Teen Media

Girls and women are bombarded with images of who the media tells them they think they should be. Many advertising agents study teenage girls in the natural habit and try to find trends amongst them to to be able to sell to them in magazines and online. They then take these ideas of girls, twist reconfigure them and plaster them everywhere. Young girls then watch caricatures of themselves in the media and believe that this is what they should aspire to be. There are two types of girls depicted in the media: the popular, gorgeous girl who every girl wants to be and every guy wants to be with, and the needy, less pretty sidekick (Media Awareness Network). No girl wants to be the sidekick. 

Shows like Gossip Girl, 90210, Pretty Little Liars, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Make It or Break It, Degrassi, Smallville, One Tree Hil, Dawson's Creek, 21 Jumpstreet, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Skins, Friday Night Lights, and Teen Wolf and movies like Cruel Intentions, Clueless, She's All That, Tan Things I Hate About You, Fast Times At Ridgemont Hight, Swimfan, American Pie, Love Don't Cost A Thing, The Breakfast Club, The Craft, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Dazed and Confused, Pretty in Pink, Carrie, Mean Girls, Bring it On, Remember the Daze, Heathers, Easy A, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Project X, The In Crowd, She's The Man, Step Up, Sydney White, Superbad, Prom, I Am Number Four, American Beauty, Jennifer's Body, Seventeen Again, Scream, The Girl Next Door, John Tucker Must Die, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Weird Science, Can't Buy Me Love, emphasize the idea of popularity and that you must look and act cool in order to be cool.

 

  


 Being cool however, isn't that easy. You have to always say the right thing, have your makeup perfectly done, be thin, be tall, have long, beach wavy hair, always have the perfect party playlist, drive a sweet car, be clever and sassy, party every weekend but be cool and mature enough to handle yourself, be adventurous to try new drugs, and always act effortless and care free, even though on the inside, you are in a robotic state of always trying to impress everyone and make them love you and want to be you. But real life doesn't work that way. It's messy and scary and imperfect. These girls need to realize that being the queen be and captain of the cheerleading squad wont make them happy because they aren't being true to themselves. It may be the most cliche saying, but it's true. In fact, women who get breast enhancement surgery to fit that perfect ideal, are more likely to commit suicide then women who don't.