No matter how hard they try, these young girls willnever live up to their own expectations.Another factor that has had an effect on how seriously girls and women take the mediasadvertising of the perfect body is race. African Americans are more accepting of women withbodies in various shapes and sizes. These girls do not have to be skinny to be thought of aspretty. White and Hispanic girls on the other hand do have a huge obligation to themselves, so they think, to be as small as possible. A study done in Arizona of 300 girls showed the vastcontrast of the ideal body of a white girl and a black girl. Even when the girls weight was normal, over 90 percent of the white girls were unsatisfied with their current size. They wantedto lose weight to be perfect and popular. The perfect girl described by the white girls was agirl weighing 120 pounds, long legs and long blonde hair. Even though most of the girls, whencomparing themselves to this ideal girl, were displeased with their bodies; they are jealous of thegirls that do fit that description. The black girls in the study had more flexible images of beauty. Being yourself, having style, having confidence, and looking good, were the most important partsof being perfect. They say beauty comes from, Making what you have work for you (Berg n.pag.). Many female role models, past to present, have had to struggle with media pressure to bethin. Now no woman that sees that happening wants to go through the same circumstance, so shemust diet to keep a figure that is acceptable to the public, no matter what the consequence. Before Princess Diana got married the media got a peek of her at about a size twelve. They knewnothing about her, just that she was not a size five. So, they public harassed her until she lostweight and her hair got blonder. When she did that, she got tormented by the media once morefor looking anorexic. Which is better, being too fat or too thin? The ideal body ...
