There has always been a typical image for how a woman, men, and even children appearance has to be. From how they dress to how their weight is supposed to be. People can usually find this in magazines, internet, and television. Appearance can be stressful to keep up with and even depressing. There are some blunt people out in the world that can make someone feel bad by judging their appearance and even how they speak. Some of the negative effects of perfect appearance are getting bullied, bulimic, and possible suicide.
Children can be extremely mean especially to their fellow classmates. They have no idea that what they are saying to their peers can really hurt them. It can hurt them physically as well as emotionally. A perfect example for this is actually a celebrity named Demi Lovato. . In the article Demi Lovato Interview: Teen Star Opens Up on Bulimia, Cutting Issues, tells the audience “I’ve spoken openly about being bullied throughout the past few years, but one thing that I’ve never been able to feel comfortable talking about was the effects that it had on my life, afterwards,” she said. “I literally didn’t know why they were being so mean to me. And when I would ask them why, they would just say, ‘Well, you’re fat.”(Johnston). She was just an innocent child and was just unfairly treated and a lot of kids go through the same situation. There are many innocent children getting bullied because of their weight when they are sweet children. Demi Lovato is a perfect role model for a lot of people out there because she understands what they are going through and helps them out.
When someone gets told their fat, it can really hurt them. Body image then begins to form a big part of their lives. According to J. Kevin Thompson “Body-image disturbance, generally consisting of a subjective unhappiness with some aspect of one’s appearance, is also extremely prevalent and may be associated with psychological distress (e.g., depression) and functional impairment (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & TantleffDunn, 1999).”(Thompson181). The person whom is affected by the body image disturbance will be unhappy until she changes her body image. This can be a problem that can stay with the person affected for the rest of her life. Depression is one big outcome of self image and is difficult sickness to go through and a long process to overcome. Family is needed when going through depression to keep motivation going.
Girls tend to care more about their weight than men. Seeing skinny women getting attention may change the way an individual women looks at themselves. Some girls get so obsessed with their weight that in some situations can become an issue. Bulimia is a horrible eating disorder that is made through time. It is the guilt of eating which makes the person want to throw up the food right away because of the fear of gaining weight. This eating disorder can happen to anyone and as I mentioned the Disney channel star Demi Lovato has struggled with this issue from an early age. Janice Johnston stated on her news report that “Her family helped her find professional help for her food issues. But there was a secret battle she fought alone, something she desperately hid from everyone: At age 11, Lovato began cutting herself — intentionally self-mutilating her wrists as a way of coping with emotions.”(Johnston). Seeing people on television that are skinny and attract all the guys makes someone overweight feel unattractive and bad about themselves. Demi Lovato struggled with this issue and turned to bulimia. When dealing with this illness you are not on your own. People will notice, especially your family. Setting a certain image for people isn’t always a good thing because as Demi expressed it comes with other consequences.
The most dangerous effect of body weight issues is suicide. Suicide does come to peoples mind when they are fed up with their body image and can’t stand the pressure of wanting to be thin. There was actually a survey expressed on Body Image Issues and Teen Suicide article that stated “About 19 percent said they had considered suicide in the previous year and about 9 percent said they had attempted it.”(Press). Body image isn’t always about being overweight but also being under weight. The thought about having to hate yourself so much that you’re willing to end your life is a scary thing. To think that students from grade ninth through twelve actually said they thought about suicide or even attempted is unacceptable. I feel like television shouldn’t always show skinny girls because appearance doesn’t even matter its how you present yourself as a person. The significance of beauty is different to everyone but there are a lot of rude people out in the world that don’t think the same as a lot of people.
Media has a certain image for men and women. The Medias image of men is that they have to be buff and attractive. For women, they have to have a thin figure and stay young. Same goes for children. Everyone gets affected by these stereotypes and can be severely hurt by rude comments as well as illnesses. Bullying can hurt students especially if the children are with their classmates till they graduate high school. Bulimia is not an easy illness to come across because it is a long process to get your health back to normal. Suicide can be the worst of all because no one wants to lose their loved ones to pointless comments. People take in comments differently but the effects of them are all the same. Some people lead to one or the other but all come across one of these. They forever will carry these memories with them. Just because people can get help doesn’t mean they can forget about the mental abuse they have faced. Media should change the way they express actresses or idols.
Work Cited
Associated Press. “Body Image Issues and Teen Suicide.” CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 11 Feb. 2010. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-204_162-699998.html>.
Hoffman, Tiffany. “How Many Women Watch TV?” Answerbag. Answerbag Staff, 22 Apr. 2010. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/2026697>.
JOHNSTON, JANICE. “Demi Lovato Interview: Teen Star Opens Up on Bulimia, Cutting Issues.” ABC News. ABC News Network, 19 Apr. 2011. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/demi-lovato-interview-teen-star-opens-bulimia-cutting/story?id=13405090>.
J. Kevin Thompson and Eric Stice
Current Directions in Psychological Science , Vol. 10, No. 5 (Oct., 2001), pp. 181-183
helloimugly 