by Rosannie Murillo

Created on: October 28, 2008

Growing up, like many other girls, I had self-esteem and body image issues, spending my time comparing myself to my other female classmates and media celebrities and wondering how I could achieve their appearance and look as "pretty" as they did to achieve what I wanted. Contrary to what many girls want, which is to be as thin as possible, I wanted to gain weight because to my belief I was skinnier than normal, weighing not more than 100 pounds. I would have been happy gaining 15 more pounds than what I had to consider my weight "normal". But after a while I realized the word "normal" is a relative term and eventually I grew comfortable enough with myself knowing that the people who loved me would love me for who I was, not for my body. But not every woman comes to this conclusion this way, especially teenage girls.

Teenagers give great importance to their image as it is, feeling insecure about their bodies when they see another person in school or neighborhood who they think is prettier or better than they are. Also, battling school peers and dealing with taunts and teasing can make it that much harder. This is when the media and other cosmetic companies take advantage of those feelings to market their products and lure them into buying beauty products, new clothes, and diet aids; ultimately demonstrating that its purpose is only economic. "Women are sold to the diet industry by the magazines we read and the television programs we watch, almost all of which make us feel anxious about our weight.", said media activist Jean Kilbourne.

Trying to have a good physical concept of ourselves as a teenager amongst today's society is really difficult. Beauty standards being raised a bit more every day can be physically and mentally draining, being surrounded by magazines, ads, commercials and billboards all inducing to question our image and try to "improve" it by taking their advice and buying the products they say will give us the ultimate satisfaction with ourselves and help us achieve everything we want out of life, only by improving the way we look. Television and movies reinforce the importance of a thin body as a measure of a person's value.

However, advertising is what dictates what's in and what's not and it is no secret that what's in is thin, making teenagers believe that being thin is what will get them where they want to be and that being thin is ultimately what sells. This has turned teenagers against themselves; the happier they are with their bodies, the more they like themselves.

Teenage girls are not the only ones who suffer the constant media harassment concerning our image. Boys, though in minority, endure body image issues to, tending to relate more to athletes than any other person. Media and television have clearly stated the physical standards a boy must follow in order to fit the part, naming it "trim, yet muscular".

The reality is that media standards for our bodies are incredibly unrealistic that in reality can lead to bad results including the development of eating disorders, low self-esteem issues resulting in depression and anxiety and ultimately serious damage to our body and mind. So, the question we need to ask is, are they really inducing teenagers in the long run into self-improvement, or really self-destruction?

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