She watches as the gorgeous, slim celebrities glide down the red carpet on TV. She looks around, and sees how flawless the rest of the world is compared to her. When she looks in the mirror, the one staring back is ugly. Fat. Imperfect. She begins to spiral down a dark path of self-harm, and eats less and less each day, to attain the unattainable image that is so widely popularized. Although everyone is supposed to be treated equally, girls are constantly shamed and pressured to look a certain way and to have a certain body type.

Dress Codes
Despite what many people think, dress codes at school are very harsh on girls. According to mashable.com, a girl named Amy Steverson was shamed at prom for having a larger body and breasts. Her prom dress, according to school officials, was way too revealing. Amy was told to wear the vice principal’s tuxedo jacket, which did nothing to cover up her cleavage. This is significant because when situations such as Amy’s happen, they cause a person to be humiliated. They may not show it, but a girl's self-esteem and confidence takes a weakening blow from being that publicly embarrassed. Prom is supposed to be the most magical and memorable night of a high schooler's life, but Amy´s night was ruined because she was body shamed. Also, mashable writer Katie Dupere wrote about some truly brave girls who defied school dress codes, like Lauren Wiggins, who was given detention for wearing a halter dress to school. She was called ¨a sexual distraction¨ to the male students. Lauren wrote an angry letter to the vice principal of her school and shared her story on social media. Unfortunately, she got suspended shortly after this. According this evidence, school dress codes seem to be very harsh on girls. Girls have the right to choose what they wear, and in some cases, dress codes stop them from expressing their individuality.

Social Media’s Effect on Body Image
Moreover, the internet and social media distorts healthy body image for many girls. Alicia Keys wrote, “Some of them are so skilled they even look like those models in every magazine you ever read—the ones who made you feel slightly uncomfortable with yourself or misrepresented or just unseen.” Mostly, magazines play to people’s insecurities with skinny and fit models, and this creates a feeling of vulnerability and shame. Shame leads to negatively distorted thoughts.. The celebrities’ and models’ body types worm their way into the mind, and that becomes an ‘ideal’ body type. A healthy body type is now considered fat in some cases. The fact that a celebrity is publicly aware of how damaging this is just goes to show you how much the media hurts someone’s self-esteem and warps their body image. In addition, “The female body is reflected and projected in the media as an object of desire…” (Groesz, Levine, Murnen 2). Many negative influences (such as peer pressure) affect the female mind, and because of this, a mindset of needing to be perfect and flawless develops.

Stop the Shame
Body shaming really affects girls on a dangerous level. They may develop eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia. Everyone can take many actions to help this serious issue. If someone you know has developed an eating disorder, go with them to a psychotherapy session. Think  about it—you could be saving a life.

Works Cited
Dupere, Katie. "6 Ways Students Are Fighting Back against Sexist School Dress Codes." Mashable. 2005-2016 Mashable, Inc., 31 May 2015. Web. 11 Nov. 2016.
Groesz, Lisa M., Michael P. Levine, and Sarah K. Murnen. "The Effect of Experimental Presentation of Thin Media Images on Body Satisfaction: A Meta-analytic Review." International Journal of Eating Disorders 31.1 (2001): 1-16. Web. 10 Nov. 2016.
Keys, Alicia. "Alicia Keys: Time to Uncover." Lenny Letter. 2016 Hearst Communications, Inc., 13 Oct. 2016. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.
"NIMH » Eating Disorders." U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.
Romano, Andrea. "Girl Body Shamed into Wearing Vice Principal's Jacket at Prom." Mashable. 2005-2016 Mashable, Inc., 28 Apr. 2016. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.