The idea of a 'perfect' body is a fantasy for many people. The media will use attractive figures to lure the attention of a human eye and advertisements add in an alluring image of a beautiful body. Celebrities feel the strong urge to look in perfect condition in front of the public and will undergo surgeries and diets to get to the picture-ready shape. Victoria's Secret models have a stunning look with their long, thin legs. Society sets standards to itself that people feel the urge to meet. But how much of the media is real? Is it worth the trouble to live up to false standards?
Nowadays, models and celebrities struggle to remain in best shape. People who look up to them don't realize the cost of such 'beauty' and they try to match the looks of their favourite star. Many of them, especially girls, feel that they need to go on diets and they refrain from eating. Yes, they might be able to achieve their weight goal, but there is a big difference between 'skinny-sick' and 'skinny beauty'. This is when issues such as anorexia and bulimia start. People starve themselves to the point of weakness and they go through intensive workouts. All for what? The media throws lies out to the public, thus influencing them to force their body into what it's not. The crazy obsession for weight started off as a small fantasy, but is growing into something bigger and dangerous.
While the public is pressuring themselves to look like the ideal human, the goals that they are reaching for aren't even possible. After the models have their picture taken, the picture goes through an extensive amount of touching up and photoshopping. When the final result is out, many of the perfections that are shown to the public could be false. The image is filtered and altered so some of looks aren't from the original model. While girls pine over the beauty of the models, they fail to see through the mirage of technological enhancements. Basically, their body goals are created by computers, not a natural beauty for a human.
Yes, advertisers will say how it's not their fault that all their models are enhanced to a point. Because humans are easily attracted to pretty visuals, a pretty body can easily catch their attention. If the models didn't look so attractive, people will think twice before buying a specific product. As much as we hate to admit it, an aesthetically pleasing body and face will subconsciously persuade the consumers' minds into believing the result of the product. But why is it necessary to have such a skinny model on the front page of a magazine? Plus size models can be just as attractive. And not only do they have to be plus sized, even an average body could still please the eye. They could still attract the attention of the customers and they wouldn't be too disappointed when the product doesn't work out as they hoped it would.
When clothing stores release pictures of their models, an underlying message will be that humans should look like that in order to be 'pretty'. But years from now, when technology advances so much that beauty enhancements are more common, everyone will look the same. Sure, they will be 'pretty', but will they really be beautiful? If everyone looks identical to each other after their plastic surgeries, the ones who will stand out will be the ones with a bit more curves. When everyone is immaculate robots, the ones with their natural flaws would hold true beauty. People shouldn't crave for something that is the standard of 'pretty'. Instead, flaws are what makes them, them. They define each and every one of us and shouldn't be caked under heavy make up.
The obsession over the ideal body weight has been around since the early 16 hundreds. But working towards this picture-perfect world in a less-than-perfect reality is not worth the trouble. Society's standards are too high and absurd. Looking like someone else is the worst form of self-expression. People shouldn't be coaxed into believing what the media shows, instead they should accept who they are as themselves.
The world will always have its obsessions, substantial ones or the occasional fling. But the ideal body image is unnecessary and people should stop fussing about it. And don't even get me started on society's obsession with movie-screen romance.
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