Answer:
Explanation:
Looks don’t matter; beauty is only skin-deep. We hear these sayings every day, and yet we live in a society that seems to contradict this very idea. If looks don’t matter, why does the media use airbrushing to hide any flaws a person has? If looks don’t matter, why are so many young women harming themselves because they’re unhappy with the way they look? It’s because our society promotes a certain body image as being beautiful, and it’s a far cry from the average woman’s size 12. The unrealistic standard of beauty that women are bombarded with everyday gives them a goal that is impossible to reach, and the effects are devastating. These impossible standards need to be stopped, and society instead needs to promote a healthy body image along with the idea that women of all shapes and sizes are beautiful—not just women who are a size 2.
The media’s use of airbrushing is one of the major causes of these impossible standards of beauty. Leah Hardy, a former Cosmopolitan editor, admitted that this is true—many of the stick-thin models in Cosmo were actually struggling with eating disorders, but were airbrushed to look less unwell (Crisell). In an interview with the Daily Mail, Hardy stated, [the models had 22-inch waists, but they also had breasts and great skin. They had teeny tiny ankles and thin thighs, but they still had luscious hair and full cheeks. Thanks to retouching, our readers never saw the horrible, hungry downside of skinny. The models’ skeletal bodies, dull, thinning hair, spots and dark circles under their eyes were magicked away by technology… A vision of perfection that simply didn’t exist. (qtd. by Crisell) By airbrushing these models, the media gives young girls the idea that this body image is attainable—and by trying to look like these models, these girls become just as unhealthy.
