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Essay / Evaluating whether there is too much pressure on girls to have the perfect body
Girls today face pressure and expectations from society. They are constantly worried about the many messages and images of thin and beautiful women. With the rise of social media, the pressure to dress up, wear heavy makeup, strike a pose, and upload flawless, filtered photos to attract multiple likes is a potential source of insecurity. Our generation faces unattainable appearance pressure to be perfect. Under pressure from their parents, especially mothers, who are known to pressure their daughters to lose weight, social media depicts what beauty is through "retouched and unrealistic models", and the acceptance and approval from their peers forcing these young girls to go to extremes just in order to lose weight. It is now up to girls to look a certain way in order to feel accepted and attractive to millions of people. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay Parents can have a strong influence on the training and nurturing of their teenagers. According to Ricciardelli and McCabe state in their article "Who Thinks I Need a Perfect Body" that "mothers have consistently been found to act as social reinforcers and role models for attitudes toward body image among adolescent girls" . Thus, mothers often criticize their daughter's weight or their own, which leads to a negative impact on their daughter's body image. Even if they are careful to say positive things to their teens, mothers' attitudes toward themselves carry over to their children. These comments can make it seem like they are only worthy if their weight is within a certain range. On the other hand, the role of fathers in relation to their daughter's body dissatisfaction does not seem to have a major influence. McCabe informs us that "studies show that fathers tend to transmit positive messages." Indeed, some fathers are very influential and encourage a positive body image in their daughters, which will accompany them for a large part of their lives. Social media has had a huge influence when it comes to body image among teenage girls. We live in a world that has allowed the media to portray the ideal body. Many girls are being sucked in and many celebrities are posting edited and retouched images of themselves, giving the younger generation a false image of what their typical body looks like. Samantha Levine, deputy press secretary, said "she was moved by the stories of little girls wearing shapewear and undergoing plastic surgery to improve their appearance." Additionally, the pressure to have a perfect body hit hardest those young girls who wanted to improve their appearance by “choosing to go under the knife.” Plastic surgeon Michael Salzhauer, also known as Dr. Miami, acknowledges that social media has had "a huge influence on the increase in cosmetic surgery among young people." He thinks "they do it because they see themselves on social media from different angles alongside models like Kylie Jenner and Kim K." Many celebrities bombard teens' social media with countless selfies, especially Kim K, who is known for flaunting her voluptuous figure to the world. These girls follow her every day undergoing surgery to get that particular body, only to keep up and make themselves look like everyone else. The pressure of »./