Thin. Young. Beautiful. "Perfect."

Media.

Young girls, mostly during their teenage years have a built in image of perfect. Through reading articles, examples of the meaning of perfect, and through my knowledge and the idea behind it, perfect is being ideal, faultless, flawless, ultimate, a leader, incomparable, and the highest quality. Who gets to decide what perfect is? When do our minds push us to believe something or someone is perfect? What is perfect?

Most of teenage girls hate their physical image. These media messages sent out through commercials, shows, ads, and so on, are becoming the creators of stereotypes of how girls should look and feel. Hardly do you ever see large or overweight teens on television. It all leads to the idea of "they are not good enough." Karen at the age of fifteen says, "I'm fat and ugly. I have to lose twenty pounds. I need a nose job, my hair is a mousy color; my lips are too thin and I could use lip injections. I exercised my stomach muscles and now they are hard, but I still have a belly." Teen insecurities grows bigger and bigger through each generation. No one is able to be perfect or become perfect. The media, constantly throwing "perfect" to a direct audience, causes people to think that the product will bring them confidence and then that confidence brings them perfection. A younger girl, at just twelve years old, Virginia, already has her own personal insecurities. "The best body is ribs, skin and bones, and that's the only thing I care about."

According to the statistics about teenage insecurities, 20 percent of teens are either rarely or never happy with their body image. Over half of all teens: 52 percent, feel that the media pressures them to change their body. 73 percent of teens feel that their appearance affects their body image. 65 percent of teens are afraid of gaining weight. 44 percent of teens skip meals as a tactic to losing or controlling weight. 31 percent of teens have been on a diet in the last six months. 31 percent of teens have at least one body part on which they would like to get surgery. 56 percent of teens feel that the media's advertisements are the main cause of low self-esteem.

Most advertisements are manipulating young teenagers into thinking those images of "perfect" women and men are real. Photoshop is used by many advertising companies to trick people into thinking they are able to look like that.

Flawless.
Confident.
Unique.
Photoshop Phonies: Hall of Shame by Beauty Redefined explain, " This is done by consistent use of models and actresses that are extremely young and thin and by making the models and actresses fit their idea of ideal of youth and thinness and beauty through digital manipulation... what we see in media and what we maybe internalizing as normal or beautiful is anything but normal and beautiful. It's fake. It's a profit-driven idea of normal and beautiful that women will spend their lives trying to achieve and men will spend their lives trying to find." Teenagers' lives revolve around looking young, beautiful, and perfect

1 out of three teenagers watch 2 or more television shows per day. Only 2 percent of teens never watch television. 16 percent of teens watch television in the morning before school. 39 percent of teens have a television in their bedroom. 1 out of 2 teens said that they watch television directly on websites like YouTube or a television show's website. 61.6 percent of teens have 3 or more televisions in their home. Over half (55 percent) of teens would be upset if their parents cancelled the cable or satellite television service. The media is attaching teens to it that it becomes apart of their daily life. What are people so addicted to the media when all it mostly does is break away self confidence?
When we think of a toy young girls play with most, what is the first thing that comes to our minds?

She is thin. She is tall. She is Barbie.

Barbie is considered to be perfect through the eyes of young children. She is seen as having all the characteristics that are needed to be impossibly perfect. March 9, 1959 was Barbie's first appearance, manufactured by Mattel Inc. Since that time, Barbie has become thinner and even more "perfect." The company American Girl Doll, convinces young children into wanting their companies doll because of the matching outfit that comes with it so that the young girls can look like their doll, become perfect like their doll, and in other words become their doll.

A psychology experiment was done in the U.K. by psychology professors Helga Dittmar and Emma Halliwell. Their main question was: does Barbie make girls feel insecure about their body? They were looking at the effect of experimental exposure to images of dolls on the body image of five to eight year olds. During their experiment, a total of 162 girls from that age range were exposed to the image of Barbie dolls then they completed an assessment of body image. The professors concluded that those who were exposed to Barbie doll images produced lower self-esteem and a greater need to wanting a thinner body image.

They explained that "...these findings imply that, even if dolls cease to function as aspirational role models for older girls, early exposure to dolls epitomizing an unrealistically thin body may damage girls' body image, which would contribute to an increased risk of disordered eating and weight cycle." Most girls have either had or seen a Barbie doll at least once in their life. Their emotional thoughts and ideas of perfect affects their physical image. The psychologists also stated, "... it's possible that exposures to a Barbie at a young age can trigger this disease later in life. Body dysmorphic disorder is a disease which causes the person to obsess over something they do not like about their body. The book Development Psychology by many gathered psychologists say, "If Barbie were flesh-and-blood woman, she would not be able to menstruate." A Barbie's body is not realistically proportioned; it is impossible for a women to look exactly like that. If Barbie were an actual human, her neck would not be able to support her head which would cause her head to fall off.

Cassandra Hernandez, a mother of two girls ages eight and thirteen, has herself always had body issues because of insecurity. She only allowed her children to play with a specific doll called Emme dolls. The reason why she had chosen this decision for her children was because Emme dolls have been proven to not have negative effects on young girls. Emme dolls have a realistic body image. It doesn't add to the feeling of insecurity. That is why some parents of young girls are looking more and more towards them.

Having personal insecurities is normal to have as a human being. Most people have an area where they feel insecure and consider as part of their flaw. These insecurities are grown out of the need to be perfect.

The need to be perfect like models, actresses/actors, and famous singers.

Even though many images of them are extremely photoshopped, their "perfectness" always seems to play with young and even older minds. Being insecure is one thing, but willing to go under serious plastic surgery to become the image they wish to be is another. A journalist, Rachel Rettiner says, "an estimated 750,000 cosmetic procedures, 271,000 of which were surgical, were performed on people of the ages of 20 to 29 according to the ASPS. 81,900 surgical procedures were performed on children and young adults aged 13 to 18." It is shocking to know that young women feel the need to change their body to conceive unrealistic expectations of the "Barbie Body."
Some women are very emotionally hurt that they are willing to take extreme measures and go under many surgeries to finally get their (impossible) Barbie body image. A reality television star, Heidi Montag received 10 plastic surgeries at the age of 23. During an interview that was done with her by Rettner titled Heidi Montag's Plastic Surgery:Obsession or Addiction?, she explains, "as for what's driving her and others, some researchers say that the media is part of the problem bombarding us with images of this ideal Barbie." Psychologist Debbie adds, I think fundamentally, when someone goes on for many, many, many procedures at a young age they're trying to change something about themselves, they want to become a new person." Heidi Montag has explained in many occasions that she just wanted to "look like Barbie."

Valeria Lukyanova, also referred to as the "Human Barbie" who also underwent a couple of surgeries, revolves her everyday life through trying to fulfill the characteristics of something she is not. They are unreal and impossible. In the article 16 Questions for the 'Real-Life Barbie', Valeria Lukyanova by Anna Nemtsova, Valeria Lukyanova was asked questions about why she chose to live her life the way she does. During the interview she was asked: "how do you feel that people call you a real-life Barbie?" She responds through saying, "Look, to me the Barbie doll looks perfect; it was created as a human idol. When I adopted her image, it felt very positive, at first I constantly heard compliments from everybody around me." In another question she was asked: "many people are fascinated by your looks. How does that make you feel?" Valeria Lukyanova says, "I believe that the way I look inspires others to improve their appearance, eat healthy and live a more active, creative life... there is always room for perfection, it just depends on your personal desire.

Heidi Montag and Valeria Lukyanova are so convinced that they can look perfect, by harming their natural beauty. Like them, many more young children create depression through insecurity by trying to look impossibly perfect. They are blinded by the media. Many more people believe that getting one plastic surgery will satisfy them. Each time they get it, they become hooked. One "flaw" gone causes them to look for another. Instead of feeling they way they wanted and thought they would feel, perfect, they begin to feel emotionally weaker as pressure by the media plays with their minds.

Trying to be perfect is an addiction. It is one of the main things that negatively affects both our mentality and our physical appearance.
Perfect is impossible.