By: Jennifer Hawk
COM 150
If a person went to the mall a person might notice the changes from even 30, 20, or even 10 years ago. They may see different types of electronics and different types of clothing than what it used to be. The change that I am talking about is the appearance of adolescent girls and how different things have gotten from years back to now. Pop culture has a negative effect on American adolescent women relating to their physical appearance, educational goals and view on relationships with men. It seems that most of the negative effects of pop culture are on young girls. When they watch celebrities on TV and see them in magazines, it makes most of them feel like they have to be just like them. Most of the celebrities are usually a size 0. Girls feel that they have to imitate the size of celebrities. When a magazine article comes out with a headline that “So and so has an Eating Disorder,” it makes some girls feel that it is not unhealthy to do the same thing. They think that if they just do it just the one time that it will not hurt them, and throwing up their food will make skinny and beautiful. Such results are disturbing, say observers, since eating disorders seem to strike younger today. “A decade ago, new eating disorder patients at Children's National Medical Center tended to be around age 15,” says Adelaide Robb, director of inpatient psychiatry. “Today kids come in as young as 5 or 6.” Washington Post’s February 20, 2007 (para 26) School is a very difficult time for anyone, and no one wants to be the person that is made to feel second best to everyone else. Most of the time it is a heavier person or someone that people think is not very pretty. That’s why girls think that if they do the same thing that celebrities do then they will not be made fun of and not fit in. Popularity is a big role too; girls want to be popular so that everyone likes them.