Your Own Image
Why should media’s image be society’s image when media’s standard for us as human beings is too high?
According to the website Model Management, high fashion models are generally required to fit dress sizes 4-6, be 5’8″ to 5’11” tall and be between the ages of 14 and 25. They also have to be thin, meaning 108 pounds-130 pounds, and have a waist no larger than 25″ and hips no bigger than 35.5.” These requirements are females.
Come one, how many girls in today’s society do you actually see in this range?
Media promotes this image that you “have to” look like this to be “beautiful” – which is not true. If you look around, everyone is built differently. There are no two bodies that are exactly the same. We all have different skin, whether it is lighter or darker, or with lots of freckles or none. We all were born into this world meant to be as we are.
Media isn’t helping us become more secure in our skin if it keeps giving us standards that area way too high. Even with these standards, media goes even further to photoshop, creating images with flawless hair, body and skin, making it even more impossible for us. It takes thousands upon thousands of dollars to have plastic surgery, buy high quality makeup and so on, to even get close to this “perfection.”
When someone looks different – a difference not what the media wants – they are looked down upon. The website, Philly Burbs, states that the most common reason for being bullied is because of body size or appearance. People in schools are sometimes exiled from their class because of appearance. In some schools, if someone wore out-of-the-norm clothing, they are automatically a “freak.”
Whey should some people have to feel they need to diet until they are anorexic in order to feel as if they are good enought?
Why should some people feel they need to cake on makeup in order to feel as if they are beautiful?
Why should some people have to wear certain brands of clothing, and types of outfits, to feel accepted?
The answer is – they shouldn’t!
They should feel amazing and beautiful just as they are. I don’t think we should feel the need to change our appearances to be accepted in society because of the media’s image for us. I know it can be hard because humans instinctively judge, but if someone sees someone else with too big of a nose or a weird birthmark, they shouldn’t make fun of them; they were born that way and can’t help it.
If we don’t worry as much about how we look, or if we look good enough, our lives will be happier. If people try too hard, they’ll end up being someone else. People won’t be themselves – they will be an imperfect clone of the media’s image.
I know it’s said often – but no one anywhere in the world is perfect. Personally, I know it’s hard not to think too much about how I look, but the less someone thinks about it, the happier they will be.
We don’t want a society of people who look the same, are shaped the same and dress the same. Be yourself and dress how you like. Don’t let the media stamp on a picture of how you are supposed to look.
By judging people based on how they look, people could miss out on possible good times, a shoulder to cry on, friendships and relationships – all because they believed in the media’s fairy tale.