Sixteen-year-old Emily watches her favorite show, "America's Next Top Model", again. She is fascinated as the beautiful women parade across the screen. She wishes with all her heart to be as beautiful as one of these thin women. The show is interrupted by a dark-skinned woman. “She’s the epitome of beauty,” Emily thinks as the incredible J. Lo appears on screen. Jennifer Lopez, with eyelashes longer than Emily and her mother's combined, begins the Cover Girl makeup ad. Her face is radiant, without imperfections or flaws. J. Lo's last sentence sticks in Emily's thoughts. “Remember, every girl wants to be a Cover Girl.” “I want to be a Cover Girl,” Emily exclaims as she turns off the television and walks to her bathroom mirror. Emily picks up the magazine from her counter and looks at the women on the cover. She inspects her own reflection in the mirror. With a scrutinizing gaze, she examines the contours of his body, the complexion of his skin and the color of his hair; she frowns as she looks at the girl who is looking at her. Her stomach growled and she picked up the half-eaten apple from the counter. Looking at herself again, she throws the apple in the trash. She will be as beautiful as one of these women, even if it kills her. For girls, and even men like Emily, increased long-term effects such as depression, anorexia, bulimia, and low self-esteem are a direct consequence. result from negative perceptions of beauty imposed by society. Society imposes what is beautiful and what is not, through the use of competitions, models, celebrities and the media. During the colonial era, the hostile environment required both men and women to contribute to survival; society values ​​strong, fertile women... middle of paper ......y report an eating disorder: CNN Health. February 18, 2000. October 4, 2011. http://articles.cnn.com/2000-02-17/health/eating.disorders.wmd_1_eating-disorders-Chrisite, Catherine. “Nutrition and Well-Being from A to Z.” 2011. 10, October 2011. http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/Ar-Bu/Body-Image.Holliday, April. “Women's sizes by country”. The United States Today. Gannet Co. 2011. 10, October 2011. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/aprilholladay/2006-12-04-size-age_x.htmCroll, Jililan. “Body image and adolescents”. 10, October 2011. http://www.epi.umn.edu/let/pubs/img/adol_ch13.pdfOur Bodies, Ourselves: A New Edition for a New Era, 2005. Boston Women's Health BookCollective. http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/excerpt.asp?id=1Nussbaum, Kareen. Children and beauty contests. October 10, 2011. http://www.minorcon.org/pageants.html