Starting at a young age, girls dream about growing up to be beautiful. As children we are taught that beauty and perfection are things to strive for, and to stop at nothing to achieve. Girls in modern society have grown up around a very sexualized idea of what beauty is. The idea that perfection is beauty, has been imbedded in the mind of girls for years. But who is to say what is beauty, and what is perfection? It is clear that there is a stereotype around the image of beauty and perfection, and throughout the years we see the extremes woman will go to, to achieve this image.
From the time we are kids, girls have an idea of what is "beauty". Most little girls will tell you that when they grow up, they want to be a ballerina because they are beautiful and elegant. Girls are taught that a ballerina is the height of beauty, they are beautiful, skinny, and can move with the utmost grace and make it look effortless. Many girls and even woman dream of being able to become a ballerina. The photograph on the left shows the bare foot of a professional ballerina compared to the foot that everyone else sees. While everyone sees the beauty in a ballerina, most do not understand what professional ballerinas themselves through to achieve this. Ballerinas will destroy their feet and bodies to perfect their dance. This photograph uses a plain white background and placed the main focus, the feet of the ballerina, in the center so the audience has nothing else to look at but the bloodied and blister covered foot contrasted by the perfection of the other foot. This proves that women will destroy their own bodies to try and achieve the idea of perfection and beauty
Sutton, Tina. "Toe to Toe with Alicia Markova. Chiara. An Imperefct Body. Digital image.
" The Making of Markova. N.p., 01 Apr. 2013. Blood, Sweat and Tears. N.p., 10 May 2011.
Web. 14 Jan. 2015. Web. 14 Jan. 2015.
In the same way that a ballerina will destroy her feet for the price of the dance, some girls and women will harm their bodies and risk their health to maintain this ideal beauty. This image depicts a girl who is obviously suffering from an eating disorder. The measuring tape in her mouth and hands symbolizes the problem she has with her weight. Now a days, girls are brought up in a society obsessed with weight. People are expected to be fit and skinny, but this can cause people to develop eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia because they feel their weight is not acceptable. This image placed the girl in the foreground to make you feel closer to her, to allow you to see her pain. It uses neutral colours, like black, grey and white, to express how she feels about herself and to give the image a much darker feel to it. Eating disorders are very dangerous to ones healths, however, women will still risk their own health in the hope of becoming an acceptable weight in today’s society and be seen as beautiful.
Most little girls are given barbie dolls as toys when they are younger. Barbies seem innocent, they’re pretty dolls that are fun to play with, however they also teach girls an idea of what beauty and perfection should look like. Many women undergo plastic surgery to give themselve better features.In the image, left, you can see that Valeria Lukyanova has tried to make herself a real live barbie doll. Valeria has gone through multiple cosmetic surgeries, including removing some of her ribs, to alter her appearance to more resemble that of a 
barbie doll. In the image Valeria is holding a Barbie doll next to her face to show the similarities of their features. This proves that women will go as far as mutilating and distorting their own bodies in the hopes of becoming a more ideal version of beauty and perfection in today’s society .
Moran, Lee. "'Human Barbie' Strives to Live Just
off Light and Air." NY Daily News. New York Daily
News, 2 Mar. 2014. Web. 15 Jan. 2015.
Your blog was very well written! I think this is a very important issue in our society today. I am sure every girl has looked at a picture of a celebrity and said "I wish i looked like her". But in reality, it is very unlikely you will ever look like that person. Girls nowadays need to accept who they are. They should focus on more important things rather than their appearance. Girls attempt to change what they look like in very unhealthy ways as you mentioned, however they do not realize that there are safe and healthier ways to do so. Just by eating healthy and exercising you feel better with yourself and become more confident. It also has a variety of positive effects, like improved health and wellness. The media is a huge problem in our society today. Girls put themselves in dangerous situations in order to achieve this image of perfect they witness in the media. However the only person who defines perfect in their mind, is them self. Girls will do anything to fit in or to be considered beautiful by others, even if it means risking their health or happiness. Nowadays girls determine how pretty they are by how many likes they get on their picture. Girls should not let stereotypes define their beauty and they should not need other people to tell them they are beautiful. They should learn to accept who they are, and know that the definition of beauty is themselves. Everyone displays their own type of beauty inside and out. Do you think if social media and magazines did not exist girls would still face the struggles of trying to achieve this so called beauty? I thought your topic was great, and I loved your ideas and meaningful pictures!
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