The media has a negative impact on women's body image by promoting artificial beauty. Women often become dissatisfied with their bodies, leading them to develop eating disorders. Body image affects a woman's perceptions and feelings about her physical appearance when she looks in the mirror. The media portrays the unrealistic beauty of thin women with perfect hair and makeup. Many women who expose themselves to the media's unrealistic standards idealize, lust, and become very insecure. The many women who do not expose themselves would encourage others to perceive their physical appearance as beautiful. “Many popular women's magazines advise women to focus on their physical and external attributes (i.e. body shape, muscle tone, bone structure, hair, makeup, clothing, etc.) and rarely mention the importance of being smart, sophisticated, funny and/or possessing many other positive attributes that have nothing to do with physical attributes” (Sparhawk 1). Clearly, media representation of the thin ideal is linked to the majority of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders. In other words, the media's use of unrealistic women sends a hidden message that for women to be beautiful, they must be unhealthy. The importance of physical appearance is encouraged early in most girls' development. For these reasons, the connection between media and body image is very important, as poor body image will lead to eating disorders and potentially death. Many women are very sensitive about their appearance, which makes them more dependent on media products. Media culture sends mixed messages about what is sexy, leading women to face similar unrealistic expectations when exposed to media images. Some my...... middle of paper...... which is unrealistic and inaccessible for a majority of women in society. Models featured in all forms of popular media often have body weights considered healthy, which sends a powerful message that women must sacrifice their health to be considered attractive by societal standards. When we look at images of women, we see that they are thin. , beautiful, sexy and fashionable. They are different from average women. Women who see images of perfect women all the time are unhappy with their appearance. Additionally, they lose their self-esteem because they believe they need to be prettier, sexier, and more fashionable. Most women are aware of society's emphasis on appearance, as well as knowing the social standards regarding beauty. These women are determined individuals who reject current norms and have a positive body image..