Vanessa Garcia Flores

Professor Rodrick

English 115

23 October 2017

Modeling Impact on Young Teens

Imagine being a young teenager and having your whole reputation be decided for you.

Being a teenager, you have a chance to decide on how to look, how to dress, and how to act.

Being part of a modeling agency comes with more than just looks. It comes with mental,

physical, and emotional health. Teenage girls, as well as boys, are targeted to model for these big

companies in order to advertise and target other teenagers to buy their products. Modeling has

been around since the late 1980s and continues to be one of the highest paying jobs in the United

States. According to Career Trend, being a model, you get many benefits such as traveling,

publicity and exposure, and new experiences. Despite the luxury benefits from modeling there

also comes disadvantages and sacrifices to this job. As a result, teenage girls identity is shaped

in the space of

modeling and social

media, which affects

their health by

developing eating

disorders, adjustment

to their mental health,

and change in worth and values.

 When a teenage has their mind set on a goal or an idea, they do their best to make it

happen. They go through the biggest milestones in order to make their dream a reality. The only

people that can stop them from achieving these goals are the people that can make it all happen.

Since many girls have these dreams and aspirations, many of them do not make it. These

modeling agencies turn them down and they no longer believe in themselves because the people

they needed their approval the most, denied them. They often develop mental disorders, such as

depression. Often depressed individuals often present with difficulties in school, interpersonal

relationships, and occupational adjustment; increased tobacco and substance abuse; and suicide

attempts (PMC). Being denied take a toll in their life and they deal with these emotions

differently and in an unhealthy pattern. For others that means eating less and starving themselves

in order to fit the ideal candidate for these modeling agencies.

Everybody has worth and they develop those values as they grow up. The people around

them contribute their worth and values. Psychologists from Parenting.com, research shows that

the stronger your relationship with your child, the more [their] world -- including the opinions of

her peers -- is filtered through the values she's picked up from you. Not to mention that if she has

good self-esteem and a warm home life, she is more likely to pick friends who are more in sync

with your values. Teenagers gain their morals from their parents and that is how they contribute

their morals and values with their friends. But under some occasions, many people change their

morals and values depending on the different type of people they meet. As for these teenage

models, they lose sight of their morals because they are so focused on their goal. In the image

above is part of a short documentary on CNN, where an agent comes in scouting for models. She
starts examining the teenage girls and the scout started describing what she was looking for in a

potential model, where then she comments Alexa needs to slim down a little bit on the hips.

In the world of modeling, models are expected to follow certain guidelines in order to

model for their agencies.That means that their physical appearance is a necessity in order for

people to model from them. Through social media, modeling agencies hype up their job and

allure teenagers to join their agencies and make it sound like a good idea. Since these teenage

girls find an interest in modeling, they convince their parents that it is a good idea as well. When

these girls join modeling agencies, they have to maintain their shape, meaning that the agency

contracts that stipulate that a model can't gain more than 2 centimeters on her hips (cnn). Being

a teenager and watching what they eat is a big problem. Some are often starving themselves so

that they do not jeopardize their job. They have to keep a certain image in order to keep their job.

As a matter of fact, 54 percent who were told to lose weight and that they wouldnt be able to

find more jobs if they didnt. Its not just about feeling that you have to lose weight; its that if

your livelihood depends on it, then that creates a coercive and perhaps dangerous work

environment (vogue). Being a part of a modeling agency is part of the American Dream from

some teenage girls. Many of them would do anything to make that dream reality. If that means

that they do not eat for several days, they would do it in order to keep their job.

Because they are doing what they can, they often develop health consequences and these

teenage models see this as a temporary pain for a forever job. But these health consequence have

a long term effect on a person. There has been a widespread concern that the fashion industry,

by promulgating ever-diminishing extremes of thinness, is creating a `toxic' environment in

which eating disorders flourish (BJPsych). Some people do not see the effects of these eating
disorders until they are deep into it and they need medical help to get out. Models are more prone

to eating disorders because they are often being denied by agents that can determine their success

in the future. There is constant exposure to media images depicting thin women reduces

body-related self-esteem. A meta-analysis of data from 25 studies found that this effect was most

pronounced in adolescents and in participants who valued thinness (BJPsych). Social media

also plays a huge role in these models. Their reputation depends on how the media and the users

of media sees her. She wants to be accepted by everybody around them in order to gain success.

Even though teenage girls want to start their career early and develop skills over time, in

order to be good at their profession when they get older. But little do they know that there are

repercussions to becoming a model. There are certain qualification that they need to meet in

order to make the cut. Often the dreams of these teenage girls are destroyed because they do not

meet those requirements. The repercussions of these girls not making the final cut is that they

often take matters into their own hands and they try to prove that they are good enough for the

position. These teenage girls begin to alter their food consumption, develop mental health issues,

and have a change of heart towards their morals and values. Modeling agencies have revamped

the way these teenage girls see each other and how much they are willing to chance to be

accepted by society. Taking this opportunity away from teenage girls until the age of 21, would

help develop a mental idea of their morals and values and they stick to it in order to develop

themselves and the company that they are working for.

 Works Cited

Conan, Neal. The Life Of A Fashion Model: Grueling, Not Glitzy. NPR, NPR, 28 Sept. 2011,

www.npr.org/2011/09/28/140882246/the-life-of-a-fashion-model-grueling-not-glitzy.

Opinion: Why children shouldn't be fashion models. CNN, Cable News Network, 4 Dec. 2015,

www.cnn.com/2015/10/28/opinions/underage-fashion-models-concerns/index.html.

Treasure, Janet L., et al. Models as a high-Risk group: the health implications of a size zero

culture. The British Journal of Psychiatry, The Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1 Apr.

2008, bjp.rcpsych.org/content/192/4/243.

Wisdom, Jennifer P., et al. What Teens Want: Barriers to Seeking Care for Depression.

Administration and policy in mental health, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Mar.

2006, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3551284/.

15 Ways to Raise a Child with Great Values. Aha! Parenting,

www.ahaparenting.com/parenting-tools/character/values.