Body Image
By Karina, age 17, Texas
As a teenager in a highly critical world, I hate that body image plays a prominent role in our society. Newspapers, magazines, television, and other propaganda show today's generation that famous and important people are underweight, get plastic surgery done, and then are praised for their actions! Our idea of the ideal body image needs to change.
On the runway, models wear beautiful clothes, but sometimes underneath those clothes are undernourished, weak, and unhealthy young girls peer pressured to be skinny. Anorexia and bulimia are extreme problems in the modeling industry. Luckily, places like Spain refuse to use models with a Body Mass Index less than 18%. However, what are people doing to help the young girls around the globe who starve themselves for appearances' sake?
Plastic surgery is becoming an addiction to American women and teenagers. A study from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery says that in 2007 about 11.5 million surgical and non-surgical procedures were preformed in the U.S. Many don't know about the risks, let alone the major expenses! These seemingly simple surgeries cost thousands of dollars. Problems range from scarring and nerve damage to disfigurement and death. In 2003, the highest calculated death rate for plastic surgery was one death out of every 500 people.
Body image should be about each individual's unique body type, size, fitness, and health. Everyone should praise and love their own body because it is the only one they get. Hopefully, we all can learn there are more important things in life than concentrating on looks.
