At some point in every girl’s life, they have owned a Barbie. They now come in every color, with every haircut, wardrobe and career that one could imagine. If Barbie were real, her measurements would be 39-18-33. She would stand about 6′ tall and weigh roughly 100 lbs. Realistically, this is not possible. Her body would actually topple over. What kind of idea is this giving off to girls of all ages that struggle with their body image? At such young ages, we’re conditioned to believe that this is the ideal girl; Barbie is the perfect woman and this is how all girls should look like. Is Mattel sending out subliminal messages?

Eating disorders are so common nowadays because girls are trying to be something that isn’t possible or achievable; perfect. There is no such thing as perfection when it comes to physical beauty because it differs from person to person as beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Who is anyone to tell another person what they should strive to be and how is Mattel any different?

Walk into any drug store and you will find concealer, blush, eyeshadow, lipstick, foundation and mascara in every color and shade imaginable. Turn on the television and nearly every commercial is advertising a product that would help you improve yourself. Walk down the street and every advertisement features a “beautiful” girl.

Personally, I also weigh about 100 lbs and only measure up to 5′ tall and for so many years, I’ve struggled with my own issues of body image. If I could, I would make it my life goal to make every girl see that they are beautiful in their own way. Our digital essay will portray two girls; one that is perfectly comfortable in her own skin and another who is constantly struggling to be perfect in the eyes of the media. Being so absorbed in her outer self, she doesn’t realize that she will never be perfect and is instead wasting her time on trying to be. With that, she ends up alone while the other girl finds love because she is not caught up with superficial things.

My paper will be about our generation of females of all ages, struggling every day to be achieve this ridiculous notion of what beauty should be, doing everything possible to achieve the impossible. We try so hard to become this new person that we completely lose ourselves in the process. I want my paper to leave readers with a new and different perspective of what being beautiful really means.