True Beauty and The Media.

Beauty and The Media.

 

Everywhere you turn in America, you see perfection. On magazine covers at the supermarket, on the television set that flashes picture after picture of the kind of person you know you should be. Bullies lurk every school hallway, preying like vultures on the girls who look at those photographs, and who long to be so beautiful. Insults are thrown like poison, infecting anyone who gets too near.

In today’s society, we are all lost, whether it is in the depths of today’s plummeting economy, or in the delusion that who you truly are will never be enough. Yet wherever we look, a picture of perfection is being painted in a world where imperfection is at its peak. This fantasy is simply an escape from reality for a handful of girls. But for most of us, it is a harsh reminder that we live in a shattered, broken world.

So what happens to those of us who feel betrayed by the world we live in? We turn to unhealthy solutions to these thoughts and problems within our society. This is a fact that is constantly ignored by the media. Attention is brought to the ‘perfect,’ flawless girls, instead of the beautiful girls who don’t need Photoshop to hide their flaws.

In the midst of this constant chaos, a particular form of ‘escape’ has developed and become extremely common amongst thousands of girls. This form of escape for many is known as self harm. While the media and the pressure of society is not the only reason teenage girls engage in self harm, it is a proven fact that nearly all girls who self harm struggle with their confidence, and constantly question their self worth. So how does living in a nation where Photoshop has begun to become the definition of true beauty help these struggling girls?

Besides self harm, let’s think about eating disorders. Thousands of girls across the US are struggling with eating disorders. While these eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia, may not all be the effect of how girls are portrayed in the media, a good percentage of girls struggle with their eating patterns and dieting because of the images of stick thin girls they see on TV, or in magazines.

Forget that being rail thin is far from healthy. Every month millions of magazines are read by millions of teenage girls, and again and again they are told who they should be, and what they should look like, despite the effect this might have on their health. These edited photographs of women are the root of negative thinking and body image for many girls.

The next time you enter your high school, look around you. Do any of the girls you go to school with even remotely resemble the women on the front of the magazine you see at the supermarket? Natural beauty is something that has truly been forgotten amongst this battle between the world depicted by the media, and reality.

While the media may always be a cause of negativity in our country, it is important to monitor our ways of thinking. We need to see the beauty inside of ourselves, and remember that true beauty has no limit. We are all beautiful in many ways, no matter what the media’s definition of true beauty might be. The start of making a difference is realizing the way we see ourselves is more important than how we are seen by others.
Our world does not need to be overthrown by the opinions of those around us. Magazines and commercials should not define who we are. The most important thing to remember in today’s world is that beauty is alive in us all. Next time you glance in the mirror, make sure you open your eyes wide enough to see it. 

Reviews

[Inkjinx]

That's all very true. I take it you were writing an article? Or was it just a piece to prove a point? It's very powerful; nice job. Sometimes it's good to look through someone else's opinion on the world and how things are effecting them. It's rather informational, and definitely not a "light reading" piece. Nice job. I certainly hope life has been easier on you due to knowing the difference between Photoshop beauty and real beauty.