A girl’s quest for perfection starts at a young age. Barbie dolls in hand, young girls gaze at something not humanly possible. If Barbie were a real person, she would be 5’ 9” and weigh 110 pounds, with a B.M.I. of 16.24 — making her anorexic. Yet we in American culture are all force-fed this idea that these plastic dolls are perfection — that Barbie is beautiful with her perfect shade of blonde hair, hourglass figure and a full face of perfectly painted makeup. And as girls grow older, they continue to dig a hole to bury their self-esteem in — by moving from Barbies to beauty magazines.

Phrases like “Tips to be more beautiful,” “Get the perfect weight-loss tips here” and “Hairstyles he will approve of” adorn the covers of confidence-killing beauty magazines. Teen Vogue, Seventeen, Cosmo Girl and other such packages of delicate paper ironically manage to catastrophically damage young girls’ minds. Though all of these magazines look different and may be centered around slightly different topics, their general message is the same: Change yourself to look like the models pictured herein.

Regardless of our views of beauty, girls being true to themselves is praiseworthy and should be encouraged. But the teen magazine industry breeds extreme self-doubt and makes it hard for girls to feel that they look socially acceptable.

I too am guilty of flipping through these magazines. I admit to getting a twinkle in my eye when I see new fall fashion or the latest hair styles. After finishing the magazines, thoughts “I like her style,” “maybe I should change the way I do my makeup,” “I kind of want to dye my hair,” or the ever-so-popular “wow, I should highly consider hitting the gym tonight,” are all thoughts that float around my brain after I put one of those magazines down. But I recognize the menace of the messages conveyed by such images. 

I don’t think that models being thin and close to social perfection is the problem — beauty is arbitrary, and if someone finds beauty in something that I don’t, that is not in itself wrong.

But my first problem with these magazines is the fact that most of the models are altered with Photoshop, creating a false perception of their true selves. However, the caption under the photo still reads “10 tips to look like this.” No. We can’t look like that, because there is no real life Photoshop, unless you visit a plastic surgeon.

My second problem with the magazines is they only feature one type of people in their photographs — tall, skinny girls, leading us to believe that is the true and only form of beauty.

One may think, “Well, if a girl was raised right and had a foundation of confidence already built, she wouldn’t feel the pain of a lowering self-esteem when reading those magazines.” Not true. I feel like even Aphrodite would feel a bit less beautiful and would maybe consider purchasing some clothes to cover up the fat she hadn’t noticed before after reading some of these magazines. When our society puts unachievable perfection on such a high pedestal, it’s no wonder that girls are getting plastic surgery or using health-depreciating methods to get rid of those five godforsaken calories they consumed.

Beauty is what you make of it, but the beauty that is pictured in the magazines or created in Barbie doll form simply cannot be made.