She looked at the full length mirror, and then at the Cosmo magazine she held in her delicate hand. Then once again, she looked at the mirror in pure disgust. She tried sucking her gut in, combing her hair over to the opposite side simply picking and prodding at each aspect of herself. She turned to the side and closely examined her body from head to toe, and then did the same thing to the sickly thin, glam, retouched model posing seductively. She let out an extraneous sigh and fell back onto her bed. Six out of ten girls go through this drawn out routine each day. The media portrays a negative effect on a teen girl’s way of thinking, size, and body, and a stop needs to be put to it.

One of the most important ideas the media affects is a teen girl thinking how pretty she is. Magazines, TV, every type of media today is giving you tips on your makeup, and hair to look “stylish” and “beautiful” and “perfect”. Very rarely do the media tell you that you are beautiful just the way you are. Since teen girls are exposed to this media, they are constantly worried about their appearance, and they fear that they are not pretty enough. Exposure to highly attractive images negatively affects the subject’s feelings about her own self-appearance (Frith and Mueller). Hollywood stars’ craze of cosmetic surgery also influences teen girls. The drastic changes in a celebrity’s facial appearance makes teen girls think that they too can get surgery to fix what they think are flaws on themselves to make them look better and feel better. They still don’t think they are good enough. Teens should not listen to this type of negative media.

Size is another concept teens focus on and worry about. The media is also to blame for this. Going through the checkout at a local grocery store you can almost always find a magazine with a phrase like “Drop 20 lbs. in 2 weeks!” or “Get rid of that fat!” and several other slogans. Often they are encouraging women and in many cases teen girls to lose weight and be the perfect size. Even if the magazines aren’t intended to be that way that is how they are often interpreted. Ignoring this negative influence is difficult, but that is what teens need to do. Research has shown that models featured in the media are getting thinner and thinner each year. Female college students who were repeatedly exposed to very thin models in ads felt increased guilt, shame, insecurity, and body dissatisfaction (Martin and Gentry). The uniformly thin, perfectly proportioned models contribute to unhappiness with their own bodies among young girls and thus undermine self confidence and reinforce problems like eating disorders. Advertisers contribute to this “body-as-object” sort of focus for female adolescents by using difficult to attain standards of physical attractiveness in ads (Frith and Mueller). Teen girls are still trying to become the perfect “skinny type” and they should not have to feel this way simply by observing the media.

The media also frequently focuses on the “ideal girl”. The idea of a perfect girl really has a negative effect on teen girls because nearly no girl is like the “ideal girl” that the media portrays. A small cinched waist, flawless clear skin, and luscious smooth hair are just some of the numerous expectations of teenage girls. Does the media know there are very few girls like that? Do they know that teen girls try their hardest to fit these qualities? They are unrealistic expectations and no girl should try to change themselves to fit someone else’s standards. Also often shown through the media is the size of a woman’s breasts. Advertisers and photographers focus on woman’s breasts regardless of the category that is being displayed. The idea that sexy equals big breasts have created feelings of inferiority in young girls. Commonly used in the media is the phrase “bigger is better”. Plastic surgeons report that they see girls as young as fourteen seeking surgery for their breasts (Frith and Mueller). Being put under this pressure, girls think of themselves as less attractive, not skinny enough, and not pretty enough to be the ideal girl with an ideal way of living. The media is to blame for that and this epidemic should be changed for the happiness and well-being of teenage girls.
The girl looks back into the mirror and back down to the magazine in her hand. She glances over the cover articles on the body, face, and ways to improve. Then with only a moment’s notice, she swiftly throws the article in the trash and she sits down on her bed with a smile of satisfaction. She is not going to keep criticizing her body; she is going to embrace herself and love her look just the way it is. She is the one of the few girls who doesn’t want to fall into the trap of the media. She continues on living and being a normal teen, without being affected by the negativity of the media like every teen girl should.