Annually, magazine companies spend billions of dollars on diet and exercise advertisements to put in their magazines. Fashion magazines encourage body dissatisfaction to their readers through unrealistic images of women, who are edited excessively photo shopped. In the article, "Body Shots: Hollywood and the Culture of Eating Disorders," written by Emily Fox-Kales compares the beauty ideal between certain celebrities of today and the past. Fox-Kales states about fifty years ago, Marilyn Monroe, a size 14, had the 'ideal" body shape and size,' but she discusses that today's standard is much smaller" (2011). As the beauty ideal continues to become significant in our society, body image with American women continues to tumble. Magazines compare satisfaction and bliss with being a certain weight or any specific beauty trait that is recognized now, some feel if they are not "pretty enough ", then they are not satisfied with themselves. As with women of all ages, many college-age women are believed to hold improbable ideals of body shape and size, ideals that can be both physically and emotionally unhealthy.
This research paper will expose the horrors that many beauty magazines deliberately portray that negatively influence adolescent females' health and concept of beauty. It will unfold the truth behind what magazine photos symbolize through the accuracy of media literacy knowledge. According to Berk (2008), "The impact on young female adolescents (12-19) is much greater compared to young adults due to the different phases and what environmental factors (school, friends, family,etc) they face daily" (pg. 191). Berk also states that parenting is one factor that contributes to their child's mind as to developing cognitively. Good parenting can decrease the chances of their child of developing any sort of body image mental illness. This paper will discuss on these three points: .
a) The Role of Fashion Magazines .
