"Body Image And Mass Media"

Hazboun, Bishara. "Body Image And Mass Media." 19 Jan. 2007. http://ezinearticles.com/?Body-Image-And-Mass-Media&id=423036.


This was an article that was written about the influence that magazines and the media have on young women, specifically targeting body image. The article explained that now a days teen magazines are promoting different styles and different body types. In the article it said that there have been 266 articles in "Seventeen" magazine that are related to the body from 1992 to 2003. They went on to explain that this is having a great effect on girls. The girls are wanting to look like certain celebrities or models and are willing to buy certain products or starve themselves or do whatever they can so that they look like whoever the media proclaims to be "acceptable".

I feel that this is definitely applicable to our generation. You can see it in so many places. Teens are always looking at the media and trying to find out what the "hot, new" trend is. And whatever the trend is at that given time, they want to be part of it. I've heard of girls that think that they are fat, even though they are a normal weight, and they starve themselves so that they may look a certain way that the media portrays as being "hot" or "sexy" or "cool" or whatever. Truth is that this is a reality, and the media really does have a big influence on young people.

"Sex Offenders and Myspace"

"Sex Offenders and Myspace." CBS News. CBS. 18 May. 2007.

This was a news clip from CBS News that was on their website. It was about how there are actually registered sex offenders that are currently active on Myspace. According to the social networking site they refuse to give up the names of those sex offenders. Kevin Poulsen was a person that created a program that linked sex offender information to Myspace user information. Through his findings they were able to uncover 744 convicted sex offenders that currently had accounts on myspace and the news reports that 500 of them had commited crimes against children. Police arrested several sex offenders who were users. Basically all they wanted Myspace to do was to try and verify that the person is who they say they are online.

My opinion on this is basically this, sex offenders must be stopped, and I feel that Myspace has the responsibility in turning those names in. We are just creating a more dangerous environment. I mean Myspace and other social networking websites are great, but they also have their down falls. Because it is an online thing, people can be whoever they want to be. You have to be very careful with who you choose to talk to, because you never know if that person could be a sex offender, murderer, or just someone who is trying to be someone who they really aren't. While social networking programs can be very useful and fun, they can also be very harmful.