Death by Cosmopolitan: How the Media is Killing Women

Have you ever been waiting in a check out line and noticed the rows of magazines plastered with gorgeous women with perfect bodies on the covers? Did you gaze longingly at the picture wishing you could look half that good? Well, the truth is NO ONE, not even the model herself looks like that. That Barbie-esque figure is about as realistic as Barbie herself! Celebrities and Models hire professionals whose main job is to edit or "Photoshop" their images to make them look better, even if the subject is 5'8, 34-22-34, the average measurements of a super model. The most appalling fact is that the media's ideas of beauty are unattainable for most women. Our desire to look like Barbie and her wanna-be's is unrealistic and downright deadly.

Researchers created a computer model of a woman with Barbie-doll proportions, for example, found that her back would be too weak to support the weight of her upper body, and her body would be too narrow to contain more than half a liver and a few centimeters of bowel. A real woman built that way would suffer from chronic diarrhea and eventually die from malnutrition. Jill Barad president of Mattel (which manufactures Barbie) estimated that 99% of girls aged 3 to 10 years old own at least one Barbie doll. (Media Awareness Network)

Despite this daunting realization, women are still trying to attain the media's idea of a perfect figure and are losing their lives, or their health in the process. Why is it that we are so driven to look like malnourished bags of skin and bones? The answer is: Most women's self-esteem is directly tied to what people think of her and what she believes she is supposed to look like in order to fit in with the rest of a beauty-obsessed society. Repeated exposure to magazine covers screaming "How to lose 20lbs in 2 Weeks!", "Look 10 Years Younger," and stress numerous fad diets and workout plans will make any women believe she won't be good enough until she loses that last 15lbs or has the latest hair style.