Teens Need Positive Body Images Essay - 1739 Words

When walking down a junior high, high school, or college hallway, it’s not an uncommon occurrence to hear a young woman say something bad about either her body or another girl’s body. Negative comments instill a deeper impact than merely hurting a child’s feelings. They lead toward lowered self-esteem, increased dieting or eating disorders. Young girls require illumination at an early age into positive body images, avoiding those repercussions and the extremity of committing suicide such as demonstrated in â€Å"Barbie Doll† by Marge Piercy from 1973. No matter the passing time or the era the world is in, young women maintain affected by negative body image. This needs to be cut off at an early age before it has a chance to†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"The only rule is that batting (padding) must be added to save the starving Barbie, so she can digest food and use her brain† (Deeds, 28). These workshops assist young women in developing a lov e for their own body. If taught to look at themselves and accept their bodies early on, the more confidence they will exude when they begin junior high school. Once they enter junior high, if not before, puberty begins. It causes many body changes in young teen girls. Sure, every girl goes through puberty but the weight goes up and down, breasts spring up, and the emotions have a tendency to go crazy. Girls get lost within themselves as they try to be someone they are not. If the young teens had been taught positive body image earlier in life, this wouldn’t even be an issue at this point. But by this time, many girls haven’t learned to accept their bodies. So, anything their peers say will affect them not just emotionally, but physically. In Piercy’s poem she states, â€Å"Then the magic of puberty, a classmate said:/You have a great big nose and fat legs† (643). After hearing this, devastations occurs for many young teens. This resounds in their head li ke a broken record. Once a girl hears negative comments towards her body, that is the one thing that stands out to her. Dieting would commence to abandon the fat legs, which leads to a possible obsession; even developing into an eating disorder. The internet helps teens with weird eating habits.Show MoreRelatedPositive Adult Role Models1038 Words   |  4 PagesPositive Adult Role Models Imagine living in a world where teens are doing drugs, pressuring their peers, and trying to be just like the models in magazines. Unfortunately, that’s the world we live in today. What do these teens need? They need positive adult role models. It is important for a teen to be influenced by positive adult role models while growing up; because if they don’t have positive adult role models, teens can be influenced by negative media, negative peer pressure, and teen drugRead MoreThe Pressures of Teenage Life 898 Words   |  4 PagesTeenagers constantly worry about their body image. 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