By CLAUDIA BROWN

In today’s society we see articles about appearance, health, style and, especially, weight.  These articles range from how to be skinny, to healthy, to look like a model, look rich, look famous, look “cool” and look “chill.”

There are other topics within health and beauty that are discussed, but those listed above seem to be the most common.

The way the news media talk about body image is proven to cause body image problems in America such as anorexia, bulimia, body dysmorphic disorder and binge eating to name a few.

In America, our news media focus on what is in style. The popular body part that young women are focusing on now is their thighs. The style of thighs haa evolved from the thigh gap, to the thigh brow, to the mermaid thigh.

A young girl is considered to have a thigh gap is when standing up straight with their ankles touching, there is a visible gap between the thighs.

A thigh brow is when a young woman is sitting down and a crease in the leg forms between the hip and thigh. This is considered sexy because it shows a woman’s thinness while still having the typical woman curves.

The newest trend is called the mermaid thigh.  This is when a woman puts their thighs together and the size of the thigh decreases from top to bottom, the look is accomplished looking like a mermaid’s tail.

This concept is harmful to young girls because the shape of a persons thighs is genetic, not how skinny they are or how much they work out.

Dr. Gill Rosalind discusses the news media’s effect on women and men around the country. “One of the most significant shifts in advertising in the last decade … has been the construction of a new figure: a young, attractive, heterosexual women who knowingly and deliberately plays with her sexuality.”

Rosalind explained that this new woman is slowly changing the way the news media represents women.

The news media’s way of portraying body types does not just affect women but men as well.  Focusing on women’s bodies however, men then develop an inaccurate image of what women’s bodies are supposed to look like.

This may cause them to in fact be attracted to something that doesn’t naturally exist.

The news media, however, have the power to change this. Rosalind goes on to explain, “If more advertisements take on the view of the new stronger female, we will start to see a change in the way our culture defines women. This new women could potentially change how women feel about themselves and how they need to dress.”