What is “The Skinny” on Skinny?

This article is based on an essay I wrote in 9th Grade

Have you ever wondered why girls are pressured so much to have the “perfect body”? With today's societal pressure saying that to be loved you have to be physically attractive, it is understandable that they try to do what they can to fit the ideal form. Girls think that they are not beautiful because they don’t look like some photo-shopped, plastic-surgery-ed supermodel. What they don't know, or forget, is that they aren’t meant to look like somebody else, or what somebody else says they should look like. This essay will attempt to persuade girls that they don’t need to starve themselves to look good, and they don't have to cave in to societal pressure saying who they need to be.

Every single different person of the six billion people on this planet was born with their own special features, their own special build, their own personality... their own everything. So, first of all, why would you want to be a clone or have the build of someone else? Is it because everyone is saying that person is popular because of their looks? If so, think of this; Either that person who is so perfect, isn't actually that perfect and is just conforming to somebody else's standards. Maybe they are self conscious of their own true looks, or they actually are a very beautiful person, but don't feel beautiful so they conform to what everyone else says is beautiful (which is what most everyone is doing). Either way is conformity. What is happening is we get copies of copies of copies. When you take a picture and copy it, doesn't it lose a little value? The more you copy, the less valuable the original is. (Like money. The more you make, the less it is worth.) You don't need the original anymore. With society, it's like a loop. Everyone is following what looks good to everyone else, including the original. They don't feel special anymore.

There is nothing wrong with being a little overweight or a little underweight. The problem arises when those girls starve themselves so they can be pencil thin. Karen Carpenter is a perfect example; she was beautiful, successful in her music, and she had a great voice. She was a little filled out, but she wasn’t all that worried about it until some disrespectful person made a comment about her being “Chubby.” She got worried and thought maybe the reason her mother didn’t like her was because she was chubby. She thought if she could get skinny enough she could earn the love. “She started dieting when she was 16. She required constant treatment from psychiatrists for her anorexia, but was so obsessed with losing weight that, on her own, she took thyroid and laxative pills.” (karen-carpenter) She died of anorexia when she was thirty two.

“Osmel Sousa is a beauty pageant entrepreneur, guru and the president of the Miss Venezuela Organization.” (www.latintimes.com) “Inner beauty doesn’t exist,” He claims, “it is something that unpretty women invented to justify themselves.” (He says this with a really creepy Joker smile on his face, then laughs.)” (sophieologie.me) It is idiots like him, that influence girls to get surgeries. ‘Venezuelan Woman Yetzabel Utrera says, "I feel that in order to increase my self-esteem I need to enlarge my breasts. I would love it. Because these days they notice you by the way you dress, how you walk, what type of shoes you wear. Those kinds of things." ’ (http://english.cntv.cn)

There are so many kinds of beauty, why settle for only a select few types? Why pressure girls to look like only one kind of attractiveness, when they can be so much more? Teenage girls especially, can be very impressionable when it comes to being beautiful. They might think they have a excess weight on them when they are actually extremely skinny, dying because of it, like Karen Carpenter. If somebody tells them that they are a little chubby when they were already wondering if they are, and have been feeling self conscious, more often than not, they start starving themselves and taking pills to lose that weight.

While being careful to not develop an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia, you want to stay fit and aware of your physical state. A healthy lean is different than being underweight. It is much better for your mind and your body than being excessively over or under weight. When you stay fit, your mind begins to appreciate what you see in the mirror. You know that you are taking care of yourself and not following anyone's guidelines for how you should look. You know that you are doing what you do for yourself and your own happiness,

I think, if all over the world the media would stop promoting what THEY believe the “perfect” body is, then girls might stop thinking every time they look in the mirror that they are so far short of perfection when they were created perfectly. Women could instead take that and instead of starving themselves, worked their bodies to stay fit for their own happiness! This world might be a better place if people would step up and and instead of trying to fit women into categories, would for once tell someone that they are beautiful “Just The Way [They] You Are.” (Bruno Mars)

Works Cited Page:

Mirkin, Gabe. "The Sad Story of Karen Carpenter - Villages News: News in The Villages, FL and Surrounding Communities." Villages News News in The Villages FL and Surrounding Communities. 15 Feb. 2014. Web. 18 Sept. 2014. <http://www.villages-news.com/sad-story-karen-carpe...>.

Markovits, Martin. "Venezuela Beauty Pageant: Obsession with Perfection Leads to High Plastic Surgery Rate." CCTV News. 14 Oct. 2013. Web. 18 Sept. 2014. <http://english.cntv.cn/program/general_news/201310...>.

""Inner Beauty Doesn't Exist"" Sophieologie. 13 Nov. 2013. Web. 18 Sept. 2014. <http://sophieologie.me/2013/11/13/inner-beauty-doe...>.

http://fitzala.com/blog/dont-look-like-a-model/ possible source. Didn't quote anything, but I read it and was influenced. :D

Neuman, William. "Mannequins Give Shape to a Venezuelan Fantasy." The New York Times. The New York Times, 6 Nov. 2013. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

Mars, Bruno. "Bruno Mars - Just The Way You Are [OFFICIAL VIDEO]." YouTube. YouTube, 8 Sept. 2010. Web. 18 Sept. 2014. <>.