Revised Rough Draft Formal Paper#2

North Salinas High

55 Kip st Salinas, CA 93906                                                 

Samantha Lopez

            Dear Samantha,

            I am writing this letter to you to hopefully help you through the pressure that the majority of young women go through, when confronted with healthy weight verses what you see on TV. In middle schools, high schools, and in every neighborhood around the country there are young teens, as well as young adult women, that have one or two things that they would change about their bodies. I have also watched my two sisters’; including me, struggle with losing weight or being up to society’s standards of “thin and attractive”. I remember in high school the girls who were thin were out going and succeeded in school as well as in popularity. The reason that I am writing you this letter Sam is to hopefully help broaden your perspective on what are unrealistic expectations that we as women set. In every neighborhood around the country young girls such as yourself are looking in the mirror and comparing themselves with what they see in music videos, TV shows, their favorite singers, and in the movies that they watch. How can we compete with airbrushing, almost downright starvation, in extreme cases, and holding ourselves up to standards that are almost impossible to achieve without developing grave consequences. Young teens and their negative body images in America is a big issue that we as a community have to take a stand against.                                

            The media has increasingly exacerbated the negative consequences associated with body imaging. According to Emma Halliwell, expert in applied social psychology “exposure to ultra-thin media models leads to increased body image concerns amongst women”(410).  Think about message you are receiving every time you turn on your TV. It is a form mental pollution. This epidemic is reaching families all around the world. A study was conducted in which women were exposed to “ultra-thin” models. The negative impact on how they viewed their bodies astounding. Then the researchers exposed the same women to a different set of images displaying models who were averaged size yet attractive and healthy. The women reacted to the healthy sized models with “lower levels of body focused anxiety”. When you watch television, whether you are aware of it or not, women internalize the underweight models used in advertisement and this creates an uncontrolled stress. We can change this for all women around the country by not supporting the use of underweight models.        

            You are not alone. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, commonly known as ANDA “95% of those who have eating disorders are between the ages 12 to 25”. What I find more nerve racking is also stated by the ANDA “69% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported that magazine pictures influenced their idea of a perfect body shape,[and] the body type portrayed in advertising as the ideal is possessed naturally by only 5% of American females”. As a young woman, I know the hardships of maintaining the appearance of being thin by society’s standards. When I look at the facts there is no possible way that I or the other 95% of women can possible achieve the body shape of models portrayed on TV. Every day when we watch our favorite TV shows and commercials we are being fed, nonstop, images of mental goals that we set for ourselves that are unrealistic and unattainable.

            The pressure to emulate the ectomorphic physique seen in a small fraction of women who starve, train, and audition themselves for TV and magazines is causing women to develop eating disorders. This issue is not being solved for the betterment of young people around the country. . How can we give our full attention to academics when we are trying to count calories, skip meals, take stimulant diet pills, or go on the newest fad of starvation?  The reality is that we should exercise, eat healthy food and tell ourselves positive things. Our bodies were made the way that god intended them to be. If we want to feel good and look good it has to start from the inside out.