I read an essay for my English class a couple months ago called “Devastating Beauty,”
by student writer, Teal Pfeifer. This essay is one of the main reasons why I decided to
create a beauty blog about diversity. It’s a very well written essay about the
growing problem of females’ desire for unrealistically thin bodies. The media
has defined beauty as being unhealthily thin and has created a breeding ground
for poor self-image and eating disorders in young and old females. Luckily, the
author suggests that fellow women should stop being victims of what the media
wants them to be, and one way to do this is stop buying magazines that depicted
emaciating thin models.
I definitely agree with Pfeifer. The advertisement industry makes a lot
of money out of displaying items in magazines, billboards, and television to
make consumers think that if they had that product they would love it because it
looks perfect or pretty. This is the ideal strategy because who wouldn’t want to
look at or have aesthetically pleasing things. But this is at the cost of
fostering self doubt and inadequacy to those that can’t obtain whatever the ad
is depicting.
Women are not all born the same, so why must we conform to a society
that can’t accept us for being as unique as we were created; no matter our
weight or body type. One of the most shocking things I learned from Pfeifer’s essay
was that by the age of seventeen a young female has seen an average of
250,000 ads of underweight women, who have achieved their size, for the most
part, from anorexia, bulimia or drug use. (“The Skinny”) Those thin models are
found in all kinds of ads such as beauty products, clothing, and even
cigarettes. It is quite sad that just the image of an extremely thin woman can
reduce so much self-esteem in so many other females and force them into extreme
diets and workouts.
There’s nothing wrong with exercising and eating properly, it’s just
that a lot of females take these to such extremely that are unhealthy. The
purpose of eating right and exercising is to be healthier, not less healthy by
making yourself too unnecessarily thin.
Below is a citation of the essay along with a link to the actual text. Enjoy.
Pfeifer, Teal. “Devastating Beauty.” The St. Martin’s Handbook. Ed. Andrea A. Lunsford. New York:
Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 214-218. Print.
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/everyday_writer3e/studentwriting/pdf/pfeifermlaargumentessay.pdf
by student writer, Teal Pfeifer. This essay is one of the main reasons why I decided to
create a beauty blog about diversity. It’s a very well written essay about the
growing problem of females’ desire for unrealistically thin bodies. The media
has defined beauty as being unhealthily thin and has created a breeding ground
for poor self-image and eating disorders in young and old females. Luckily, the
author suggests that fellow women should stop being victims of what the media
wants them to be, and one way to do this is stop buying magazines that depicted
emaciating thin models.
I definitely agree with Pfeifer. The advertisement industry makes a lot
of money out of displaying items in magazines, billboards, and television to
make consumers think that if they had that product they would love it because it
looks perfect or pretty. This is the ideal strategy because who wouldn’t want to
look at or have aesthetically pleasing things. But this is at the cost of
fostering self doubt and inadequacy to those that can’t obtain whatever the ad
is depicting.
Women are not all born the same, so why must we conform to a society
that can’t accept us for being as unique as we were created; no matter our
weight or body type. One of the most shocking things I learned from Pfeifer’s essay
was that by the age of seventeen a young female has seen an average of
250,000 ads of underweight women, who have achieved their size, for the most
part, from anorexia, bulimia or drug use. (“The Skinny”) Those thin models are
found in all kinds of ads such as beauty products, clothing, and even
cigarettes. It is quite sad that just the image of an extremely thin woman can
reduce so much self-esteem in so many other females and force them into extreme
diets and workouts.
There’s nothing wrong with exercising and eating properly, it’s just
that a lot of females take these to such extremely that are unhealthy. The
purpose of eating right and exercising is to be healthier, not less healthy by
making yourself too unnecessarily thin.
Below is a citation of the essay along with a link to the actual text. Enjoy.
Pfeifer, Teal. “Devastating Beauty.” The St. Martin’s Handbook. Ed. Andrea A. Lunsford. New York:
Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 214-218. Print.
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/everyday_writer3e/studentwriting/pdf/pfeifermlaargumentessay.pdf