Many students suffer from poor body image, whether it be a certain part of their body or their overall appearance. While current college students are referred to as a more cynical generation, many feel the media conveys a pressure and desire for conformity to ideals.

“I think there’s too much pressure on people to conform to the group and society in general, rather than to just be themselves,” said freshman Tyler Yasaka.

Other students acknowledge that conformity and ideals may be a result of individuality and a method of bettering oneself.

“Not everybody nit-picks because they feel like they have to fit a mold but simply because they want to constantly reach their highest potential,” said Forrest MacArthur, sophomore. “However, there is a fine line. Sometimes people can get to the point where they are never happy with how they look.”

Though the media portrays thinness as a dominating physical feature, in actuality thinness is unrelated to a person’s health.

“Marilyn Monroe wasn’t stick thin and neither was Twiggy,” said Dr. Marilyn Lee, professor of nursing at UNA. “Back then, curves and the hourglass figure were the ideal — clothes were made to emphasize them. Bigger was sexy. Now, if you have any wrinkles or you have a BMI higher than 25, no one wants to be with you.

“Being overweight has nothing to do with health, though. There is research to show that you can still be healthy as long as you engage in physical activity.”

Many students wonder why thinness is conveyed as an ideal by the media if so many people disagree with said ideals, on top of the research to determine that thin is not always better.

“Our standard of beauty becomes an impossible standard,” said Larry Bates, associate professor of psychology at UNA. “But we don’t realize, or we forget, that magazine covers are often faked renditions of the people. We have to ask, ‘Is the media creating this or just giving us what we want and that somewhere deeper in us resides some core of dissatisfaction?’ And we don’t have the answer to that.”

Not only does the media influence desires for physical perfection, but occasionally individuals encounter health problems due to material aspirations.

“Sometimes people complain about weight because they have a mental illness, namely an eating disorder such as bulimia nervosa or anorexia nervosa, or body dysmorphic disorder,” Bates said. “People with these disorders often have a distorted view of their own body and how other people view them.”

If the media has such influence, students may question whether petitions should be organized to remove these discriminatory ideals.

“Removing ideals might help, but the reason the media has so much influence is because we give it to them,” Yasaka said. “We need to encourage people to start thinking for themselves rather than relying on the media to tell them how to live.”