Body Stuff

Vanity case

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

While the rest of the world is worried about things like climate change, financial security, family issues and stress the number one concern for Australia's teens and young adults is the way they look.

According to Mission Australia's 2007 national survey, body image was rated as the number one concern for young people between the ages of 11 and 24 — this was for both men and women. Last year body image ranked as the number three concern.

So why the sudden obsession with our appearance? One of the suspects is the media and its unrealistic portrayal of the body. Evidence to this argument might be images of a stick-thin Keira Knightley or Nicole Richie sashaying down the red carpet. Do these images encourage young girls to look this way?

Then there's the other end of the stick where magazines and TV constantly promote body love with curvy figures like Scarlett Johansson, Rihanna and Beyoncé. Which images have the strongest effect?

While body image is at the top of our list of concerns, family relationships, friendships and good physical and mental health ranked as the things we value most.

Words: Jessica Ainscough

Leave a comment: Do stick-thin celebrities and the media's materialistic approach affect the way you feel about your body? Is body image your number one concern?

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User comments

yeah i think stick-thin celebrities have an affect on the way i f eel about my body. yes i think body image is my number one concern. although it shouldnt be and i should be more concerned on other things more important but i just hate the way my body image is. i see bodys like jessica alba and mischa barton and i think to myself why dont i have a body like them? and guys are always talking about how hott there bodys are and they bagg the *** outta 'fat chicks'. i believe guys have something to do with it to..

Come on people, if u worry about body image, GET A LIFE!! i mean it because everybodys different and nobodys perfect or 'normal' my brother, cousin AND my friend are as skinny as a rake and they eat junk food, theyll probably have eating disorders when theyre older. and so will the people who try to be like them. so just, as i said before, GET A LIFE!!!

i think people think that the thin-stick celebrities look to thin, but secretley...... they want to be like them. Rich and famous. but to them looking like them means to be like them. In magazines they show stuff like celebs becoming "overweight." When they're the weight they should be. So people think, oh if i'm going to be famous when i'm older i have to be thinner and better looking. that's one of the reasons, but also people sometimes do this for girls or other boys that they like. If you ever think somebody doesn't like yo u for who you are. Don't change yourself. If they don't get you thier the ones missing out on something.

the looks that stick thin celebraties have, as role models to young teenagers is appualling. they dont look beautiful they look disgusting and sickly, and are causing many others to make there bodies look similar to them. for decades the ideal "body image" for females have changed, from Marylin Munroe back in the 60's with her hour glass figure. Now people with just skin and bones such as Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, Keira Knightly and Ashley Oslen. Seeing rib cages doesn't make them look attractive one bit. What even happened to the old rumours that the male speicies liked bumps and curves. Society is dragging the new generations down, like Barbie is designed for young children, yet they all look the same, thin, blonde, and big boobed, which some wish to be. All though the media isn't convincing all girls they should look that way, alot of them are infulenced by it. Celebrities should be ashamed for it.

I do feel self concious about my body because when i watch movies and see celebrities like vanessa hudgens, miley cyrus, nicole richie and keira knightly in movies as well as loads more celebrities and look at magazines with skinny models i just feel jelous and fell really sad and want to exersize but i just can't be bothered to and everytime i eat fatty food like chips or pizza i feel really bad as if i'm making my body fatter, my parents and besties and friends are always telling me that i'm skinny but i really don't think i am...i think i'm probably the fattest out of my friends because i kind of do have a bit of fat on my stomach...i've also always tried to tell myself that those celebrities put make-up on and go on special diets to lose weight but everytime i look at myself in the mirror i just hate my appearance and i never wear bikinis and am always wearing a sunshirt and boardies...i wish i was fitter

stick skinny ppl look freaky. Well im pretty built and i don't want 2 be skinny but i dont want 2 b fat.i think Scarlett looks way more attractive than nicole richie 4 example.And Scarlett is more healthy-she has a way better life style.and wat do the boyz want??!!!?

everyone keeps complaining about the problem but what is anyone doing to fix it? you cant tell the models to be skinny its their choice, so what are you gonna do about it? When you talk about it how are you going to know that people are actually listening?

yeah its somehow the media but its not too bad i mean i dont wanna weight something of 120 to 200kg fads when im 16. So to real i have to my body image appearance as number one concern.

I think every girl including boys so be happy with there image because there will be at least one person in your life that loves your bidy image, and wishing they had your body and not theres. If your worriedd about one thing just try and fix it or forget about it everyone has a part fo there body they hate including you? so just love your body for who it is and enjoy life!

I am currently fighting an eating disorder that I have been suffering from for two years now. I can say that the media doesn't help myself personally when they post pictures of tiny skeletal thin women on their front page. An eating disorder is more than someone worried about their appearance it is a disease that is very easily caught, it is hard for me and any other women to take your articles about embracing your curves when magazines are constantly photoshopping all pictures within their magazine. I believe that the magazines haven't fully understood what an eating disorder is, I am constantly fighting with another voice inside my head telling me what I should and shouldn't look like. In society today attractiveness plays a major role in the way we shape our lives, however I believe that instead of placing these unrealistic pictures of models on the cover we embrace what true beauty is, the people walking our own very street's. It's time to bring our minds back to reality.