Girls are surrounded by images of female beauty that are unrealistic and nearly impossible to attain. The media presents girls with how they should look like. On television, ads, and magazines females have perfect bodies and are beautiful. In today’s media, popular actresses seem to be looking younger, taller, and thinner. Unfortunately, we are forced to believe they are.

Young girls at the age of five are now looking up to these models. They grow up watching how the media portrays women with certain body types and profiles, hoping that one day they will grow up looking like this.

For example, my little sister Nicole is five going on six, and is a normal little girl, with one bad influence; she wants to be like everyone she sees on T.V and magazines. Since she sees skinny women on T.V. all the time, she has now convinced herself she is fat, because when she sits down a little roll of her belly comes out. One time I caught her putting on my mom’s make-up. When I asked her why she was putting it on she said, “I want be pretty.” I was appalled. How can a five-year old or anybody know what pretty is and what it is not? 

What happens when our characteristics do not fit into what the media portrays as being beautiful? Then what? You may feel ugly, fat, and not pretty enough. Almost every American girl does everything possible to avoid the negative labels.

“ Don’t let someone determine if you are beautiful or not. The only way to be beautiful is for you to think you are first,”  said Sayuri Sarango.

The statistics are startling.  According to Teen Health and the media, Studies report that at age 13, 53% of American girls are “unhappy with their bodies,” and grows to 78% by the time girls reach 17 years old.

“The media shows all these skinny women and they make them look beautiful, and this makes other girls feel bad about themselves,” said Michelle Caravantes.

This can cause depression, low self-esteem, and the development of unhealthy eating habits in women and girls.

In 2003, Teen Magazine reported that 35% of girls six to 12 years old have been on at least one diet, and that 50 to 70% of girls with a normal weight believe they are overweight.

According to The Center for Mental Health Services 90% of those who have eating disorders are women between the ages of 12 and 25.

So many cosmetic and diet companies benefit from this issue. Young girls all over the world want to be beautiful and skinny, thereby feeling as though they have no choice but to rely on buying their products to look more like models and movie stars.

According to the National Institute on Media and the Family, “most of the advertisements used an appeal to beauty to sell their products.”                

It is sad to see this happening to girls all over the world. I have seen girls change so much and so fast because they want to fit in to this image of beauty. What is most disturbing is that they see this as a natural cycle. They see it as though it is a part of growing up. We should not become puppets. It is not up to the media or society to tell us how we should look like. Everyone has different features and body types, and life would be boring if everyone looked like each other. Do not try to look like anybody but yourself.