Everywhere we turn nowadays forces us face to face with provocative images of young women posing half-naked on the sides of buses, signs and shop posters. Advertising campaigns would never even dream of showing a slightly chubby women enjoying life as a size 14 rather than a 6 would they? Or women with slightly short legs and small boobs? Because we’ve conditioned ourselves to believe that if we don’t hit that certain size before the summer season sets, then everyone on the beach is going to look at us like we’re fat and ugly. Well I say this stereotype needs to stop now. The perfect body is a scam! It’s unhealthy, unnatural and degrading to women everywhere.
After spending a day doing some research in Brent Cross shopping centre outside well known stores such as Hollister and Victoria’s Secret; it was found that whilst adults found the images degrading and something “no normal women will ever be able to look like”, young girls and teenagers drifted towards the completely opposite view point. A group of shoppers aged 12-15 stated the model has a “perfect body”, “the girls on the shop walls are pretty” and “I’d love a body like that”. These statements were scary. Young girls actually believed bodies like the near-anorexic models’ were healthy and something to desire. This is creating a culture that encourages serious eating disorders and health problems because all these images do is lower self-esteem when girls realise bodies like this are actually unachievable.
Teenagers of today are struggling to fit in with the narrow-minded view of beauty since the world has become so obsessed with looking exactly like the models seen all over shops and campaigns. Wouldn’t it be so refreshing to see a billboard with a slightly larger young woman at size 12 rather than 4? Something to generate a happy teenager that feels their body size is deemed acceptable? I’m not suggesting we promote a stark contrast to the skinny models seen today (as promoting obesity would not be moral either); but the presentation of a more realistic body image is definitely needed. The teens of today need to take a seat and stop worrying about expectations of the “perfect body” because being bombarded with false ideas of beauty is making the world a very ugly place.
By Hannah Parsons Southgate School
