... the paradigm of ideal beauty; on the other hand, the media floods the airwaves and magazine pages with ads for junk food. In 1996, the diet industry (as in diet foods, diet programs, diet drugs) took in over $40 billion dollars, and that number is still climbing (Facts and Figures 1). Young women seem to be especially affected by our culture's obsession with weight and beauty. America today is a girl-destroying place where young women are encouraged to sacrifice their true selves in exchange for false selves that are more culturally acceptable. "More than any other group in the population, girls and their bodies have borne the brunt of twentieth-century social change and we ignore that fact at our peril." (Brumberg 21). There is no doubt that the media, mainly TV, movies, magazines, and advertising, is an extremely powerful force in shaping who we are as a culture, and ...

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