I remember running through the aisles at target anxiously awaiting the moment when I would round the right corner and find myself in the doll section. Being a little girl with an older sister, I had received many hand-me down Barbies, but none of them were as exciting as getting my own brand new one. I finally entered the aisle filled with Barbies and all their accessories. I was so overwhelmed with joy I stared in awe. As I walked the isle I looked for the one I wanted to take home with me. When I saw her, I knew she was the perfect one for me. She had long, tan, toned legs, a flat stomach, long flowing blonde hair and a flawless face.





It’s scary to think how easily she jumped out to me as the perfect woman. There was not a single thing I could find wrong with her. My idea of a perfect female model had come from a modified and unrealistic doll. Looking at a Barbie now, I see a sickly, make-up caked, unrealistic piece of plastic. But as a little girl, I could only dream of being structured like one of them. At only the age of 6, I had already been affected by the media and had already had an image for the dream body.





The media is a strong influence on all ages. It connects to all types of people every day. Women in today’s society face a ton of pressure to live up to the standards of that perfect body. For example, in almost, if not all shows, the main actor is a gorgeous, skinny, curvy girl with perfect skin. Running through everyone’s mind is “if I want to be famous I have to look like that” or “I don’t look that way, I must be weird.” This causes the woman to lose confidence in her own appearance which has in many cases led to self-harm, eating disorders and/or other dangerous behaviors. Media has advertised the “perfect” woman and this has caused an increase in pressure and standards and women suddenly feel the need to live up to the structures of the media stars.





This is a serious problem that is overlooked every day. Most men don’t feel the need to stop it because they can’t understand. They don’t know the feeling of not fitting in a dress, being the largest out of a group, having no confidence, being ashamed of size and body type. It’s a scary and extremely dangerous concept. If Sally is an aspiring singer and she sees that all the successful singers are skinny with perfect skin and perfect hair, she immediately becomes envious. She wants to be them and this idea leads her to lose confidence in her own body which can lead to some unhealthy habits like an eating disorder. Some of the highest paying jobs for women today are modeling, acting and prostitution. Because of this, women are trying to change their own body and modify themselves for the job so that they can have a high paying career. This concept is extremely scary because the top three most successful jobs involve women to look and act a certain way that most of the time, isn’t natural.





This idea of becoming perfect and flawless affects every woman today, whether they like to admit it or not. The “beautiful” idea changes from century to century. Anyone would be lying if they said that they don’t care about what they look like. These ideas can even be traced back to B.C when everyone tried to look like the goddesses. Women spend almost 1/3 of all their money on beauty products ranging from makeup to lotion. Not only that, but to “fit in” we feel like we have to be in with the newest fashion trends. This idea of becoming perfect is leading to excessive spending on products and clothes that shouldn't be necessary.





Overall, it is important that the public along with the media take a step to stop this stereotypical perfect female. It’s causing many issues throughout society including eating disorders, increase in plastic surgery, loss in confidence, bullying, and lower self-esteem. Different types of bodies should be advertised. No one should ever be ashamed of who they are whether you’re a size 0 or a size 20. Everyone is unique and it should stay that way. Not everyone is designed to be the tan, toned, skinny blonde with perfect curves and skin. Women don’t need the pressure to fit into a certain size or look a certain way. Being different is a good thing, no one was born to be a Barbie, everyone has flaws and we need to embrace them rather than try to change them. Beauty is everywhere not just on a page of a magazine, a movie star or a model on the runway.