HARMFUL EFFECTS THE MEDIA ON TEENAGE GIRLS

Harmful Effects the Media on Teenage Girls

The Harmful Effects the Media Has On Teenage Girls Self-Esteem

Introduction

It is a fact that girls are more conscious in term of their appearance and looks, especially the young girls like young adults and teenagers. While comparing with the boys, they are living their life with a specific objective to look good always. The perception is created due to many factors, in which a major role is played by the media exposure.

It is a general perception that young people tend to adopt certain attitudes, and try to imitate what they see on screen, so, little by little it is developing a series of problems which young people not feeling themselves in line with looking at ways of advertising imitate, so as not to realize the reality in which we actually are living. The mass media affects the teenager's self-concept, pertaining to body image and sexual activity tremendously. Today, all mediums of the media have been increasingly flooded with differing opinions and many polarized perspectives regarding critical issues in which an analytical look at the information is fundamentally necessary (Victor, 2010).

Thesis Statement

The way the media, Hollywood, clothing industry, and cosmetic companies portray women with unrealistic standards of beauty has negative effects on teenage girls' self-esteem

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of our work was to try to strengthen a group of teenage girls' self-esteem in their sexuality and sensitize them to what the media has influence on girls' self-esteem. The research used surveys and observations, and diaries, as a method for measuring the results. Result of the development showed that girls had become more aware of the substance after our meetings.

Thus, the objective of this paper is to look at the negative impacts of media on teenage girls. It will look how media affects the level of violence amongst teenagers. It also focuses on to observe how media can cause the certain sexual issues to arise among teens (Thickstun, 2010).

Girls, Media, Identity Development and Self-Esteem

The media are construction of reality have powerful, yet subtle, social implications. These social; implications have the ability to influence how teens think, shop, dress, behave, judge people and feel about themselves (ibid). Concerns about the negative effects of violence in the media began as early as 1946, shortly after violent television programs emerged. Things such as violence in the media can translate in to violence in the society; teenage girls are also seen as involved in crime.

Research shows that these messages make it difficult to transition from adolescence to adulthood. In a landmark study conducted in 1988, the psychologist Carol Gilligan was the first to highlight a worrying trend is the sudden loss of self-esteem experienced by girls in the onset of puberty. It suggests that the reason is the growing gap between the image they have of themselves and what society tells them they should be.

In 2002, researchers at the University of Flanders, in ...