According to Rader Programs, “81 percent of ten year old girls have a fear of being fat.” What is “fat” and who sets that standard? Who is allowed to determine the image of another human being? According to Mike Jeffries, the CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch, “fat” is anyone above a size ten.

“We hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that,” Jeffries said. The Abercrombie and Fitch stores only sell clothing up to a size 8.

At a young age, children form a mind-set of what a good looking person is. Recently the Huffington Post released an article showing pictures Loryn Brantz created to show the realistic waistlines of the Disney Princesses. The original waistline of a Disney Princess, if put on a human being, would be the body of a girl with anorexia.

“Media outlets have the opportunity to change the way women are viewed and the way they view themselves should start taking responsibility. It only took a couple nudges of a line to make those princesses’ waists less extreme, and they still looked beautiful and magical,” Brantz said.

From Barbie to G.I. Joe, the waistline and body images are set at high and sometimes impossible standards. There has recently been a release of a “short and stout” Barbie. The barbie is portraying a woman with realistic waistline, which shows how skewed the actual Barbie is. Starting in our childhood, we make these characters our role models, without the knowledge that it’s the starting point for self criticism. As we get older the toys and cartoons change to movies and models.

We look to Victoria’s Secret and Calvin Klein as the image we want to be. According to Rader programs,“The majority of runway models meet the Body Mass Index (BMI) criteria to be considered anorexic,” this also is the case with Playboy models. As the years go on, playgirl models have increased their BMI through muscle, however the average male has increased in body fat.

The real question is, why is the media this way? Anyone can point their fingers at society, but the truth is, we are society. We are what makes up the media. We feed into the manipulation that’s harmful to us. By continuing to purchase the magazines and merchandise from these icons who represent them, we are accepting the society we create.

The only way to change something is to do something. We can stop the standards. We are the ones who make these people famous for their physical appearances. We as a society are creating children to be insecure of their appearance and wish to be someone other than themselves.

A big part of the issue is, so many people yearn for the “perfect body” or to look better but do nothing about it. If you want a thinner stomach go to the gym and eat healthier foods. If you’re upset with any part of your body, take care of it and you’ll be much happier. Everyone should always take care of themselves and be as healthy as they can be.

The most important thing for everyone to do is to be healthy. Everyone is built differently. No two people are exactly the same. It’s vital to set your own realistic standard for your body and to take care of it.