Why is it that so many women don"t feel like they measure up when it comes to their looks? Women are being manipulated, by the media, into feeling insecure and unhappy with themselves. It has fabricated a standard of femininity that is impossible for an exuberant amount of women to attain. In reaction to this pressure, women are reacting with obsessive behavior in their attempts to measure up by controlling their eating habits in an unhealthy way. .
Energy that could be used to acquire positive goals is focused into feeling guilty and unhappy with one's physical imperfections. We are bombarded today with images of the "perfect" women. The media is sending the message that if you don"t look like these women you only have yourself to blame for it. It's an issue of willpower and if you don"t look perfect then that is something that you lack. "Studies have shown that while almost 25 years ago, the average model weighed 8% less than the average American women, today's model weighs 23% below the national average" (http://zine.dal.net/editorial-life-thin.php). This displays how the media tries to convince the standard women that they should try and imitate these "ideal" women. In the article "One Picture Is Worth a Thousand Diets" it states that "The Women of the media are not only overwhelmingly small but also smiling, self-satisfied, exciting, dynamic, romantically involved, and generally having a splendid time. This is sheer marketing fantasy-and yet, as a society, we buy it, we eat it up, we swallow it whole and ask for more." This is a prime example of how the media affects women in such a negative way. It displays the fact that women are supposed to look a certain way in order to be desirable, happy, and successful. "Going thin is no longer a social disease, but the perceived requirement for getting a job, nice clothes, and fancy cars"(Goodman 402). Women, in society today, are being provided with the message that if they work hard enough at dieting and exercising, anything can be accomplished.