Pictures Do Lie!!!!

In my last posting, I talked about how media has an effect on young girls and women’s self esteem. People agreed with my argument towards the media that’s “Pictures Do Lie”. And some stated that the media wasn’t the cause for low self esteem. Yes, there are beautiful people in the world, but the media has defined what beauty is. The media has brain washed into thinking that there are standards for someone to be considered beautiful. They include being young, tall, thin, straight hair, flawless skin, light eyes, and pearly white teeth. Having low self esteem is the effect of the media putting these false pictures on display ,but having low self esteem has its effects also. When people are exposed to perfect bodies they tend to criticize their own bodies by pointing out what different from theirs. People who don’t like a specific part of their body wants to change it any means necessary. That’s why this blog is about how media and their false pictures have an effect on people wanting plastic surgery.


So when young girl self esteem’s are effected by the exposure to false media they try to find ways to become like their favorite celebrities or who they saw in the media. If the girl or woman is able to afford it ,then plastic surgery could become a big option.? American Academy of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) members performed 8.3 million surgical and non-surgical procedures. This amount is 300% more then the number of procedures in 1997. Plastic surgery has become a big part of media with shows like Nip Tuck and The Swan showing individual going through their plastic surgery procedures. It portrays everyone as happy after the change and how it made them a better person ,but what happened to being happy with the body GOD gave you. Magazines have articles on who has gotten the latest plastic surgery procedures and how much prettier they are afterwards. What is this telling everyday women and young girls


On a episode of Dr. 90210, a women coming in to get her consultation for get procedure showed him pictures out of an magazine where she copied a pasted different celebrity body part to make her perfect body. Gabby Atkinson stated in her article The ‘Face’ of Perfection that “…as this image has gradually become based on perfection and superficiality, the lives of our generation have become wasted from anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa (both emotional disorders rising along with the image) and plastic surgery fads.” Most people don’t know that most images are digitally corrected and they begin to make goals towards their new bodies based on these images. “A study conducted in 1996 found that the amount of time a child watches soaps, movies, and music videos actually effects their perception of their body and their desire to be thin.” (Atkinson) Plastic surgeons depend on the media to get the importance of plastic surgery out there.




False images of the women bodies causes more girls to put pressure on their body and more pressure to be a life size Barbie doll and this causes extra pressure to get plastic surgery. Why should plastic surgery be an option for happiness. Happiness comes from within, not from changing your outer appearance.

Pictures Do Lie!!!!!!!!

When people want to know “what’s in” the first place they go is where? When people want to see what all the celebrities are wearing now where do they look? When people are searching for validation on how they look where is the first place they look? I’m pretty sure that the answers to these questions are magazines! Magazines are every where. The grocery store, the airport, walking down the street on news stands, and even in school. Magazines are where we get most of our information from pertaining to celebrities and “what‘s in”? Celebrities are our validation for a lot of things we do. Some people dress like their favorite celebrities and do their hair like someone famous they see everyday on television but, how far should people allow ourselves to go in hopes of looking their favorite celebrity? Everyone has noticed that actresses and models are becoming taller woman they give you steps on how you can get become her. Magazines like Stars have titles such as WORST BIKINI BODY, then next month “How I Lost 10 pounds”. Magazines have ads and photo shoots of celebrities and models who are very thin and tall with clear skin and perfect bodies ,but is that the truth? Most photos we see are not the actual pictures of our favorite celebrities but, airbrushed photographs to show them with a “perfect body”.

In the photo above we see Kim Kardashian’s picture had been airbrushed to make her look thinner, more shapely, and lighter. Technology in this time makes the models in the pictures look thinner, taller, unblemished, with brighter eyes and whiter teeth. Some airbrushed pictures defies how a human body is naturally constructed.
What is this saying to women and young girls? When we look in magazines we see the picture on the right. The way the fashion industry says your body should look but, that is sending the wrong message. “Heartless retouching, should not be the chosen tool to represent women in the beginning of this century.” Mr. Lindbergh one of the top image makers told the New York Times.

Women and young girls strive to gain these unattainable bodies. They are taking major risk with their health and when that image is not achieve then they can start to take other alternatives. Research have shown that by being exposed to false, airbrushed pictures of young celebrities can be linked to depression, low self-esteem, and development of an eating disorder. One in every one hundred teenage girls may develop an Eating Disorder. Women and young girls are comparing themselves to women in the media and women around. Is media to blame for low self esteem? Or is it a deeper problem? “To wish you were someone else is to waste the person you are.”- Unknown