ntative to the bulk of the femalepopulation in the United States today, might raise their ratings. As society gets fatter and fatter,the media is going to have to start dealing with this issue. They say that they are, but actions speak louder than words. Some magazines have dared to write articles on heavier women, butthere are never any pictures. An example of that was in Harpers Bazaar, they ran an article on anew model named Wanderful who was 183 pounds and proud of it, but again there were nopictures. They are saying that it is acceptable to be imperfect, when it really is not (Review n.pag.).Preteen to teenage girls are especially susceptible to the medias influence on everything, not only their size. Magazines for teenage girls give training in lookism. The emphasis in on makeup, fashion, weight and how to attract boys, with almost no space given to sports, hobbiesor careers (Berg n. pag.). Girls will put on a false identity of how society expects them to be. They no longer feel that they can totally be themselves without looking over theirshoulder. An example of this was shown at the 1996 Academy Awards when Alicia Silverstonewas made fun of for gaining five or ten pounds since her last movie. The headlines read Batmanand Fatgirl, and Look out Batman, here comes Buttgirl (Berg n. pag.). Their being acceptedin this nation depends on being sickly thin, no matter what the health risks are. High school girlssay they are terrified to become fat. In a study of 326 New York high school girls, 72 percentsaid they had attempted to diet. Currently dieting were 20 percent of underweight, 32 percent ofnormal weight, and 54 percent of overweight girls (Berg n. pag.). On the bus, in class, afterclass, at lunch, and on the weekend, girls obsess over their weight and how bad they look. Theytalk about how different parts of their bodies are too flabby and how they wish they could movefat from one part of their body to another....
