Body Image Essay

Submitted By togtog456
Words: 313
Pages: 2

Body image is influenced by a person’s self-esteem and their self-worth. It is how you perceive your physical body and how you feel others perceive your body. It is not based in the truth but what you feel is true.
Advertising in magazines and on television can typically glamorizes skinny models that do not resemble the average woman. Actually, today's models generally weigh 23% less than the average woman. Bearing in mind the average teens see around 3,000 ads in magazines, billboards, and television every day, teenagers are then getting the wrong message about body image When you stop and think about the fact that the average height and weight for a model is 5'10" and 110 lbs., and the height and weight for the average woman is 5'4" and 145 lbs., it's easy to see why this creates a tremendous health risk for young girls. Basically when teenage girls look in a magazine and see a skinny, gorgeous model, they sometimes feel bad about themselves. It makes them feel like they are big and need to be prettier and skinner in order to like the models they see in the media. In some cases the media can affect teenagers which can lead them to crash or fad diets to lose those extra pounds.

On average a person sees 400-600 advertisements a day
80% of women are unhappy with their appearance
4 out of 5 ten year olds are afraid of being ‘fat’
Out of 8,000,000 eating disorders 90%are women
The media today sets unrealistic standards to what is body weight is considered ‘normal’