By Shelby Ayres | Observer Contributor
Body image is a big problem that has been affecting girls, continues to affect them, and appears to be more of a problem every year. Girls as early as 7-years-old are seeing themselves as fat. It is all due to the rise of the media and the fascination it has with photoshopping women, which creates unrealistic images of women, according to Kerrie Griffin, Psychology Professor at Mount Wachusett Community College. .
Holly Tata, MWCC student, said, “I have always known that the models on the covers of popular magazines were photoshopped and tried to convince myself that even though I may not live up to the media’s standards of skinny, it doesn’t mean I’m not skinny. The problem is the media is hard to get away from since it’s everywhere, so after a while of being constantly subjected to such beautiful and influential figures, it’s hard to continue to convince yourself that you are still good enough.”
A prime example of the media’s influence is the most recent trend, the A4 paper challenge, where young women place a standard size piece of printer paper up against their waist and if they are bigger than it, they are fat. Griffin said about the trend, “I think it’s scary for teens to care so much about how others feel. It’s unhealthy. You can be smaller than a piece of paper and be healthy, but you can also be bigger than a piece of paper and still be healthy. It’s crazy to take something and be so objective.” Griffin also said that it is trends like these that lead young women to post full-body pictures of themselves online to get attention and end up with hateful comments saying she’s “fat” or “slutty”.
A great step in a positive direction is the release of a new, realistic Barbie doll, where the thigh gap is gone and the curves are existent. An anonymous student said in response to the new Barbie, “I think the new Barbie designs are a godsend. Growing up with the tall, skinny, beautiful effigies of Society’s Standards always made me feel ashamed of my body, which because I didn’t look like a Barbie Doll, I thought I was ugly. The new dolls set a positive example for young girls, because they can see that everyone, just like Barbie, comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and all of those are beautiful.”
Griffin added that if you are going to give children toys to play with that represent something, then it should represent the truth.
Unfortunately, albeit the new Barbie is a good step towards change, it does not change the fact that people are still being photoshopped and cropped. Luckily, a healthy alternative that might be a great solution is yoga. Yoga is a spiritual exercise where you let gravity take over and help restore your body.
Anne Goewey, Yoga Instructor at MWCC, as well as many other locations, offers a healthy solution to this problem, “Getting to know your body and to respect it is important. Don’t wish it to be different. You become stronger and healthier and it attends to every system in the body. It’s not about losing weight… those are byproducts. It’s more about your mental and emotional relationship to your body. You learn to enjoy it as it is and you accept your limitations and celebrate your achievements and accomplishments. It’s not an overnight thing. It transforms your relationship to your body because you’re honoring it and getting to know your body.”
She also said that the transformation will not happen overnight; it is a process that you have to be patient for. So as long as you dedicate at least 5 minutes a day for it, you will soon see results. To increase the results, eating healthier foods will also help the process, such as organic foods.
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