Body image for teenagers
同志社国際中学校

３年

堀

真

彩

Hello and thank you for taking the time to listen. My name is Maaya
Hori, and today I will be talking about body image for teenagers. Now
remember the time when you were a teen. Did you ever feel insecure or
unhappy about the way your body looked in the mirror? You may or may not,中学生―Ｉ部門

depending on the generation you were living in as a teen. As we live in aworld full of unexpected dangers and biased thinking, lots of teenagers aroundthe globe are stressing over many types of problems only young people gothrough, such as body image issues. In fact, over 53 % of girls in the US are
insecure or unhappy with how their body looks. People need to start
normalizing different kinds of body types and body shapes, so anyone can feel
confident with the body that they were born in.
Living as a teen now can be very difficult. Not only do we go throughteenage phases such as uncontrollable emotions and puberty, but we also havethe pressure to fit into the beauty standards of society these days. This is notjust for girls who want to be slim, skinny, and wear stylish clothes. Men andboys suffer from body insecurities as well. They, also pressurize themselves tolook more muscular, stronger, and more attractive. Social media can greatly
affect teenagers sometimes because of unrealistic and edited body featuresthat can make teens expect more from themselves. Girls tend to startunhealthy habits to get the ‘perfect’ body; such as strict diets that leads toeating disorders and boys who want more muscles, start taking in unhealthyamount of protein that are only good for you if you eat the suggested amount.
My friend from the US also had the same problem. Even though she looked
perfect, she still considered herself obese, and there were times when she
skipped lunch so she can lose more weight. I was starting to get worried forher, so I asked her,“You look so perfect already. Why lose more weight?” She answered.
“Because I want to be skinny like the other girls. And, because my mom told42

me I needed to lose weight.” At that moment, I was shocked. Why would any
parent tell their child to be skinnier? It never occurred to me that an adultcan be one of the reasons that teens feel insecure.
Recently, I discovered that one of my favorite childhood toys, which was
the Barbie doll has changed since I last saw it at the toy section 7 or 8 years
ago. Barbies were known to be always skinny and gorgeous and perfect.
However, I recently went online and was surprised to find an article from theTimes stating that Barbie dolls have come out in various body shapes such as
curvy, tall, and petite. I thought it was important and clever for the company

in the future, teens will be confident with their body and accept any type ofbody.
Teens need to accept the fact that nobody on this planet is perfect. Somepeople may seem perfect such as models. Ideal body shape, long and leanlegs, perfect skin, flat stomach, skinny waist, yea, yea, yea. People need tostart realizing that these body shapes are not easily achieved. People need tostart appreciating the body that they were born in. People need to start
accepting and normalizing different body types. Thank you for listening.

43中学生―Ｉ部門

to educate children from a small age that any body type is okay. I hope that