|
When I was in junior high, I had a subscription to Teen Magazine. Every month I would wander through
the pages of this beauty journal and pine for the look that so many of the models possessed. I would buy the
products that were advertised in the magazine and follow the step-by-step instructions the magazine presented
hoping to return to school the next day a changed girl.
When I was in high school I graduated to Young and Modern Magazine (YM). It was the same basic routine but a
more sophisticated look. By my senior year and freshman year in college, I was flipping through the pages of
Mademoiselle and Cosmopolitan magazines. Overall, I would have to say that my self-image was completely
hanging on whether or not I felt like I could fit into the magazine stereotype of beautiful. I'm still not there.
I have friends that collect these magazines, not because of their embarrassing moments column, but for the pictures
of the thin girls, because they wanted a constant reminder of how not thin they were . . . diet motivation.
In an OnHealth.com report, according to an article in the British Medical Journal, a study done by Australian
researchers found that out of the 60 percent of teen girls who diet, one in five will develop an eating disorder.
Nearly three percent of young women have a serious eating disorder. Although, no researcher has pin pointed the
trigger of obsessive dieting in a majority of teen girls, the answer to me is obvious.
Media, mainly television, drives young women to near insanity trying to emulate the popular notion of beauty.
Seeing my guy friends drool over Sarah Michelle Gellar or nearly fainting at the sight of Elizabeth Hurley makes me
want to run to a plastic surgeon. Sometimes I don't think I can handle it. It's scary the pressure the media can put
on young girls, and these teen magazines seem to offer solutions that only dig a deeper hole in self-conscience of
teens.
I'm not saying that the media is the direct trigger of eating disorders in young women. In another OnHealth.com
report, eating disorders, according to Dr. Kane, the director of the Eating Disorders program at St. Francis Medical
Center in Pittsburgh, are a symptom of a personality, mental, or emotional disorder. She continues to say people
with an inherited disorder will be more vulnerable to media messages, such as "thin is in." Whether or not someone
develops an eating disorder, it's a well-known fact that many teenage girls struggle everyday with their self-image.
I bought the November issue of Teen People Magazine the other day. I was just curious to see if anything's changed
and what teen magazines are doing nowadays to ensure healthy living with all the recent statistics on teen dieting
and eating disorders. Unfortunately, nothing's changed.
Teen People, not to rat on them but . . . is just an example of what so many teens is come to for answers to self-
image problems and even personal problems. "Oh, I'm not as skinny as that Jennifer Aniston. If I want to marry
someone like Brad Pitt, I have to look like her. Thank God I have this teen magazine to tell me how." These
magazines are more like Satan than actual help. "Ah-ha! She's come to me for answers, and I shall give her make-
up tricks and diet plans that will only leave her more unhappy with herself. Ha Ha Ha!"
Okay, so that might be a bit harsh. After all, Teen People, like all other teen magazines, is just trying to make a
buck and they've found a very effective way to do it. But, Teen People doesn't have to be so blunt at what they're
doing. They have thirteen articles on beauty, and, out of those, half compare their beauty tips to celebrities. Page
58's article basically says, "Wanna look like Liv Tyler? Wear M.A.C. Viva Glam III lipstick." On top of that,
almost exactly 50 percent of the content are advertisements for beauty products featuring thin, glamorous models.
No wonder so many girls hate they way they look.
My suggestion to all you girls out there: Don't do what I did and let magazines and popular media shape the way
you think you should look. Cancel your subscriptions to your teen magazines. Sure, a magazine every now and
then can be helpful for health and beauty tips, but there is no reason to hate yourself every month.
|
