‘Don’t focus on your body’ quotes Vogue, one of the most famous glamour magazines of the world. I heave a sigh of relief- “somebody agrees with me!” But then, my eyes catch the articulately body-shopped picture of a sultry model coming out from the waters of a beach. I notice her curves and her oh! so amazing skin and my inside shouts out- “How can I NOT FOCUS on MY BODY?”
The photos that we see online or in the magazines really destroy a teen’s mental health. And sometimes it may be just a 10 year old child. When I say this, I don’t mean it just for myself but for every secure or insecure person in this world full of perfections and imperfections.
Insecurities
I strongly believe that people get really insecure about their looks because of the dumb photoshops we post online. When these insecure people vent their bodily issues to someone, they get made fun of and are called attention seekers. Now this might not show on the outside but people get really affected by all the hate they get because of the flaws in their body or skin. Hence, they start doing some extremely stupid things because of their inferiority complexes and insecurities.
Obsessing over your looks
Obsessing about one’s body has become a big mental health concern these days and it must be dealt with because it is really dangerous. People who get really insecure about their body tend to look at the mirror all the time in order to check if they look good. They get really anxious when someone looks at them because they think that they are making fun of them even when they aren’t. They constantly think of ways to make themselves better. Making yourself better is a good choice but not when it gets really extreme. Because, when things get really extreme people become obsessed with it and obsession is a huge mental issue.
Insanity unlimited
Beauty standards keep changing. But, the things that people do to rise up to these beauty standards are really insane. They go crazy putting various chemicals on their face , trying weird cosmetics, giving a different colour to their hair and millions of other things. And sometimes people take it really far. They permanently change their look by plastic surgeries. And if something goes wrong then either they are stuck with it for the rest of their life or they get more plastic surgeries done to rectify the mess. We find that today’s glamour as well as the common world is full of people who have taken themselves to limits of insanity by harming their own selves in order to look pretty.
Real life PhotoShop
And some people don’t stop at the face! They actually change the way their body looks. They wear corsets to make their waists look smaller, get liposuction, try fasting, eat slimming pills, hit the gym and undergo all kinds of exaggerated experiments to look perfect. To get a real life photoshop of their bodies, these people spend like crazy and sometimes end up looking funny.
Eating disorders
But the other times when these tactics don’t work, they start to eat less. This is widely known as Anorexia Nervosa- an eating disorder. In this disorder, people stop eating food because they want to achieve their ‘“dream body” which is literally a skeleton. But, mind it, being a skeleton cannot be the fantasy of any normal person. Hence you will understand pretty well why I had been ranting about mental issues! If you stop eating you may end up in the hospital or even in your grave, where you will actually become a skeleton.
I know models should look perfect in every single way but that is not realistically possible. No one is perfect. And that is the thing that’s hard for us teenagers to understand. With photoshopping and editing skills, magazines and media set impossible beauty standards that even the models can’t reach in real life. So let us stop body-shopping people. Let us revel in the actual beauty of people and appreciate them.
Writer : Dia Ochani
Grade : 9 (Year 2023)
Place : Christchurch, New Zealand
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