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Hillmen Messenger

The School Newspaper of Placer High School

Hillmen Messenger

The School Newspaper of Placer High School

Hillmen Messenger

Healthy Vs. Skinny

60% of American high school girls are on diets, and 50% of all girls between the ages of 13 and 15 believe that they are overweight.

The media is responsible for these statistics as well as how we define a healthy teenager. Television, magazines and movies are sending the wrong message to young girls on how they should look. The media puts pressure on young people to look a certain way and proposes the “image” that young girls need to match up with.

“Media affects girls’ morals and it affects the way they view themselves and view the world in general,” said senior Angela Archer.

Girls look at the media and the ultra thin girls are represented in advertising and the modeling industry and believe that that is the image they must match to be beautiful.

“The media makes models and actresses seem like they have perfect bodies and that this is how all girls should look. It gives off a bad perception to girls that look up to models and actresses,” stated senior Kristin Close.

“I think the media has way too much influence. I think girls want to emulate what they see instead of learning the facts about what’s best for them,” explained Health and PE teacher, and Dance Team Advisor, Marcia McKenzie.

Young girls look at the general size of runway models, which is typically a two dress size and sometimes even a size zero.

More and more young girls are beginning to believe that this is the size they need to be in order to be beautiful. They do not look at what weight is best for their body. Everyone’s body is different and models’ bodies are becoming more and more unrealistic. The average dress size for girls is typically a six.  

“I think a girl can be both healthy and skinny. It’s all about finding a good balance that is best for you,” said McKenzie.

Models live up to their stereotype of being too skinny and they are sending an un-intentional, negative message to young girls. Beautiful describes what is on the inside of a person and not what their dress size may be.

“For my senior project, I took an anonymous survey on what dress size girls are and what size they would like to be. The majority of them said they were a size four or six and they want to be a size two when idealistically, it’s okay to be a four or six or any size,” stated senior Close. 

 The universal description of beauty and who is described as beautiful has completely transformed, especially from the period of the 1850s.

In the 1850s, having curves or being “full-figured” represented wealth. The queens, kings and members of the royal family were typically more full-figured than the average citizen. They had feasts and had specialty foods set aside for them personally. Full-figured women typically had a high place in society.

People who did not have a sufficient amount of money, were typically thinner. Weight became a way to tell if the person was wealthy and well-off or poor and unfortunate. This past reality has completely transformed. People have come to believe that skinny signifies beauty and full-figures signify poverty and unattractiveness.

“I have started to notice that young girls, even little kids, are starting to worry about their body type when they shouldn’t. It shouldn’t be something that limits you as a person,” explained senior Alyssa Morford.

Pressure to be a certain size and look a certain way can be derived from runway models and their standards. Models do not take into account however, how they appear to guys.

 Girls should be more focused on getting in shape and being healthy as opposed to meeting a certain size or a certain requirement,” said Senior Steven Cox. 

Even though guys prefer healthy girls, girls still strive for the perfect body image and copy the body image of a runway model.

“The runway models are crazy skinny and on this season of America’s Next Top Model. There was a girl whose ribs were showing in a picture. They eliminated her because of that, but it shows how girls feel they need to be that skinny to be a model or to be beautiful,” stated senior Coleen Hill.

Designers make their clothes to match these sizes and expect models to meet these sizes in order to fit their designs. Of course models do meet these requirements but there is always a debate of whether or not they met them through exercise and healthy eating or not. Models have a stereotype of having eating disorders.

There are some models that are proven to have eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that all models suffer from these disorders. The modeling industry has recently started to branch off of their stereotype of “only size two” girls.

“The modeling industry makes girls feel that the outward appearance is the only thing they should be striving for,” said senior Cox

Companies such as Victoria’s Secret have accepted models of various weights. Full-figured models are more attractive in the lingerie that Victoria’s Secret designs. Hence, the modeling industry accepts fuller-figured models to increase sex appeal but they are not commonly found on a runway alongside size zero models.

These size zero models are now recently working and walking alongside girls of diverse weights, after the several deaths of skinny models from eating disorders. These models felt pressure to stay thin because modeling and walking the runway is their job.

Teachers grade papers before the next day at school because that is their job. A model might starve herself or purge hours before a runway show because it is her job.

There is a difference between the healthy pressures that teachers may feel to grade papers and the negative, unhealthy pressures that models feel to fit into the skeletal wardrobe choices.

“Too skinny is when you try to be that way and you become that way by being unhealthy,” explained senior Close.

“On America’s Next Top Model, the girls did an exercise that involved their leg muscles and a few of them couldn’t complete it because they do not have strong leg muscles. This shows that most models are unhealthy because if they were healthy, they would have muscles,” said senior Holly Hopkins. 

Teenage girls have started to become more concerned with appearance rather than how healthy they are.

“Everything is materialistic now and people are beginning to not care as much about their health,” commented senior Sara Keeler. 

Girls should focus more on nutrition, exercise and getting a sufficient amount of sleep. Girls who follow healthy guidelines are more prone to have better self esteem and body image. Teenage girls should embrace the body type that best fits them and not the body type that unhealthy models choose.

Guidelines for proper nutrition include understanding what is too much and what is the sufficient amount for one’s body type. On the food pyramid, fats, oils and sweets should be consumed sparingly. The dairy, fruit and vegetable and meat and poultry groups should be consumed at a rate of 2-2-5 servings per day. The bread and pasta group should be consumed at a rate of 6-11 servings per day. This group represents the most carbohydrates in the food pyramid. With a balance of these servings, one can receive proper nutrition on an everyday basis.     

“I think more girls should become more comfortable with their own body types and what’s healthy for them and not for everyone else,” suggested senior Sara Keeler.

“I want to tell girls that they don’t have to be a size two to look good because that’s not what’s important,” exclaimed senior Close.

For her senior project, Close is hosting an assembly at Placer High School to support a campaign for Healthy vs. Skinny; she will also put on a fashion show.      

There are signs of a revolution against this false image of beauty for young women. Several years ago posters in New York of ultra thin model Kate Moss started having graffiti spray paint with the words “Feed me!”  This rebel act of defacing the posters put out there by the fashion industry might be the signal of a trend toward normal and healthy body weights.

The epidemic of anorexia and bulimia in the modeling industry makes young girls question their weight when they shouldn’t. Young girls need to understand that healthy should come first before image in every situation. More and more girls are becoming persuaded by the media that appearance comes first before health and that their body has to look a certain way. The truth, that media should be advertising, is that every girl is beautiful in her own way and healthy body types should come before the standard body type of a runway model.

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