People go to extreme heights just to have that size zero or that killer swimsuit body or to have that “it” look. And of those millions of people, a plethora of them struggle with their weight & self esteem. I strongly believe that the media’s influence on our body image is detrimental to our mental and physical well being.

An endless amount of people in the U.S. suffer from low self-esteem because of the media’s influence on body image. A majority of these people are young teenage females from age groups ranging from 13-19. As a result of this low self-esteem mayhem, many of these people struggle with disorders such as – Anorexia and Bulimia. Others struggled with depression and some with suicide. I know someone who was close to the family, she was good spirited and she always had a smile on her face, but what lied beneath her smile was hate – hate for herself and of her body, because she was not a (impossible) size zero (for most), because she wasn’t as pretty as the other girls on the magazines, because she wasn’t perfect. She resented that and so she released herself of this life. I never in a million years thought that she would go like that, but she did, which leads me to the question; is it fair to put other people’s life in jeopardy of death?


So many Ad’s and television shows, including commercials, love to make women look like Barbie’s and men to look like Ken. Well this is reality and here we have people with different shapes and sizes. So why give out the message that everyone looks the same and if you don’t look like this then something’s wrong with you? That is exactly the message that the Media’s portrays and with all due respect; it sucks! It’s like they want us to all look the same, their trying to make everything Uniform. It’s kind of like politics, if you don’t wear a suit or a blouse, then you’re not professional. If you don’t have a nice tan and rock hard Abs, then you’re not Perfect. Like really? How more shallow can you get?


The Media also sets IMPOSSIBLE standards for both males and females. Guys have to be masculine and strong, with nice bodies and an athletic build. While women have to be gentle and feminine, with a nice bikini body. These standards are ranked so high that now it’s impossible to fit in for most. I should know. I’m not the most athletic guy and I don’t have what the media thinks is a nice body, so I know how hard it is to try to be like the other guys when I’m not and its horrible to feel pressured to look like something I’m not. I think people will start to understand others more when people start to accept others for who they are, not by how they look.

Therefore, the whole body image thing is crap and the media is no better. They get people like me and you to feel forced to change how we look for the ignorance of the famous world. Everyone was made different, so why push that to the side? We all have a right to be who we want to be and look how we want to look and because of that, I strongly believe that in my opinion, the Media’s influence on body image is hurtful for millions of people today.