The Promise of Plastic Surgery – A Dangerous Teen trend on the Rise
Having a positive body image seems to be on the decline with teenage girls today as statistics show that almost half of all secondary age girls would consider some time of plastic surgery as an option to alter the way they look.
Dieting is also on the rise suggesting that social attitudes of today’s young women are strongly predicated by the way they look.
The noted organization GirlGuiding UK has authored a study involving more than a thousand girls between the ages of 7 and 21 to find that young women today consider plastic surgery to be a thing that will be readily available and acceptable to them as adults.
Citing the increase in plastic surgery reality television shows and the prevelant use of the procedures by celebrities, the study suggests that there is little to no negative stigma connected to having a plastic surgery procedure done. Seen almost on the same level as dieting, girls see cosmetic enhancements as a way to improve their social standing and self esteem.
The trend of younger girls becoming overly focused on physical appearance is a particularly alarming one. Twenty-seven percent of girls aged 10 and 11 say that they are not happy with their physical appearance, while one in eight girls aged 10 and 11 confess to wanting to be thinner. One disturbing trend in the data is the connection between a positive body image and how well a girl is doing in school.
When a young woman is not achieving in school, her self worth is greater connected to her appearance making the statistics of girls considering cosmetic surgery greater with underachieving students.
Nicola Grinstead, a trustee of Girlguiding UK says, “Girls and young women are telling us that they are finding it quite hard to accept their appearance, and it is starting at a much earlier age than we had previously thought.” Though the statistics are cause for concern, organizations such as Girlguiding UK feel that the answers are found in positively educating young people about body image and self esteem.
