The media has created this perfect image of what a woman should look like today. They have made it seem like it is easily attainable and that it doesn't require a lot of effort. However, they seem to have contradicted themselves when launching reality TV shows such as The Swan, Extreme Makeover, Dr 90210 and the popular series Nip/Tuck, where the main purpose behind these aforementioned shows is to give women a chance to start over and turn over a new page.

What has interested me the most is that this pursuit of perfection, or more like the Media's idea of perfection, is not a very recent issue. In fact, it has been around since the 1940's, around WWII to be precise, when images of Betty Garble were printed on posters and pinned up for the American troops in order to give them something to look forward to when the war is over and it's time to go back home.

The media's effects on adolescents are sometimes classified as terminal. They lead to insecurity and self-consciousness among teenagers; they just want to look as beautiful as their role models are. The pressue on teenagers has increased abruptly, in their heads, there are very high expectations that they have to meet. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is a saying that has long gone, 'beauty' is now considered a result from going under the knife.

In the movie 'Head over Heels' (2001) starring Freddie Prinze Jr and Monica Potter. For those who are unfamiliar with the movie, heres a brief recap: an artist, Amanda (Potter), moves into a 5 bedroom apartment with 4 supermodels. The images portrayed by these supermodels is that they are perfect. Tall, lean and slender, whereas Amanda is just your regular girl next door.
In one of the scenes, one of the supermodels, Holly, has to stay at home with Amanwda because she had just gotten a facelift. While chit-chatting, Holly reveals her plans as to what 'fix' next in her face once she gets a nose job and makes her face 'more symmetrical'. Amanda then tries to explain to her that sometimes the beauty is in the flaws themselves, but this comment was completely lost on Holly as to which she replied that 'Amanda is so cute to say that'.