"To all the girls that think you’re fat because you’re not a size zero, you’re the beautiful one, its society who’s ugly."
In every magazine you look at you see beautiful women - and they're always beautiful. Beautiful, flawless and thin!
So how is a teenage girl (any girl in fact) meant to feel when she looks in the mirror and what she sees is different to the model in her magazine? Maybe she's got 'love handles' or her thighs are a bit bigger, or she doesn't resemble a skeleton - maybe it's acne or stretch marks. No matter what that perceived flaw is (whether real or imagined) it doesn't help that the women we are shown through the media - the women we're supposed to identify with and look up to - are flawless, beautiful and virtually perfect thanks to computerized touch ups.
In today's day and age girls are comparing themselves to skinny models and many a flawless celebrity beauties. Some even take extreme measures to be like them. In recent years there has been an extreme increase in eating disorders like anorexia nervosa (http://www.therecoverclinic.co.uk/anorexia-help-advice-and-counselling/) and bulimia nervosa (http://www.therecoverclinic.co.uk/bulimia-help-advice-and-counselling/). Even more horrifyingly there are PRO-anorexia/bulimia nervosa groups; aka pro-ana and pro-mia. These websites glamorize and encourage girls to lose weight in these horrific ways. Girls become deluded into thinking they're fat/need to lose weight, don't deserve to eat (WTF?!) etc. You NEED food, without it you'd die nor will you get fat if you eat everyday. And if you really feel you need or should lose weight the best and healthiest way is to eat a balanced diet and do some good old fashioned exercise. You could even join a sports club/group and socialize and enjoy yourself whilst staying healthy. And it is not true that guys find skinny girls more attractive - guys often actually prefer girls with a more fuller figure. Rarely will a guy want a girl that looks fragile, like the wind could blow her over or like she's about to break. It's also dangerously bad for your health. You WON'T be admired for losing all that weight or for being so thin. Skin and bones is NOT attractive. Many have DIED from an eating disorder or come close. For centuries curves have been praise. It wasn't until fairly recently that size zero became a trend.
The 'normal' (if such a thing even exists) size isn't necessarily a curvy, hour-glass, Marilyn Monroe-esque figure, but it is a size that isn't forced in to shape by means of starvation or binge and purge. I'm not saying that you can't be relatively healthy AND a size zero/really thin as I'm sure some girls are and that's ok, it's when it becomes a risk to your health, or even worse your life, that it becomes a problem. Women come in all shapes and sizes and that's ok but it's not right that girls should model themselves on an illusion of beauty and perfection and go to extreme measure to try to reach that goal. It's ok to want to be thin (or to be curvy) but it is also important to be healthy and not risk your life for a social trend. Girls need to realize that what they seen in a magazine has been edited numerous times and it is very rare to see true beauty and real women, i.e. women that haven't been photo-shopped, women that are flawed.
How are girls ever to be confident and happy with their appearance if they are constantly being compared (by themselves or others) to the beautiful works of art they see on the cover of magazines and movie posters? In a time when everyone has access to the internet and tv it's difficult not to notice and therefore aspire to be like celebrities, but it is a fantastical beauty to aspire to so no wonder that many girls are so insecure about the way they look. It hard to form your own sense of identity when you are constantly being bombarded with an idealistic and unrealistic image of beauty and the perfect body. Girls need role models but ones that teach you to be your own person, not to hate yourself and wish you were thinner or pretty or to have bigger boobs or a constant tan etc. Your role model is supposed to make you a better person, not vain and self-obsessed.
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