For decades girls have been put under the pressure of looking and acting a certain way. Young girls are expected to be thin but not too thin, to be tan but not orange, to wear makeup but not so much that they resemble a clown. In today’s society, everywhere girls go there is something around them advertising different ways to conform to these stereotypes, like weight loss ads.

In fact, a recent study has revealed that women’s magazines have about 10.5 times as many weight loss advertisements than men’s. There are television advertisements and weight loss apps are popping up like crazy. Additionally, there are more skinny models presented in ads than plus sized models. The pressure for females to have the perfect body is insane, because not only does it lower a girl’s self-esteem, but it also leads to eating disorders and a large, horrible variety of mental illnesses. Too much pressure has dangerous outcomes and in my opinion, all this comes from the media's pressure to look perfect.

A past CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch, Mike Jeffries stated he doesn’t want ‘plus sized’ girls wearing his clothes. The company doesn’t make clothing above a size large in shirts and a size 10 in pants to keep bigger sized girls away. The CEO has put lots of pressure on girls to look a certain way in order to wear certain clothes. He also shared that in his opinion, only cool, popular girls are skinny. The rest, don’t fall into this stereotype.

Girls are not only pressured to be perfect physically but also mentally. They are constantly reminded by society that they should look, act and display themselves in a specific manner. Girls are seen to be vulnerable, emotional and weak. With all the many stereotypes that exist about girls, being weak and vulnerable is probably one of the worst. There is the mentality that we cannot fend for ourselves and that we are not only emotionally but physically weak as well.

But the truth is that no matter what people say it isn't very simple to just ignore the standards of perfection when they are nearly everywhere. It's 2015. Should teenagers in our society constantly feel forced to act and feel a certain way? The pressures placed on teens to meet a certain standard often lead to exceptionally harmful outcomes. It’s time the media and advertisements changed the way they picture girls. It’s time to be more accepting of people no matter what their appearance. The pressure for perfection needs to go away, and girls’ self-esteem needs to go up; the vicious cycle needs to end.