How Does Media Influence Young People Today

Major influences on young people today are the ideas of what men and women should be like in many areas of society today. Three of these are media, how the young people see their own body image, and peer or family influence of how they should look.

First, the media is a huge influence! They present the idea of what men and women 's bodies should be in a way that may lead young people to think that they must have that look because it is being portrayed as the "norm". Media takes the opportunity to characterize men and women with a stereotype of what they think that men and women should look like. The images that the media shows can have a huge impact on young people as they depict what women should look like in families, the workplace

Unknowingly, parents and peers alike may let their own expectations take center stage in a child 's life. Parents may use specific language or even body language about gender. For instance, they may say "boys cannot cry" or " girls must be polite and always clean and neat". Parents may stereotype because that is the way that they were raised. Also, society expects the young people to conform to the "norm". Additionally, many peers and family portray young women to be lesser of a human in that they think the woman should be dependent on the husband and be a sexual object for him. They may feel it is important for the young woman to stay at home, do the cooking, cleaning and make babies. It has been that way for generations. Most high paying jobs go to men not women. They reflect a gender inequality that is very unfair to women. Also, when young men and women do go off to college some of the influence of the family seems to go away sometimes. Mothers and girlfriends still do try to tell the young woman that she needs to do this or that to be pretty like a certain celebrity. Since the college person may be away from home there is less opportunity for the parent to inflict their ideas on the young person. But when they continue to do that, the girl or young man can still suffer from low self and poor body concept or image. Parents and