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Intro Voiceover: All around us, there are media influences telling us what to wear, what to look like, and who to be. Visual media is based on an unrealistic image of what society considers to be “perfect.” The most common image is long blonde hair, blue eyes, and a thin figure. These visuals cause people of all ages, especially teenage girls, to feel like they’re not good enough and that they’ll never fit into the society ideal. More than 90% of girls ages 15-17 want to change at least one aspect of their physical appearance, with body weight ranking the highest. 7 in 10 girls believe they are not good enough, especially in the way they look. We interviewed psychologist Mandy Mader about the true effects of media in our society. Interview: Well, I think like anything it can be positive and negative. You know, in music videos, on TV, in magazines, everywhere you look, on the internet, and there’s such emphasis on appearance. You know in reality, the average American woman is a size 14, not a size 2, and you know beautiful bodies come in all shapes and sizes. Voiceover: American society has a skewed view of what is considered beautiful. One example is the popular Barbie doll, an iconic image of the American ideal. As this image shows, if Barbie were a real person, she would have impossible proportions. Her neck’s abnormal length and width would make Barbie incapable of lifting her head. Her waist would be 16 inches, which is smaller than her head, allowing room for only half a liver and a few inches of intestine. She would be incapable of lifting anything with only 3.5 inch wrists. And lastly, Barbie would have to walk on all fours, with 6 inch ankles and children’s size 3 feet. Despite all of this, there are still millions of teenage girls striving to achieve this unrealistic goal. Voiceover: We asked our classmates what they perceived to be the perfect image portrayed by the media and how they felt about it. Classmates: The “perfect” image on social media would be… Skinny, tall… Blonde hair, blue eyes… Perfectly wavy, or perfectly straight hair… Nice skin… Someone white… Slim and really healthy… Wears makeup… Caucasian… Flat stomach… Smooth hair… Long, skinny legs… Thigh gap… Acne free… And then you’re just like, “Oh… well…” So, a lot of girls, they just want to look like that person. And it just makes you feel less than them, and it makes you feel like, “Oh wow, I have, like, flab, and I’m not like that, so I’m not pretty.” People would look at it and be like, “Oh, I wanna be just like her, I wanna be just as skinny as her.” Many girls… they try to look like Barbie dolls, and just like these extremely fake people so they can be popular. Voiceover: According to the National Eating Disorders Association, or the NEDA, “American children engage in increasing amounts of media use, a trend fueled largely by the growing availability of internet access through phones and laptops.” Classmates: Definitely a lot of teenagers have social media. We use social media so much in our lives. Like, everyone probably spends like a good two or three hours on social media every day. There’s hardly any teens that don’t have some form of communicating with their friends online. Interview: body image, is a huge problem also in terms of adolescent mental health. It can contribute to anxiety, and depression, and eating disorders. And, you know, especially eating disorders are not uncommon, and I think that kids seeing that ideal is not helpful. There are many reasons that a person will have an eating disorder, but one of the images are the cultural messages that are, impossible to... reach. Classmates: Because everyone is always concerned about their popularity. The more followers you have, the more popular you are. It affects not only your physical health, but your mental health. They’re skinny, and you think you’re not. Like, maybe you are, but you see them and wanna achieve that level of perfection. So you just maybe don’t eat or something, and that turns into anorexia and bulimia. And then you just wanna be, like, prettier like them. That can affect people’s eating habits because they would try to get… they would try to become skinnier. It really just influences what they do and what they think and how they view themselves. So you’re kind of, like, learning you know how to like manipulate sort of people’s ideas of you. And I think, sometimes, it’s a bit selective, and you kind of try to do things so that people, you know, like you or on social media like your posts. A lot of teens, it’s mostly girls, but they feel like the only way that they can be popular and that people will like them is if they look like that perfect woman. They feel like if they don’t look like that person, then nobody will like them. You’re always looking at yourself and comparing yourself to that perfect image. And you’re never gonna be just okay with yourself; you’re always gonna be, um, undermining yourself and comparing yourself in a negative way. Interview: You know, especially in middle school but still in somewhat high school, but in middle school there's a lot of pressure to dress a certain way and judgments are made about kids. You know, I think I was looking at Vanity Fair and, you know, it was very skinny, very scantily clad models -- male and female. It didn’t make me want to run out and buy the product but, you know, advertisers keep doing that. The women you see on the magazine covers, it’s an impossible ideal to reach. I mean they literally can stretch out the necks, stretch out the thighs, as well as, you know, the airbrushing and the lighting and the makeup. So it's an impossible ideal, but it's held up as, you know, something to emulate. As well as sometimes the lack of women and kids of different cultures. We’ve gotten a little better at that, but you'll still see mostly blondes on the magazine covers. And, you know, I think it does a lot of harm to kids when they feel like, “Oh, I’m not that cultural ideal,” when in fact it's an impossible ideal. You know I think this is a very important discussion to have about media, and journalism, and popular culture, because it is changing so rapidly and our, particularly our kids are very sensitive and vulnerable, and we need to really be aware and on top of how that's affecting them, for you know, the positive and the negative ways. You know, it’s all over, and we just need to admit it and work it through and and try to see each person for the human being and individual that they are. It would be great if we just more accepted people for who they are, and not how they look and what they wear, and that sort of thing. Classmates: Media makes me feel… Annoyed. Inferior. Entertained. Confused. Inferior. Overwhelmed.