It is not surprising that eating disorders are on the increase because of the value society places on being thin. In North America, women are given the message at a very young age that in order to be happy and successful, they must be thin. Every time you walk into a store you are surrounded by the images of emaciated models that appear on the front cover of all fashion magazines. Thousands of teenage girls are starving themselves this very minute trying to attain what the fashion industry considers to be the “ideal” figure. The average model weighs 23% less than the average woman. Maintaining a weight that is 15% below your expected body weight fits the criteria for anorexia, so most models, according to medical standards, fit into the category of being anorexic. Teenagers need to realize that society’s ideal body image is not achievable. The photos we see in magazines are not real either. Many people don’t realize that those photos have gone through many touch ups and have been air-brushed to make the models look perfect. Teenagers striving to attain society’s unattainable ideal image will just end up increasing their feelings of inadequacy. //
// ]]> Teenagers are under a lot of pressure to be thin. They are lead to believe that the only way they can be accepted and fit in, is if they are thin. They resort to starving, vomiting and eating only diet foods to try and be thin. Television is a big influence on them. They watch shows like Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place and feel they need to look as thin as the actresses on these shows. Many actresses we see on TV have endured hours of exercise and have deprived themselves of the proper nutrition in order to maintain a thin figure. Some even resort to plastic surgery, liposuction and breast implants. You just have to watch an episode of Baywatch to know that statement is true. Society is brainwashing young people into believing that being thin is important and necessary. Diet commercials are constantly appearing on our television screens telling us that once we lose the weight, we will be happy. While your standing in the check out line at the grocery store you are surrounded by magazines claiming to have the newest and best diet. Each month another new diet appears claiming to be the diet to end all diets. Whatever happened to last month’s diets that claimed the same thing? Dieting has become an obsession in North America. We spend billions of dollars each year trying to look the way society tells us we need to look. If diets really worked, then why are there so many of them? The reason a new diet pops up each month, is because last’s month’s diets did not work. You know, the ones that claimed to really work. The truth of the matter is that DIETS DON’T WORK. As soon as you start to diet, you automatically set yourself up for failure. Many of the diets on the market right now are also unhealthy. They deprive you of the proper nutrition your body needs to survive and these diets can lead to health problems. The diet and fashion industries are not totally to blame for society’s obsession with thinness. We are the ones keeping them in business. We buy into the idea that we can attain the “ideal” body image. We allow ourselves to believe the lies being thrown at us constantly. We buy their magazines, diet books and products, hoping that this time they will work. We are throwing away our hard earned money trying to live up to the standards that society has set for us. Be prepared to spend lots of money on your quest for the perfect diet and be prepared to never find it, because there isn’t one. It’s unfortunate, but in today’s society, people have forgotten that it’s what’s inside a person that counts, not what’s on the outside. We
