a look in the mirror.

Today my coworkers and I were flipping through a People magazine at work which had “Hollywood’s Hottest Bodies” on it and we couldn’t help but feel absolutely defeated. It’s really sickening how often women are reminded of how much weight they have to lose or how much makeup they need to wear in order to look beautiful. Is there even such a thing as natural beauty anymore? What ever happened to loving yourself for who you are? When are we ever reminded to do that?

It is nearly impossible for women today to be unaffected by the constant pressures that they face from the media to be beautiful and thin. It seems that you can’t go anywhere without constantly being bombarded with images of what society expects you to look like. What’s most depressing is that the criteria for which the media expects is nearly impossible for most women to achieve!

Women of all ages today desperate to look like those in magazines and on TV and therefore will go through great lengths to torment themselves into fitting into media’s template of perfection. More than ever women are willingly torturing themselves through starvation and surgical reconstruction. Every woman wants to feel beautiful and most importantly have others think that they are “hot”. Yet, the majority of women look pretty plain compared to the breathtaking flawless images of models that men are conditioned to salivate over.

When Tyra Banks gained 30 pounds the media went crazy ridiculing her about how “fat” she got. She’s 5’10 and weighed 161 pounds! That’s no wonder that women have low self esteem and there has been an increase in depression and eating disorders! The sad part is that no matter how hard you try it is nearly impossible to avoid being affected. I’m sure many women thought, “We’ll if Tyra is fat then I must be a cow!”

And isn’t age something that you are supposed to embrace? With age comes wisdom and experience! But according to the media – if you’re 65 years old and you look like your 65 something is wrong with you! Why don’t you look like your 25 years old? Oh it’s probably because you’re either not buying the right products or you really should go get a face lift! I’m sorry but I do not want my grandmother to look like she’s 20 years old because that would really freak me out!

What else is sickening is when I see mothers bringing their 13 year old daughters asking if they can have a tan for their confirmation! Now more than ever I’ve also noticed parents giving their teens the gift or new breasts or other cosmetic surgeries for graduations and birthdays! But who is to blame for that besides the media? I’m sick of looking through magazines and watching TV and doubting every part of my body instead of embracing it.

I can’t wait till I have children and my 10 year old daughter asks me if she can get breast implants for her 8th grade graduation and maybe a tummy tuck. If media is affecting me at the age of 21 I wonder how awkward developing 12 year old girls feel today! What is wrong with our society? When are we going to finally see positivity and self acceptance in the media?