Media's Influence On Teenage Girls

In our society today, media has become a must in the lives of many people that takes a wide range of forms that communicates information to a massive audience despite the distance. Media encompasses the lives of many people and influences what society expects of people. Individuals rely on media to know what is going on in the world an shapes their opinions and perspective. However, media allows the gender roles and stereotypes that our culture influences on us becomes easily pushed on males and females. Messages are being communicated to women and girls more strongly than man and boys. These messages are telling women and girls how they are supposed to act. For girls, television shows and movies made for children are already incorporating …show more content…
Teenage girls are beginning to base their feelings of self-worth on appearance and weight. Girls’s self images and society’s message through media about what girls should be like, and act. Television shows girls that as a girl they have to be a delicate female that has thin waists, legs, figure, clean, and a follower. Girls at a young age are already questioning their bodies, or trying to look older. Girls are looking at images of a beautiful skinny women and their confidence plummets. The media completely change our view of “beauty” changing it to an unrealistic and one out of two body types. A body type that is unattainable instead of a body that is a majority of body types that women have. After viewing images of female fashion models, seven out of ten women felt more depressed and angry than prior to viewing the images(News - What Real Women Look Like). A thin figure is idealized and expect for women to be considered “desirable”. Images in advertisements, are models that are portraying “ideal woman” as a thin, tall, white woman. Some fashion models companies have a particular age, height and measurement standard for the models. Agencies and clients pick models that are at a young age because looking younger and youthful is important to their brand. The average U.S. woman is 5’4” and weighs 140 pounds, whereas the average U.S. model is 5’11” and weighs 117 pounds (News - What Real Women Look Like.). Teenage girls only seeing the society’s vision of beauty instead of their individual beauty. The loss of confidence leads lack of self-esteem, which leads to eating disorders and inner hatred. According to The National Eating Disorders Association, approximately 7 million girls and women struggle with eating disorders (Women 's Issues on About.com: News and Perspectives.). Being constantly surrounded by images of women that are youthful with a rare