So what is a body image exactly? It’s is an idea of how we are supposed to be and look. It is an expectation of what we should be and want to be. I do not think it is a bad thing to work towards a goal, to be fit and active or to work for the looks you want and appear as what society will say: beautiful. But when society create a unreal idea of body imagine for us, we need to say stop or change that.
This subject has been discussed for ages and it is still a hot topic. We are surrounded by a world focusing on body image everywhere. We see it on TV, on social media, on commercials, we talk about it and read about it. There is TV shows about it – it is everywhere. “You need to be thinner, fitter, smarter or have bigger boobs. You need a certain type of cloths, or stuff to be cool” Do you really? I do not think so. However, society make us believe we do. After I decided to attend Miss Norway, questions about body image have been brought up a lot. After all it is a beauty pageant, so let me share my thoughts about this.
As a young girl growing up in a decade where we get influenced constantly and informed everyday about how we are supposed to look and be, life can be challenging. We create an idea based on what we see, and think we need to be like that. Those body images have been very unhealthy for years and are still images that, girls live by. The past years we have expanded technology and information, which means that we can access everything. I see beautiful girls and commercials and think I need to look like that, and if I do think like that, more girls do.
I am 24 now, and I am smart enough to understand that most of these pictures are edited and retouched and are unlike most girls. However when I was younger, I thought I needed to look like that. Growing up in a world where this is something you see everyday it became a part of you. That is why I think we as girls, have responsibility to be good role models and images for other girls. Because we affect each others/
In 1999 I was 6 years old, and the access we had to pictures and influence compared to now, is very different. I can only imagine what girls from the age of 6 and up live by today. I think it is so important that we, and the generations above us on social media, educates both girls and boys about a healthy body image. We know that they have access to much information online and they grow up in a society where there is a big focus on exactly body image. In 1999, we lacked people to educate us about body image, because our parent generation adapted to technology in the same ways we did. I think we even adapted faster than our parents and the generation above us, because kids learn faster than adults. I wish we had somebody to teach us about this, that we did not needed to grow up in a world with a messed-up view on body image.