Lookism Influences Adolescent Girls

The majority of girls in today’s society have looked at a model in a magazine or on television and wished they looked like them. The media presented in this generation has impacted women on how they feel towards their body image. Media presents unrealistic women as the “ideal,” making this culture of girls feel dissatisfied with themselves. This is a problem because with plenty of girls already feeling unsatisfied with their body, by using unrealistic models, it creates a further problem with wanting to change themselves by doing dangerous actions such as eating disorders. It’s difficult to cut out the media impact but surely, something can be changed.

Girlhood is the period of a young girl’s life where she gets to decide what she likes, what she doesn’t like, and who she wants to be. This time is crucial because these decisions, whether progressive or regressive, will help her develop into to a teenager, and then a young woman. But girlhood is being heavily influenced by society’s popular culture, and this influence can prove to be positive or negative for young girls’ futures, as well as the spectating society. Perhaps the biggest and most negative influence on girlhood is the concept of sexualization. This concept can be applied to many aspects of girlhood, but merchandizing and consumerism will be discussed in this paper.

Many speeches have been given throughout history regarding Gender Issues. One of these speeches include Emma Watson’s “Be The He for She”. Although many think Watson’s speech was ineffective, it brings awareness to gender inequality by listing examples of instances where male and females have been The inequality of women has been seen throughout the formation of many nations including the United States. At very young ages, girls have a close eye on them, focusing on how they behave and their mannerism. Girls are expected to live up to a standard set up by society on how to act and how to look while also keeping in mind that they must not be like “those girls” who let themselves be objectified.

By eliminating beauty pageants for children under the age if 18, we will be able to further push young women to strive for inner beauty rather than fixate on their appearances. Such beauty pageants are restricting youth from learning to accept themselves for how they are, and it is necessary that this comes to an end. Creating a space where women can have more confidence in themselves is significant

Mujeres is a program for young girls with hard lifestyles and are trying to make a living for themselves but also strive for a better future. Head leader of this organization is Connie Iglesias, expresses the importance of the program by demonstrating the flaws of these girls and in return giving them a chance to renew their life. In the article Helping Kids Make Better Choices: Mujeres Organization, Connie states, “I can be that caring adult who wants them to succeed” (Connie Iglesias, 2012:99). The girls that are engaged in the program come from various backgrounds, mainly from a latino heritage, those youth have had not only violence issues but educational problems. Strain Theory as Professor Kristin Bates explained in class, suggests

They each deal with Mrs. Bennet 's auctioning behavior regarding marriage, but each girl deals with Mrs. Bennet 's embarrassing behavior differently. These girls prove that there is not a reason for preserving social etiquette beyond preserving traditional beliefs, attitudes, and philosophies. If these girls were not constrained by their mother 's and society 's rules and expectations, a more potent side of their personalities would show through, leaving them as more expressive and

The song, Scars to Your Beautiful written by Alessia Caracciolo, speaks to the very challenge every young girl experiences by wanting to be seen as beautiful. What is more, the song contrasts the lengths women will go to in order to make themselves appear more beautiful, but perhaps the line “you should know, you’re beautiful the way you are” is the most profound statement for this generation. According to Peta Stapleton, Gabrielle J. Crighton, Brett Carter, and Aileen Pidgeon
(2017), body dissatisfaction is defined as “dysfunctional, negative thoughts and feelings pertaining to one’s weight and shape.” Specifically, Kathleen Berger (2014) states, “Many adolescents obsess about being too short or too tall, too wide in the hips or too narrow

In the media, women tend to be shown as sexual beings, there for pleasure and seemingly having no value to society. With this comes the idea that women are superficial, oversensitive beings that only live for drama and money. Belinda Luscombe, a journalist from Time magazine, wrote an article addressing these stereotypes, titling it “Kids Believe Gender Stereotypes by Age 10, Global Study Finds”. She discusses how in different countries there were different standards set for girls that were accepted by the time the children reached adolescence. When the boys were encouraged to play outside, the girls were encouraged to do chores.

The obsession to lose weight is sometimes due to women being continuously pressured by some influential factors. These factors include models, physical attractiveness or even being peer pressured by a member of their family. However the most powerful factor is models in magazines that happen to have what people call perfect bodies. Models are responsible for human beings craving the ‘perfect’ body. The media is responsible for young girls becoming self conscious after buying thin Barbie dolls, thinking being skinny, fake and blonde is the correct way to go.

Such wives are foolish mothers”(106). Therefore she wants cherry woman to lift herself from the state of degradatish to which they have been reduced and empower to which they have been reduced and empower themselves so that they can empower themselves and their children to lead fulfilling lives. The liberationists of the 1980’s and 1990’s also regarded motherhood and mothering as sheer wastage of powerful feminist energy, in the home and the household which they viewed as an area of “ arrested social development.” (Mitchell and Oakley

Due to the increasing focus on women’s bodies, is it any wonder that young girls experience body dysmorphia? Studies of body image have established that girls as young as 6 to 7 years of age desire a thinner, ideal body. In many cases this is due to the portrayal of women in the media that children are excessively exposed to. This comes in varying mediums such as film, television and music videos, portraying women negatively as sexual objects of the male gaze, an aspect that has become normalized in today’s society. Girls grow up to believe that they have to be attractive to attract the attention of a man.

So is it true that girls should look like Baide? Baibe plays a big role in most childhoods.She can make a big impression on what we think we should look like. A study done in 2006 shows that little girls are more empreshanabul than older girls. The same study showed the girls that were more exposed had lower self esteem. They also desired a thinner body shape.

2017 has been a year supporting female empowerment, expression, and confidence with your body. So why should girls feel ashamed of their bodies in the environment where they should feel the safest? The dress code should be less restrictive because, it’s unfairly targeted at females, it makes women feel less confident, and it restricts most athletic clothing made for girls. Schools continually enforce rules that they’ve had since they were founded. Times change, and rules need to too.