I hope that my messages have shed light on the serious repercussions of Us Weekly's portrayal of beauty and body. Like I said from the beginning, this is all about image, whether it is body image, self-image, or the disturbing images of bone-thin actresses that we see every day.
There is one more image I want to mention - the image of a society that has no consciousness of weight or body, only of health. This society could challenge many of our current beliefs. Would men be happier with they way their female partners look? Would recent mothers focus more of their attention on recuperation than on a flat stomach? Would young girls stop criticizing themselves for not being a size 0 or having a six-pack? Would they stop starving themselves to look "perfect?"
That image cannot exist while Us Weekly's images do. Remember, the media tells us what is normal and accepted, which means we learn that emaciated or ultra-fit women are normal and that excessive dieting and exercise are the solution.
Michael Steele, you might be nervous that removing articles about how to get the perfect celebrity body from your magazine will lower sales, and you may be right. However, doing so is your moral obligation. You are the media. You have a say over how we feel about ourselves. As a member of society and as a human being, you have a duty to stop telling us that we need to look a certain way.
Finally, to the readers, the real people, I sincerely hope that you have gained some insight or clarification from my messages. I hope that next time you flip through Us Weekly, you are able to fight the influence of the images you see. Understand that you do not need to live up to the unrealistic standards of the media, for those standards should not even be our points of reference in the first place.
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