This article was only published due to it being a requirement for a class.

The Effect of Media and Pop Culture on Society

Somehow as children were growing older and learning to think for themselves, they were taught lessons by the media. As young girls become young women, a seed is planted and set to sprout. Females are told what is acceptable for them accomplish as members of the American society. Adolescents are told to be what the media expects them to be or be excluded and ridiculed. Magazines enter children’s live at a young age. Many young girls begin to read and normally enjoy magazines. Many magazines, such as American Girl Magazine, publish articles that incline young girls to use their creativity, read, and engage in many other suitable and productive topics. But as these girls grow older, titles in bright orange or pink begin to read “Get Gorgeous: A Survey of One Thousand Teens Reveals Seventy-five Favorite Beauty Products” or “The Ultimate Beauty Guide!” Magazines aimed toward young teenage girls focus on tips to achieve what society defines as beauty. At a glance, it seems like nothing more but tips to help girls better their self image, and that’s normally the goal. But at some point girls get to a point where they feel that there is something wrong with them. They are not this ideal perfect girl they strive so hard to become and they never will be. Music videos normally have some sort of sexuality to go in hand with them. With exposure from half nude women drenched in makeup and covered in leather dancing, as seen in the 2013 Super Bowl half time show, it’s no wonder where adolescents get these damaging ideas from. Impressional kids look up the their elders and soon they notice the people plastered on the T.V. screen have the world at their feet. Minors assue that by mimicking their actions, they too can have all the praise, acceptance, and love.This is especially apparent when they either have issues at home or self esteem issues. It’s a known fact that kids are extremely impressionable and these images leave a lasting impression. But it’s not just kids who have been affected, men and women of all ages have issues related to what society expects of them. TV, Magazines, Internet, Music, and Social Media are present more than ever in the lives of Americans and so are the extremely damaging effects.

The ideal image of what is sexy usually differs from one man to another. But according to the media, the image stays the same. "What's presented as sexy is the bare midriff, the busty blonde.” says Meenakshi Gigi Durham of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, whom has conducted extensive research on teen media use among middle-school girls. "All the girls I have talked to have expressed some dissatisfaction with their bodies and many of them have resorted to extreme measures such as starvation." In a world full of girls of many different shapes and sizes skinny seems to be the only acceptable mold. As girls fail to fit this mold they begin to feel uncomfortable in their own bodies. Soon emotions deepen and eventually depression and self loathing surrounds troubled teens. For some, the pain and lack of self worth is too much to bear and they begin to harm themselves. An estimated one thousand women die each year of anorexia nervosa. As many as one in ten college women suffer from a clinical or nearly clinical eating disorder, including 5.1% who suffer from bulimia nervosa. Could the media be to blame? Possibly.

But the media doesn’t only affect what teens think of themselves but also what they think of high school. If you’ve seen the movie “Mean Girls” or any other of the high school genre, you’d know that the biggest concern of all the characters was who was where on the social ladder. The focus in teens has shifted from grades, to impress and compete for college acceptance, to who was wearing what to the last party and who hooked up with whom. In class, gossip becomes more important than the lesson to prepare for the test, which will eventually result in an overall grade and soon the grades colleges will see; what happened last weekend will not matter a year from now, however the college you attend will affect your life. As much as people criticize the cast of the once popular reality TV show “Jersey Shore”, it’s as though some teen’s live to party and focus only on the superficial and the now. With new trends like thinspo (typically a page or blog that promotes anorexia and the obsession to be thin), and shows like Jersey Shore it’s hard for teens to resist the temptation of leading a rebellious life full of fun, wild nights that encourage youth to live life and die young. Already deep rooted pain may deliver a impulse to go out and forget the troubles of your life with drinking and getting high, but there’s no doubt that the media encourages this behavior within many of society’s impressionable youth.

Moreover, teenage angst turns to actions and these actions have consequences. Girls turn to slicing their skin in hopes of feeling something or for attention; others starve themselves to achieve this unreachable standard of perfection held up by the media. Under extreme stress teens make irrational decisions and find different ways to punish themselves for not being good enough. “Anorexia is not an illness of the body; it is an illness of the mind.” says Lynn Crilly author of Hope with Eating Disorders. “When it’s quiet in my head like this, that’s when the voice doesn’t need to tell me how pathetic I am. I know it in the deepest part of me. When it’s quiet like this, that’s when I truly hate myself.” writes Portia de Rossi author of Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain. Like Rossi many girls feel the hate for their actions, feelings, thoughts, body. Soon after WWII is when the images presented of women began to spiral into a pool of being thin. “Anorexia is not an illness of the body; it is an illness of the mind.” claims Crilly. The pain starts from within and works its way out. For many, with insecurities manifest themselves into obsession with perfect, dragging some into a dark depression. You try to run from the things that remind you of the things you feel you must become but never will. The media is everywhere and there seems to be nowhere to hide.

The funny thing about pain is when the wounded feel defeated they will sometimes knock others down to put themselves back on top, even if it’s only for a moment. It’s like a chain; humans hurt so they hurt others and so on.