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She’s too fat. She’s too skinny. She’s too pale skinned. She’s too dark skinned. It seems like as a society we always find a way to stereotype and belittle women into achieving the perfect image. How can we strive to be the best version of ourselves when nothing we do seems to ever be good enough?
This is a topic that really pushes my buttons and that I am very passionate about. I am a strong believer in the fact that humans come in all different types of sizes and shapes and that is what makes us unique and beautiful. So how can we get that across to the media? How do we prevent these negative messages being sent to our children through the media? The Answer: Education. Awareness. Role Modeling.
Young girls spend their time looking up to an ideal of beauty that is so unrealistic and unachievable. Pretty much all photos of models in magazines or on the internet are photo-shopped and airbrushed to make them look like the perfect woman. Hide any signs of love handles, stretch marks, pimples, or any extra skin that may be misconstrued as “fat”.
There have been various studies done on this topic and it is definitely being brought up in the public eye, but not to the extent that we need it to in order to change peoples perspective of beauty. Recently, Target has been “targeted” for a photoshop fail when it came to a model in their clothing line. They tried to create the “thigh gap” between the models legs and ended up taking off some of her rib cage and pelvic bone. Mistakes like these are good to let people see that this is not reality and that normal people do not look like this but it is still sad that it has come to this. You can read more information on the Target uproar by clicking on this link. http://www.today.com/health/when-thigh-gaps-attack-targets-photoshop-fail-goes-viral-2D79356844
This issue is directly related to the number of eating disorders and disordered eating patterns accumulating through this country. The way young girls perceive beauty has such an effect on their self-esteem and their own futures. I know it definitely effected me when I was in middle and high school. This is why it is so important to raise awareness and promote healthy, positive body image. It is so important to teach our children to love their bodies and find the things they love about themselves and OWN them. So many people spend their time focusing on the things they want to change about themselves physically and forget to appreciate what they already have. This is the only way that this issue will continue to improve.
This is a topic that really pushes my buttons and that I am very passionate about. I am a strong believer in the fact that humans come in all different types of sizes and shapes and that is what makes us unique and beautiful. So how can we get that across to the media? How do we prevent these negative messages being sent to our children through the media? The Answer: Education. Awareness. Role Modeling.
Young girls spend their time looking up to an ideal of beauty that is so unrealistic and unachievable. Pretty much all photos of models in magazines or on the internet are photo-shopped and airbrushed to make them look like the perfect woman. Hide any signs of love handles, stretch marks, pimples, or any extra skin that may be misconstrued as “fat”.
There have been various studies done on this topic and it is definitely being brought up in the public eye, but not to the extent that we need it to in order to change peoples perspective of beauty. Recently, Target has been “targeted” for a photoshop fail when it came to a model in their clothing line. They tried to create the “thigh gap” between the models legs and ended up taking off some of her rib cage and pelvic bone. Mistakes like these are good to let people see that this is not reality and that normal people do not look like this but it is still sad that it has come to this. You can read more information on the Target uproar by clicking on this link. http://www.today.com/health/when-thigh-gaps-attack-targets-photoshop-fail-goes-viral-2D79356844
This issue is directly related to the number of eating disorders and disordered eating patterns accumulating through this country. The way young girls perceive beauty has such an effect on their self-esteem and their own futures. I know it definitely effected me when I was in middle and high school. This is why it is so important to raise awareness and promote healthy, positive body image. It is so important to teach our children to love their bodies and find the things they love about themselves and OWN them. So many people spend their time focusing on the things they want to change about themselves physically and forget to appreciate what they already have. This is the only way that this issue will continue to improve.
![Picture](/uploads/2/6/8/2/26821576/5332757.jpg)
Don’t let it get to this point! The age of children that worry about some kind of body issue is getting younger and younger! This is why positive body image promotion is vital!! Be a good example for your kids. Don’t let them hear or see you put yourself down. Show them how to love themselves for the unique individual they are!!
Dove has made multiple efforts to increase awareness and promote positive body image through their commercials and real beauty campaigns. Here is a clip of a Dove positive body image video.