Photographer: J.Star @ Flickr
In the fickle place humans occupy called Earth the most important things are often ignored. In today’s society I can think of a few main themes that seem to be recurrent of the generation known as ‘Gen Y’. The first things that come to mind are money, health, possessions, and most of all, another person’s opinion of you. ‘Gen Y’ is bombarded with images of ‘perfect people’ and ‘perfect lives’. The people manifesting this image are celebrities, magazines, and the people behind the shots, the paparazzi.
So many young people see these images and aspire to obtain this false level of ‘perfect’, sometimes going to life threatening lengths to achieve an unrealistic goal. Disorders among young people, especially young women, such as anorexia and bulimia can start developing as early as twelve years old. Forty percent of newly identified cases of anorexia are in girls aged fifteen to nineteen years old. Other young people spend thousands of dollars on surgery: botox, tummy tucks, liposuction, breast implants…the list is endless.
How many deaths have to occur before society wakes up to itself and realises the damage it is doing to itself and doing so quite willingly?
Of course, as much as we’d like to blame them, celebrities can’t be blamed for everything. Neither can the paparazzi. Sometimes self image and body issues come from another source, one closer to home. Pressures from family, friends, peers… these people may not be the cause of such common issues such as eating disorders and excessive visits with the surgeon, but in failing to notice the symptoms, just as much, if not more damage can be done.
In order to release such pressures and fears, society needs to take a step back and revaluate what is ‘normal’, ‘cool’ or ‘beautiful’. Young people need to stop paying so much attention to, and pinning all their hopes on, what most of the time is an unachievable goal. Instead of showing what other people are, or what they have, the people in these situations should convey the positive energy that everyone is beautiful- short, fat, skinny or tall. Blonde brunette, red or black.
As Stacy sat down at the breakfast table she noticed her mother looking at her. ‘You look nice’, was all she said.
People should change the way that they view themselves and others. Everyone should learn that there is no definition of beauty, and that everyone should accept themselves and each other, for who they are.
This article, by Rebecca Dowling from Coonabarabran High School, was the Year 11/12 winning entry in What Matters? 2008.
What Matters? is a writing competition run by The Whitlam Institute that gives year 5-12 students in NSW and ACT a chance to say what matters in society today. For more information go to: http://www.whitlam.org/whitlam/index.php 
