by Nooshig Varjabedian
Everyday is a struggle for millions of people around the world. Everywhere you look, someone, somewhere, wants you to be thin, wants you to be beautiful,sexy, and smart. Someone wants you to be like a model, the ones on the magazine covers, and the ones in music videos. If you’re thin, you’re beautiful. If you’re not thin, then you’re ugly. If you have long hair, and sun-kissed skin, you’re sexy. If you have short hair and you’re pale with freckles, you’re known as just an average Joe.
The images in the media are what people think of as perfect. If you don’t look like them, then you are not even close to perfect. So many people are sick, trying to be someone they are not. So many people wake up each morning, fighting to stay alive, struggling because they are not eating, or exercising too much. The strive to be perfect is a death factor in the world. There is a difference between being healthy, and being thin, and what most people are seeking out to be is thin.
Throughout the years, our view on how people should look and act has changed drastically. At first, people were average sized, and it was okay to look that way. But today, the media is sending out a message to millions of people telling them that it is not okay to look that way anymore. Take a look at Kim Kardashian, for instance. Now, I’m not a fan of her, yet so many people find her absolutely flawless and beautiful, until now. Now, I don’t believe it’s right to be hating and making fun of a woman for weight gain, due to the fact that she is pregnant. If you were pregnant, you would gain weight, just as well. It just brings hurt and struggles into one’s life. Yet still, we have millions and millions of people in the world fighting to stay alive, all because they are trying to be someone who they are not. Millions of people die because they want to be “normal” and “beautiful”. With the images that the media presents, especially at such a young age, we are basically corrupting the minds of our youth on our own.
Growing up, no one ever mentioned anything about the media, and the images it presented. People shrugged it of, as if avoiding any problem that it might cause. And that is exactly what with is happening now. People are avoiding the problems, yet it just keeps growing and growing. We have ads that tell us to be happy with who we are, such as the “Dove: Love Your Body” Campaign. But one simple ad such as that is not going to turn society around, and help. The media is not understanding just how much of an affect it has on society, especially the youth.
Through my struggles, I’ve learned that striving to be perfect is useless. Trying to look like the models that I see, and the girls in the music videos, is not who I am. And I wish other people would recognize that. The media needs more positive messages sent out, telling people it is okay to be exactly the way you are. Otherwise, the strive to be perfect is just another death factor in the world. And no one will do anything about it.