Risky Business Rough Draft

Society and the Pressure to Be Beautiful

Have you ever looked through magazines, Tumblr, and on ads and ever said “Wow, she’s pretty” or “Wow, I’ll never get a body like his.”? Did you ever feel the pressure to become just like them? Well in this case, these days, many teenage girls feel the pressure from society to look and feel “beautiful”. The standards of being beautiful are presented through many ways – through magazines, the Internet, television and so forth. And because of this and because of society’s pressure, many teenage girls harm themselves and risk their own health just to “fit in”, be with the crowd, and to meet the standards of modern day society. There may be some positive effects, but although the pressure to be beautiful can somewhat benefit a teens life positively, the negative factors and effects far outweigh the positives.

Dieting is one of the top things teenage girls do just to lose weight and feel what society calls “skinny”. Although dieting can somewhat persuade a teen into living a healthy lifestyle for the future, according to the National Health Information Center, girls are three times more likely than boys to have a negative body image. Yes, there are many sports stars in the media who talk about the benefits of having good health and yes, there are ads out there that promote living a healthy lifestyle. But because of society’s pressure, the positive advertisements and promotions to live healthy barely play a factor in this situation.

These days, teen girls can be pressured in many ways - the media, peers, and their own parents or family members. When family members make negative remarks about a girls weight, it makes them feel 10x worse about themselves and how they look. According to Telling It Like It Is, based off recent surveys taken, 24% of teenage girls say they diet because of family members comments. One in five girls say they have been criticized and teased by family members for being “too big”. 51% of the girls surveyed say they felt hurt when their family members made rude comments about their size. To many teen girls, they hurt then most when they get criticized from family members.

Studies find that women who have access to all types of media, whether magazines or the Internet and see photos of females lead to an increase in personal dissatisfaction. Recently, serious conditions such as anorexia and bulimia are very common nowadays among teen girls due to destroying their self-esteem and their inner confidence. 3% to 10% of females ages 15-29 could be considered either anorexic or bulimic. It its found that when people develop an eating disorder, the root of it all is dieting. Anything can trigger a girl to want to start dieting, but in many cases, it’s because of society’s pressure.

Teen girls, all around the world are pressured by society in many ways to look and feel beautiful – to have the perfect hair, the perfect body, fit a size 0,  and to live perfect lifestyle of a “perfect” girl. Many pictures in the media, in magazines, advertisements and such are basically photo shopped and edit enhanced. It was found in an Ann Taylor ad in 2010, that the original photo taken was different than the one uploaded. The image was enhanced and made the woman appear thinner than she is. In the photo, her hips were made thinner and so were her thighs. . It’s not fair for the media to send out the unrealistic idea of a perfect, skinny body. Everyone has their own flaws and imperfections in their own way, so teen girls shouldn’t waste time dwelling on their own.