Dear Future President,

In today’s world, people are always looking for new trends and ways to fit the “ideal body image”. But what does that look like exactly? Advertisements on TV, images in magazines, even pictures on social media are edited to fit that perfect image. We need to show young teens that they don't have to edit their photos on social media to be beautiful, by restricting the amount of editing professional companies do to their models that go on ads.

In an article written by Philippa Roxby, BBC News Health Reporter, she interviews Kelsey Hibberd, from a mentoring program called Loud Education. The program goes around to schools, talking to students from the age of 12 to 13, sharing there is no reason students should edit the pictures they put online. They train teachers on how to deal with confidence in students, relating to body image. Kelsey was bullied in her secondary school years, and she exclaimed it was awful. She sees this happening more and more. Over social media, kids are being bullied because they don’t fit the ideal body image. Teenagers see these “perfect images” online, that have been no-doubtedly edited in some way (whether that be a hair out of place or the entire color of their hair) so they feel they need to edit their own pictures, or change themselves. According to The MP’s report, cosmetic surgery rates have gone up by at least 20% since 2008, due to pressure to fit the “beauty norm”. Photographs of beautiful people are used all over social media and advertisement, which gives teens, especially young girls, the idea that they should fit that mold.

What are we going to do about it? There is no reason young girls should feel that they aren’t pretty enough, or that they aren’t special. This is why we need regulations on editing photos in our country. Companies like Aerie or Dove have made advertisements using plus sized models or women that don’t fit the “mold” of ideal women. Aerie says sales went up by 9% since the plus sized ad.

People seem to like breaking the mold, so why don't we see more of it? Having regulations on photo editing will change the norm of what we think beauty looks like. Teens won't feel bad about themselves when they see a gorgeous model on TV, and they won't be tempted to edit their photos. Companies shouldn’t be allowed to severely alter the pictures they put in ads. They shouldn’t be allowed to slim models in images. Beauty is everywhere. Show people that beauty is natural, and we all have imperfections. Show everyone that you don’t need to change yourself to be beautiful, because everyone should be proud of who they are.

Sincerely,

Anna