Teenagers have a long-standing problem with body image in which the media has a hand

A New Zealand study found that Young girls are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of nuclear war, cancer or losing their parents. But why is this? It's the media!! You look at the Barbie dolls and i bet you don't know that If Barbie was life-sized her waist would be 18 inches and she wouldn't menstruate. And that Twenty years ago the average fashion model weighed 8% less than the average American woman. Today she weighs 23% less. Have a look around.

I want to take a moment to apologize for the somewhat late response. This subject is a little tricky because there is no real solid evidence that proves or disproves media influence. Statistics are still very cryptic and are performed on such a small population of people that it's hard to get an accurate picture. Along with that, this would be my first debate on this site and in quite a while, so please excuse me if I trail off.

Its easy to lay the blame on the media as the media such a large entity that, collectively, cannot defend itself. In a way I can agree that the media has the ability to influence people; however, the media is based on popular interest which means that in order to keep going it's direction, we have to contribute. Our interests in thinner models probably started with Twiggy and it was NOT the intentions of the photographer or agency at that time to popularize smaller bodies. The teenagers at the time chased the idea because they thought it was beautiful or different. Since then, smaller bodies have more popular in the modeling industry and in advertisements because they believe it is what people want to see.

Would you want to watch a plain, overweight soccer mom advertising Burberry perfume? I'm not shooting down the idea nor am I insulting plain, overweight soccer moms, but ideally most people would rather see someone thinner and attractive because, well, we as a society have accepted the idea that attractive people have the 'upper hand'.

My second point is that often parents will use the media as a scapegoat to rest the blame of their children's' inadequacy problems on. The media serves as a distraction from the way in which children are growing up at home. These days, it is common knowledge that the models are airbrushed and edited. Teenage girls still choose to compare themselves to these false icons of perfection, knowing that they are altered. Why is this?

Eating disorders are popularly seen as results of the media and starving celebrities when, in fact, they miss the point entirely. Most eating disorders are caused by severe stress, trauma, inadequacy issues, rape, neglect, etc. The women's negative perception of her body is far more profound than a simple entity. As a society, we put so much pressure on women to be successful and to be good mothers, it's really no wonder that teenage girls are more inclined to want to 'perfect' themselves.

Body issues in teenage girls, or in women in general, are not just a problem with the media, but within society and psychology.