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Magazines and their advertisements send unhealthy signals to young women.

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Magazines and their advertisements send unhealthy signals to young women.
Being in the category branded ‘young women’ myself, I firmly believe that the way in which magazines are being portrayed in today’s body image driven society, is wrong. Despite the positive information that the media communicates to the world, they also have a propensity to convey negative messages. Teenagers should not have to feel that what they read in magazines compared to what they see in the mirror is a compulsory way of life. Models and celebrities have the life airbrushed into them only to promote an unrealistic image in which the whole of the world will aspire towards. Thus why I have chosen to delve into possible arguments for and against the way in which the media can influence us.

There is a plethora of evidence to support the unrealistic idea that many young girls are not happy in their own skin. For example, magazines have been proven to perpetuate problems with body image and eating disturbances. Articles in ‘Women’s Health’ such as ‘’28 flat belly tricks’’ or ‘’Shed 2 sizes!’’ are suffocating today’s adolescents. Despite the ironic title that comes free with this magazine, there are in fact an abundance of ‘health’ risks that go alongside getting what is branded as the ‘perfect figure’. Size zero models are prime examples of a significant fraction of the population to have eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa or Bulimia.

Preventing food and nutrients from entering your body is a problem however; throwing up the food you have eaten is another. Even celebrities in the public eye such as Lindsay Lohan have suffered from eating disorders due to the pressure that comes with their jobs and desired image. She stated to Vanity Fair magazine ‘I was sick and I was scared too’ as she opened up for the first time about her Bulimia. The shocking truth is that young women loath these slim, underweight celebrities who cover the front pages of their magazines and fill their TV screens with their tiny frames and it is becoming an ever increasing problem

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