By Megan Probst

Pine Whispers

If you type “Am I…” into a YouTube search bar, one of the first topics that will come up is “Am I pretty or ugly?” These videos posted on YouTube asking viewers for commentary on physical appearance are merely the latest trend in teenagers’ blatant cries for help and social acceptance.

Girls and boys as young as 7 are creating videos and uploading pictures in an attempt to convince the public that they are, in fact, physically likeable; however, reactions to these videos range from sympathetic to downright mean.

Although many people find these videos to be annoying and a way for kids to fish for compliments, it’s also an obvious cry for help for those who feel the need to ask the world to critique them. In the videos, girls talk about how some people have called them pretty in the past, but students from their schools call them fat and ugly. These negative comments have obscured their vision of themselves so all they see are their flaws.

The negative sentiments delivered by peers are only magnified when people post things like, “You’re ugly” and “You need to lose weight” and “You’re an attention-seeking whore!” This only feeds these girls’ low self-esteem and brings them down. Internet posters may not realize it, but by leaving hateful comments, they are scarring these girls for the rest of their adolescence and quite possibly their entire lives.

YouTube commentators are not the only ones responsible for this. Society and the media also share in the blame. There is an enormous flaw in society when 7 year olds feel forced to subject themselves to public scrutiny in order to feel like they’re pretty and that they matter.

First of all, physical beauty isn’t something that can be defined or summed up in a few words or in a few seconds of a video clip. Beautiful can mean anything, and usually depends on the opinion of the viewer. Unfortunately, from an early age young girls are constantly shown pictures of models and actresses who are size 2, bottle blond, absolutely clear of facial flaws, and in possession of a wardrobe no real person could match. This ideal is unrealistic, and it’s poisoning the minds of young girls everywhere. Boys are targeted in similar ways, from the ideal image of the ripped sports hero to the perfectly crafted flavor-of-the-month pop star.

We are told that thin is beautiful and any quirk that sets someone apart from the pack should be disguised. This is a lie. No children should feel like they don’t fit in or are unworthy or unwanted in their own schools.

Until society can change its viewpoint on beauty, young girls and boys everywhere will continue to compare themselves to the false images shown in magazines, tabloids, movies and TV shows. We have the ability to stop this epidemic, yet we keep judging and scrutinizing to the point where kids go to extremes in order to make themselves “pretty.”

People wonder what could possibly lead teenagers to contemplate anorexia or bulimia or steroid use and the answer is: We did. We as a society are forcing these girls and boys to conform to what we tell them will make them beautiful and ultimately successful in society.

What we don’t teach them is that there is more to life than looks and that the entire world doesn’t operate like a high school. Employers won’t care that your nose is a little too big. The guy in the car next to you at the stoplight isn’t focused on your smeared makeup or that the woman walking down the street has a few extra curves just like you.

The world isn’t perfect, so why are we trying to force teenagers into thinking they have to be?