Magazines should ban anorexic models

If magazines had fat girls, would girls eat themselves fat? If magazines had girls that pierced their noses, nipples, eyebrows, lips, cheeks, and ears, would girls do that? If magazines had girls wearing t-shirts with fake chinese letters on them and bandanas that make them look like the cleaning lady, would girls wear those? If magazines had girls that told them that teenagers should focus on fashion, sex, and partying, would girls think that?Yes, yes, yes and yes.

Yeah. And fashion magazines should also write more intellectual articles about important social issues and scrap the fluff pieces about which heiress is redecorating which Italian castle. People should obey speed limits and recycle. I should clean my bathroom.

Sassy magazine, supposed bastion of female self esteem, couldn't pull it off. I sincerely doubt that any of the more traditional magazines will, either. But it's a nice sentiment.

Thought: next to each magazine photo of a skinny model should be the following statistics: model's weight, amount of money spent on cosmetic enhancements, last time they ate, amount of time airbrushing bones out of the photo. Then let's see if teens still want to be skinny.

Well, one time I read an article that glorified hackers who sit in front of a computer for days on end without sleep, or proper nourishment pounding out revolutionary software. This image affected me so deeply that I sat at my computer, programming for two and a half days straight. I had to stop because I was getting intense headaches, really bad heartburn from all the caffeine, chest pains and blurred vision. It took me two weeks to recover from the incident. This is obviously a serious event and I am most likely not the only one to have experienced it. I think we should seriously consider banning further articles showcasing such extreme hackers as there is a high chance other youngsters will fall in the same trap.

Back in school I knew this girl named Kaile. The type of youngster beaming with potential. Smart, fun, creative. Kaile had this dream of becoming a movie star, only problem was she couldn't act to save her life. She just couldn't find a way to project her emotions. On top of that, she stuttered. She had given up on her dream, until one day she read an interview with one of her favorite actress. The famous actress was saying that she had to give up everything, school, friends, family, to follow her dream. After reading the article Kaile decided to follow her hero's example. She dropped out and moved to Hollywood, naysayers be damned. Her outraged parents refused to support such foolishness. Kaile tried out for many parts, but was turned down every time, and every time she would remember that magazine article and renew her vigor. The trail of her existence faded quickly. She was never heard from again. This was a girl who had great potential, but threw it all away because of some silly article in a magazine. We should also consider removing any articles that might give youngsters a false sense of hope. The risk is simply too great.

I don't believe magazines should ban anorexic models. I they aren't the ones at fault. Partly it is the fault of women. We are silly enough to fall for a 3 billion dollar mass-advertising ploy. 3 billion dollars a year is spent on cosmetic and fashion advertisments. That doesn't include layouts, or fashion shows. As long as we buy into what they preach, they will continue to do as they are.

I personally read women's magazines. I look at their airbrushed bodies, and I wish that I looked like that. That is my weakness. We have no right to ban overly skinny models because of that. We should be spending this time promoting health, and a healthy body with a mind to go with it. If society changed what they viewed as desirable, magazines, and companies would change with that. They sell what profits, and right now thin is in.

A series of chemical imbalances, dysfunctional family life, perfectionistic tendencies, unrealistic goals and expectations, low self-esteem and the need to control something in one's life leads to anorexia. Not looking at pictures of thin people in magazines.

If seeing thin people in the media causes eating disorders, why doesn't every man and women in America have one? Why is fast food so successful? Everyday, everyone sees unrealistic and extremely airbrushed advertisements portraying models of questionable health. But not everyone has an eating disorder. Obviously they are not caused by seeing these pictures.

Does seeing a picture of fat people make you want to be fat? Not really. Does seeing a picture of skinny girls make you want to starve yourself? Not particularly. The media cannot be blamed for an individual's personal decisions.