Todays media places an extreme amount of pressure on women to maintain a slender Through childhood to adulthood, women are bombarded with images of stick skinnywomen, and this is the way almost every woman wants to look. Although there are other factors,the media is the primary source of the obsession with being thin. Why has this become such apopular trend? This is what society says is acceptable. It has been proven that these images ofperfect women do affect the normal women who wish to look like that. Shaw and Stein foundthat, Women exposed to pictures of thin models experienced more depression, stress, guilt,shame, insecurity, and body dissatisfaction than women exposed to photos of average sizedwomen or control photos (Medias n. pag.). Now, thanks to the unrealistic expectations puton women to maintain the perfect shape, eating disorders are on the rise. Then, once they entercollege, the body images of women get even worse. They are on their own now and can eatwhenever and whatever they desire; therefore, college girls gain weight and diet. When they gainthe weight they are willing to do anything to lose it. A persons body image can also varydepending on that persons race. On the surface it may seem that the media is trying to workthrough this weight issue, but society already has a prejudice against being too heavy. Everymedia influence is shoving in all American girls, womens, and sometimes mens faces, that thin isin and fat is out.The burden of attempting to have the flawless build has been climbing to unrealisticheights in the past years. In the fortys, the sexy look for women was to be curvaceous and havesome meat on her bones, however; from the late eightys to the ninetys more emphasis wasplaced on having no figure at all. The best body for women today is a waifish body, if you have curves you are considered over weight. This damages the self-concept of less than perfectwomen. The increasing pressure to ...
