“Don’t eat that!” my mother exclaims from the top of her lungs, as I’m about to take a bite into my favorite Sprinkles red velvet cupcake, Panera candy cookie, or some other mouth-watering confectionary. Frankly, I’m upset. What can I say? I’ve got a massive sweet tooth. As a young female involved in pageantry, I’m directly involved in this discussion. Speaking with others about this topic, I have encountered countless people who uphold contrasting opinions about body image. Most of them want to alter society’s superficial definition of beautiful. However, our society is too obsessed with this idea of (unhealthy) thinness—it’s a reality instilled in our brains! This wasn’t always the case of human nature and body image. In the 18th century, women who were tough, mighty, and hefty were the ones considered beautiful, not the lanky female figures. There’s no reason that only skinny or only pudgy women can be beautiful because all types of women can be beautiful. Time to speak up, darlings. It’s never right for a woman to face the challenges alone.

The determination to redefine beauty could potentially reduce female insecurity and unhappiness. Rather than pluck our eyebrows, color our hair, use makeup to enhance our unsightly features, wear high heels to look taller, and spray perfume to smell better and mask our native scent, women can be far greater than apprehensive beings. It takes one determined person to change everyone’s perception of beautiful. The solution is in each unique female figure. The important thing for females to be cognizant about is the three A’s of gaining body confidence: changing Attitude (stop beating yourself up!), Action (eating healthy and working out), and Accountability (being proud of the progress you have made throughout life).

Barbie is the typical plaything for young girls. She’s beautiful on the inside and out. Young girls idolize Barbie along with Disney princesses become the ideal entity of who little girls want to become when they grow older. With the sappy romance stories and the perfect body, it’s not difficult to see why. However, it’s an over-sensationalized notion of reality; or, in other words, it’s a sham. Some girls have a difficult time coming to that realization because it’s seen all over media.

Target faced similar controversy to Mattel’s contentious blunder in 1965 after its latest Photoshop fail. In what seems to be a failed attempt to make the model’s legs longer and waist thinner, the swimsuit model appears to have a blatantly abnormal thigh gap. Advertising companies dissipate their time and money on superfluous editing tools and Photoshop. Some people spend most of their careers learning how to make girls look thinner. Our goal should be to embrace our natural beauty and bodies and eat healthy, rather than modify a model’s features to something that is sending a delusive image to young women. The negatives of Photoshop extremely outweigh the positives. Children and teenagers should not be exposed to models with bodies that can only be attained with the help of photo editing programs.

The problem is that we adore women who look their personal best; we don’t adore women who aren’t real. Stop pretending and believing that these edited images of women are “beautiful.” Clearly, they’re not authentic. Wouldn’t it be amazing if mass media could limit their alterations of model photos? Seventeen Magazine jumped on board and promised to “never change girls’ body or face shapes.” The next step would just be to implement a similar petition to a greater number of mass media companies in order to include and impact a bigger audience.

In 2007 alone, an average of $5.3 billion was spent on surgical cosmetic procedures for women alone. This money could have gone towards more imperative, crucial causes rather than on one-dimensional rationale. The solution to overcoming body image issues is priceless. The undeniable truth is that outer appearance is secondary to character. Our external appearance will never really produce genuine self-fulfillment or joy. We are brainwashed into thinking otherwise because advertisers can get serious bank from it. Getting the AMA involved is a bold step. When one of the largest medical organizations is involved, it is no joke. What we need is medical associations to provide editors and agencies with astounding statistics, not for such organizations to endorse ridiculous beauty operations. What started off as retouching is now replete transformation. The involvement of the AMA and other large medical corporations will make magazine editors and media think twice about how they present women in the industry.

Accepting one’s body shouldn’t begin with what people tell you is beautiful; all of it should be individual motivation. However, many women need assistance seizing body aplomb and inner strength. Many groups and organizations exist that provide similar guidance to young women with body image problems like ABIDE, counseling/support groups, and local gyms. Most important is having a young woman who understands how hard it is to reject a cupcake offer or Starbucks drink because of all the “calories.” My advice blog, website, and forum are all ways for me to be a resource to young females who struggle with appearance and confidence. The intense pressures on girls and women prevent us from reaching a state of complete self-satisfaction. The only way to accept and love ourselves is to change our characterization of beauty as both individuals and as amicable communities.