Teenagers, body image and the media.
Teenagers shouldn’t worry about having a perfect body. Many get influence in what they see on magazines, social media and even try to follow some celebrities. I was born in 1990 and I remember the Internet started to be popular in 2000, I never worried about my body until I was 18 years old. In 2009 I passed through a stage of anorexia where I just wanted to be skinny and have the perfect body. I used to weight 165 pounds which in 2 months I dropped down to 105 pounds. I used to see in television that having a perfect body and being more attractive was the ideal thing at that moment; I would be more visible to other guys. For a moment I did because my crush from high school that I was in deathly in love asked me out because I was more skinny and attractive. [I said NO!! :)]
I was still healthy but underweight. One day at work I fainted and it was because I used to have one meal a day and just a salad and lots of water. I stayed at the hospital one week. My doctor told me that I needed to eat more. I was having headaches constantly and I felt too weak to do sports or even join the Gym.
Today many celebrities are promoting that being skinny or having a sexy body its not good enough. One popular singer Demi Lovato uploaded a picture a few days ago that “My body isn’t perfect, I’m not my fittest but this is me!!” she wrote. “And I [heart] it.”(U.S magazine). http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-body/news/demi-lovato-grabs-belly-in-bikini-pics-my-body-isnt-perfect-w203963
I don’t know what’s a perfect body according to Demi, we can clearly see that she is fit. Probably she tried to send a positive message to people that even with their belly pouch or muffin top they should love themselves but this picture and the way she said it it portraits that even though she has a fit and healthy body is not enough. She still loves her body the way it is (we can agree that she has a nice body) but its not good enough. Demi is portraying to her teenager followers that it is ok to love their body the way it is even though its not perfect but she is passing the wrong message like anorexia that teenagers should work more on their body to have a beeter image.
The majority of teenagers today are connected to social media. The dangers of social media its increasing because of the influence that they see on the internet. Parents seem okay to let teenagers to have instagram, snap chat, Facebook, tweeter etc.. and be sharing personal information. Many parents are not even concern that their children are dressing up like adults. Many teenagers are showing more skin everyday. Today I barely wear short shorts, my mother always used to tell me that its not ok to show a lot of skin and leave things to the imagination.
“As the girls visited their social-media accounts, opening their Snapchats and liking and commenting on the Instagram posts of their friends, a parade of mothers and daughters drifted past, all dressed almost identically. There were teenage girls in booty shorts and cleavage-baring tops, and mothers wearing almost exactly the same things, except with heels and bling. They carried shopping bags from Neiman Marcus, DKNY and Pink”(Nancy Jo Sales). http://discover.sjlibrary.org:50080/ebsco-w-a/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=0e11fd3e-be70-416e-849a-11bd8c539b21%40sessionmgr4004&vid=1&hid=4101
It seems that today many parents are not concern that many teenagers are exposing themselves not only in social media; in public as well. whenever I go and pick up my sister from school I always see girls wearing short shorts, showing cleavage, their hair is purple or green, and they even wear more make up than I do. Its amazing how these teenagers can appear 21 when they are only 13.
