Essay topic: Body Image
Imagine a teenage girl named Stacy. When someone looks at Stacy they see an average teenage girl, but what they don’t see is that Stacy gets bullied. See, Stacy is told everyday that she is ugly and fat. Everyday Stacy goes home, she looks at herself in the mirror and all she can see is what others see. She doesn’t see a beautiful girl, but rather she sees a girl that doesn’t live up to others standards. Just like Stacy many today are enveloped in the way others see them. They go to extreme measures to change the way they look to make others accept them. Media, and peer pressure causes teens to have eating disorders and have negative body image, but providing information to teens and spreading positivity can help combat this.
Social media is a huge part of society today, especially when it comes to teens. Often, however pictures posted on social media sites are edited in some way. When referencing a study the author of ”Does social media impact on body image?”, Philippa Roxby, writes, “"I ask them to shut their eyes and put their hand up if they have ever enhanced an image on Facebook," Ms Nokes says. “They usually all put up their hands””. This gives an estimate of the major effects of photo editing software. Advertisements also creates an unrealistic body image for women to follow. One statistic from the NYC Girls Project 2010 study shows that models weigh 23% less than the average women. This attributes to negative body image because women compare themselves to these models. A study by the City of New York showed that “63 percent of girls think the body image represented by the fashion industry is unrealistic and 47 percent think it is unhealthy, yet 60 percent say that they compare their bodies to fashion models, 48 percent wish they were as skinny as the models in fashion magazines, and 31 percent of girls admit to starving themselves or refusing to eat as a strategy to lose weight.”. It’s clear from this study that even though people see that the standards set by media is unrealistic, they still strive for it. Peer pressure and bullying are also a cause of negative body image. One girl said ”Kelsey describes the bullying she experienced between the ages of 11 and 16 as "absolutely awful” the author, Philippa Roxby, also added "It was all about my body and how I looked," she says.”. This shows the impact that bullying can have on someone. These factors can cause this negative body image to increase into eating disorders. In fact there is an estimated 24 million people who suffer from anorexia binge eating or bulimia according to a 2010 study. This is a massive number of people who are likely effected by body image..
We need to fix this, and we need to fix this now! When you fix something you have to look at the root of the problem to find the solution. The root of the problem in this case is our youth's body image. In order to combat this we need to have protections in place for our youths. One way to do this is by having counselors at our schools check students for eating disorders or dangerous eating habits. This will help kids who have eating disorders find help, and allow for bad eating habits to be stopped before they turn into eating disorders. There are many tests that can be taken online that can test for eating disorders within a demographic that fits the student. Not only do these test provide referrals to professionals who can give a personal evaluation, or treatment. But they are quick and will cost schools nothing. Another step that can be taken is the furthering of the “E” in PE. PE classes would suit students much better if they provided students with information on calorie intake and healthy dieting. This would help students who don’t know where to look for good diet plans, so they don’t look at the wrong place. After a study done at Texas A&M International University a statement was made "This suggests that peer competition is more salient to body and eating issues in teenage girls.". This study showed how crucial peer pressure is in negative body image. It could also be crucial to positive body image. There could be support groups for teens who struggle with body image. This can help unify students and help the students who are struggling with eating disorders to get help and support from fellow students.
The question remains, however. What can we as a society do today to help? Well there are a number of ways we can help. But in order to help fix others we must first need to be fixed ourselves. So the first step we should take is by working on our own body image. This can be difficult for some. Philippa Roxby wrote about Kelsey from Loud Education, a program that visits schools and helps students with body image, ”You put forward your best self, and that can be a bit dangerous, because you naturally compare yourself to others," she said. So while it may not be easy for some to have self confidence because of of human nature, it can be overcome. Having self confidence and positive self body image can help to spread the message to others. We can help others by spreading positivity, and using positive language. There are plenty of people out there working in harmony with this message, but they can’t do it themselves. They need your help.
24 million, that's a pretty large number. That was just the number of diagnosed people, imagine how many more people there was who didn’t have help. Body image is a major issue in today's society. It affects a very large number of people, especially because of the media and peer pressure in today's society. But if we supply our youths with tools to help remain healthy and positive we can conquer this problem. Let's talk about Stacy, just one more time. Imagine her walking into school one day and meeting her counselor. Her counselor tells her she is at risk of an eating disorder, Stacey is shocked. She attends her PE class and learns a healthy diet and exercise plan. She attends a meeting filled with other students who have issues with body image and gets encouragement to keep putting forth an effort. Do you think that Stacy will make a change? Whatever the result an effort needs to be put forward in order to thwart this problem. Don’t let this chance go to waste, as Richard Williams said “While students may be 20 percent of our population, they are 100 percent of our future.”.
"Is Poor Body Image Caused by Peer Pressure?" Secureteen.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.
Roxby, Philippa. "Does Social Media Impact on Body Image?" BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.
"NYC Girl's Project - The Issues." NYC Girl's Project - The Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.
"The Media And Body Image." RSS 20. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.
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