iMedia: The Pressure on Girls

I just got my favorite magazines for November 2008 in the mail; Seventeen and Cosmogirl! I'm not going to lie, I love reading them. They're full of advice for high school girls, on everything from hair and boys to family. However, lately, I have been wondering if these magazines (and the media) are putting too much of an emphasis on how to make our bodies/appearances look "sexy" and less of an emphasis on who we are as people. Yes, these magazines do have articles about the upcoming election, family problems, how to manage stress from your life, and other topics girls worry about. But, if you look at the picture of the cover of the Cosmogirl! above, you'll see three large headlines on the left-hand side: 50 Ways to Get Sexy Hair!, 10 Secrets to Perfect Skin, & 5 Moves to a Hotter Body. On the right hand side, we see headlines for articles about boy advice and the star of this month's issue, Blake Lively. Now I'm not saying that these articles are bad, because I know that I personally love to read them. It just strikes me personally because I have been thinking about the pressure on girls lately to have that perfect physical appearance. In the media, everything has to be "hot" or "sexy". Sure, we all like to look good (who doesn't?), but has the media taken the image of a girl beyond realistic expectations? I know that I used to think that real girls actually looked like the girls on the cover of magazines. It made me feel pressured to look like them; skinny, pretty, and always happy. Now I know that they spend hours in the photo shoot, taking many pictures just to find that "look". They have make-up artists and are air-brushed. However, even though many girls know these things, many of us still feel pressured to have that look.
Everyone knows that anorexia affects many teens. Girls of all ages are starving themselves (or binging) in order to look skinny or to fit into that perfect dress for the dance. I'm not saying there's nothing wrong with trying to get inshape before the dance or trying to lose weight. As long as it's done healthily. Is the media really promoting weight loss healthily?
Let's be honest here. No one can achieve that perfect look without make-up artists and hair stylists working on them. But what does it matter? Shouldn't girls be embraced for who they are outside AND inside? I know that sounds cliche, but if you think about it, it's true. No one will ever think they look perfect. Everyone has that one part of their body they don't like. So why spend so much time (and sometimes money) on trying to look perfect. Get ready for your night out and look pretty. But after that, don't worry about it. Chances are, people will remember more about your attitude that night and if you had fun rather than what you looked like.
I used to be really affected by these types of magazine covers. I would try to look perfect. It didn't happen. It doesn't happen for anybody. As the media reaches younger and younger age groups of girls, I just hope the girls are strong enough to resist the hundreds of pictures the media pushes on us and see what I've learned: any girl can be beautiful and you don't need to be perfect. You just need to be yourself.