Many females today are not satisfied with their physical appearance. They feel that they are not as beautiful as the women on television or in magazines. The media is brainwashing females, telling them that if they are not slim and have blond hair and blue eyes, they are not beautiful. This causes women not only to hate these ideal females, but to also hate themselves.

Every teenager attending high school can relate to the pressures that come from the desire to be thin. In today's society there is a shared cultural belief that in order to be popular, you must be wealthy and beautiful. To be beautiful means to be thin. It's normal for teens to feel the need to be in the "in crowd" and to fit in with the "beautiful people." Television shows help contribute to this "need" to fit in. One such show, The O.C., is based on a group of beautiful teenage characters, most of whom are wealthy and, coincidentally, popular.

Being thin is equated with a multitude of positive characteristics such as; beautiful and popular, but also with lovable, sexy, successful and most importantly- happy. People need to understand that being thin, does not mean you are going to be happy. To be happy is to love everything about yourself, not just your physical appearance but whats on the inside.

Being overweight is associated with negative characteristics like ugly, lazy, not attractive to the opposite sex and socially unpopular. Not everyone in the world can be thin! Can you imagine having to live with all those negative characteristics hanging over your head each day? We have to learn that people come in all different sizes and no matter what the media says, it's really what's on the inside that counts.