The Portrayal..

   Every time you watch T.V. you probably have noticed by now the misunderstanding that the media has taken in about how teens are suppose to look. That's mostly recognized on T.V. but it's also in books! I've recently finished my book,  Catwalk by Deborah Gregory. It was an interesting book because although by just the title, you've probably guessed that it's about fashion, and modeling, and girly-ish things. This moves into the topic and issue of insecurity for original body image. Many girls in the past and in the present constantly doubt or refuse to accept that they are beautiful in their own way. The media has had may teens (girls and boys) under the impression that there's only one specific meaning for beautiful or cool. They have stretched out that definition by making the actresses and actors look a certain way; such as slim, unbelievably perfect hair (color, style, length,etc.), actions (the way they act), etc. and it's changing the way teens look at themselves. They're starting to change the way they are originally like, to be the certain "beautiful" or the certain "cool".
   Back to the book.... the main character, Pashmina Purrstein has a certain way that she presents herself and that certain way is very similar to the media's definition of "beautiful". She's slim, tall (model type), with straight hair and "beautiful" facial features. She acts sort of "throbby"... in other words she can back stab certain people. She's also a little snappy and at times, she can have a loyalty issue, but she can also be generous and caring for her close friends.
  My basic point in posting about this is to show that teens (in specific) can be portrayed and they pretty much are right now. The media is making their own random definitions of "beauty" and/or... "swag" and kids are actually taking this seriously! They're changing their originality to "fit in", and as a human being, we are all born a certain way and we are all born different, so there's no need to try to be someone else, no matter how much you admire them, because you're basically hiding your own dignity and identity.