Presssure to look perfect drives girls to destructive behavior

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I found this article and thought it went perfectly with our readings this week. This article focuses on the effects that perceptions about what true beauty really is is warped by what the media sends out. Here is a brief excerpt from the article: "Girls are increasingly looking to celebrities as their role models because they are widely celebrated in media and society," commented Ann Kearney-Cooke, Ph.D., licensed psychologist and distinguished scholar for the Partnership for Women's Health at Columbia University. "Girls take away the message that these images represent a societal norm, and as a result punish themselves for not living up to impossible beauty ideals. The cycle continues to intensify as these perceived flawless images further inundate their world in overwhelming quantities." It is frightening to realize the lengths people will go to whether it is physically or psychologically damaging, society as a whole still admires these standards by the sheer fact that there hasn't been much positive change in media perspectives.
Katherine Hall

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