Thanks to film, magazines, and television, there is a distorted view on what people in society should look, be, and act like. Young girls see super models and begin to think that they too have to look like them to be considered “beautiful”. Young men watch movies and believe that “real men” must be unemotional and cruel. No one should feel that they do not meet what is considered to be correct according to the media. Everyone deserves to live their lives happily and the way they choose.

It is estimated that the average 8-18 year old spends seven and a half hours on some form of media every day. Through this they are exposed to distorted views of what they should be. Young men and women will go to extreme lengths to be what they think will make them accepted.

No matter the kind of media outlet, young women are exposed to the idea that they must weigh a certain amount, have a certain color of hair, skin, or eyes, and must wear certain types of clothes. Women from all walks of life should be equally represented in media, to show young people that it is okay to be big or small, blonde or brunette, and so on. Women should not feel as though it is unacceptable for them to be very emotional, or invested, or hard bodied, but rather that all of these are perfectly normal things to be at any given time.

Young men too face the harshness of media stereotypes. One in three people with an eating disorder is male, and this can be accredited to how media makes men look. A lot of young men feel as though they need to be lean and muscular to get other people’s attention and to be considered handsome, or that they cannot show emotion, or else they come off as feminine, but this could not be more wrong. Men should be able to be comfortable with their appearance and feelings, and not feel as though they have to look like Zac Efron or act like Kanye West to be considered a man.

If there were more diversity in media, diversity that glorifies people of all shapes, sizes, colors, and personalities, then there would be less people dissatisfied with who and what they are.