of supermodels like Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid will pop up on your news feed, and if you are a young woman like myself you will start comparing yourself to them.
Kendall and Gigi are two prime examples of supermodels and they are greatly affecting the young women of this generation. In my opinion, this effect is not positive. We are glued to social media we are constantly exposed to photos of tall, skinny, blonde Gigi wearing just a bra walking hand and hand with her heartthrob boyfriend. Then straight teenage girls believe that is what beauty is that is what I have to look like to find love.
This idea of supermodel beauty is detrimental to the mental and physical health of young girls everywhere and this is why. These tall skinny models are not the majority, they are not common, so one can look at that as a gorgeous rarity or they are abnormal. Also, models like Gigi and Kendall have been in the public eye for almost their entire life. They were always told what to eat to keep them skinny, always had personal trainers and overall had the money to get this “perfect body”. Young girls love the two starlets but have a hard time loving themselves because they do not look like these starlets. That is a huge problem one should love themselves before anyone else. Everyday there is a new Instagram post for teenage girls to compare themselves to, this post alone will bring down their confidence and influence an unhealthy habit like eating less or over exercising. Not only young girls are affected by this but the models themselves they are constantly comparing themselves to each other, which why these models look like they are shedding more and more weight.
The idea of a supermodel creates a cycle of lowering self-esteem each woman being less and less confident because of the constant comparison. The only way to stop this cycle get rid of the ideas of super models and start using both the majority and minority of women. Social media can have a positive effect on young women nationwide if beauty is shown as something every woman possess not just a select few.
