Body image—the way people feel about their looks—is a big problem for many young people today. According to a1 , more than half the teenage girls in the USA think2 should be on a diet, and almost one in five teenage boys are3 about their bodies and their weight.
But what's the cause? In the study, many blame(责备)the media(媒体). Turn on the TV and you'll4 see beautiful models, handsome actors and fit sports stars.5 a magazine or a newspaper, look through the Internet, and it's usually6.
Many young people feel pressure to7 these "perfect" people. But for most, this is just not possible. In the USA, the average(平均的)woman is 163 cm tall and weighs 64 kilos,8 the average model is 180 cm tall and weighs 53 kilos.
When people don't look the way many9 people look, they may become less confident. Some stop eating10 in order to lose weight. Students can lose so much confidence that they start to11 taking part in classroom activities at school.
Body image problems don't12 as we get older, either. In the UK, for example, women over 50 spend more money on cosmetics(化妆品)than any other13 group. Older men spend a lot of money trying to14 hair loss.
Is there a solution to the problem? A 2016 study in the UK suggested that body image lessons should be provided in15. Others believe it's a problem that all of society needs to deal with. As Meaghan Ramsey says, "We need to judge(评判)people by what they do, not what they look like."
