Young girls talk about what they really think about body image

Our society sets a standard for beauty that is really unreachable, and it doesn’t only affect women ( 18-30) it starts a lot younger than you  may think.

She knows media brought together a group of young girls and asked those questions about body image. There is such a sense of honesty when you ask kids real life questions. If this discussion was held with older women, I’m sure these answers would have been completely different.  

The first group of girls  (14-16) discussed body image and the media . One girl commented
“You can try to be like these celebrities that have really big butts and  A tiny waist.” Another girl said “Ill look at a lot of pictures and be like Wow , I wish I had that body  but , its not really possible.”   More than ever having a bigger butt is more popular, because so many celebrities are idolized because of theirs. I can’t count how many times a week, I see images on social media of women being praised and admired for theirs. Teenagers shouldn’t be focused on trying to have their bodies look like celebrities they see . It just starts a pattern of not feeling like you are not good enough.

 



Although these images of beauty that we may see may not be necessarily geared towards younger girls (6- 12) they still have an affect on them .  It’s sad to think that an 8 year old may look at herself and not think she’s pretty enough. The younger girls in this workshop left the biggest impression on me. They were so positive, and so confident with their opinions. “Fat people can still be pretty , thin people can be really ugly .”   Another little girl said “Other people may look at you and think that you’re prettier than you think that you are . You shouldn’t be doubting yourself.”   We can learn a lot from these young girls. Somehow as we get older, as girls we may lose sight of that. There is beauty in everyone, and we let society’s image and standard of beauty define how we see ourselves.  I hope you share this video . This can be used to start a discussion at home.  

If young girls don’t learn about positive body image at home , they  will learn it from the media. #hatchkids

False Beauty Image

The 2012 Dove Distortion of beauty Ad , showed how what we view as beauty is not even real. How the image that you may be looking at , that celebrity or model you so desperately want to look like , doesn't even really look like that herself. This ad spoke volumes . It is impossible to reach a standard of beauty , when the standard being shown isn't even real.  

The video is below:

Society, the media, celebrities, the beauty and fashion industry , all of these have influences on what people think the standard of beauty should be. The standard of beauty for a long time has been blue eyes, blonde hair , and a  size 2. This standard to many is unattainable, if you are different a race, weight class, then you don’t fall into this standard. Does this mean you are not beautiful? (Of course not ! ) Because you don’t have certain features,  or the numbers on your scale don’t say what society is saying is beautiful , now what ? Your favorite celebrity whose beauty and talent you admire, may fit the standard of beauty .So what does that say about you when you don’t?  The people who fit that standard are praised and those who don’t aren't, so now you feel you are not good enough. You want to be accepted more, you want to fit into that standard of beauty society has set. So you’ll look up beauty products, look up what your favorite celebrities beauty tricks are, what diet you can do, what procedure you can do , to look like everyone else……beautiful.

Red carpets, cameras flashing, perfect hair, glistening white teeth, flawless skin: these are the images we may see on the red carpet, looking flawlessly and effortlessly beautiful. We at home may not be thinking about, what these celebrities did to look so “flawless”. All we see is the perfect image of beauty , that we all so desperately want and envy ( maybe not everyone). We don’t think about the thousands of dollars they may have put into getting work done (plastic surgery) or ,the excessive diets that they may do ….all in the name of beauty.

Julia Roberts 2011 Lancome ad banned in UK because of too mich photoshop

The beauty industry photoshops images all of the time in ads , billboards, magazines , campaigns a lot of the images we see all of the time. It may be a straighter nose , lighter skin, a longer nose , slimmer thighs , and the list goes on and on. What are we really looking at and admiring? Are we looking at a model , or are we looking at what use to be that model and now an altered image completely ? That image that some teenager is looking at in her favorite magazine, thinking about how “I wished I looked like that”. That’s impossible because the model in the picture doesn't even look like that.

What really is the standard of beauty , who is making this standard , who can  society ever be satisfied when the images of beauty are not real ?