As Samantha Murray sat in the audience, she thought to herself: I suddenly became acutely aware of my own fat bulges and folds. I imagined every eye in the room looking at me, shaking their heads with pity, revulsion, and even morbid curiosity. I surreptitiously pulled my shirt away from the swells of my stomach and hips, trying to separate appearance from reality. I shifted in my chair and felt my cheeks burn and my stomach churn… And yet I was ashamed. I was aware of the disgust that my body inspired, of its totally unacceptable and invisible character in the sexual domain, except as a figure of ridicule. I felt hot tears stinging my eyes and knew I had to get out. I squeezed my wide hips between the rows of chairs and fled the room. (238) In modern society, many teenage girls are body conscious, like Samantha Murray. In “Female Body Image and Mass Media: Perspectives on How Women Internalize Ideal Beauty Standards,” writes Kasey Serdar, standards for women's bodies are visibly fixed through certain forms of media; furthermore, there are strong pressures to achieve these unrealistic results (1). A multitude of self-esteem issues result from media portrayals of unrealistically thin models. Additionally, today's society places a lot of emphasis on what the eyes see rather than what's inside, as highlighted in the article "Factors That May Contribute to Eating Disorders" (1). As a result, eating disorders now begin at a younger age, as girls grow up viewing the “ideal body” as being skinny; Additionally, images in the media affect women's self-esteem so much that many develop eating disorders after spending time looking at these unrealistic images. Women should not feel the need to argue... middle of paper ......tories, Inc., 2014. Web. March 28, 2014. York, Christopher. “Eating Disorders: How Social Media Contributes to the Spread of Anorexia and Bulimia Among Young People.” » The Huffington Post. AOL Limited, April 23, 2013. Web. March 19, 2014. Zimmerman, Amanda and John Dahlberg. “The Sexual Objectification of Women in Advertising: A Contemporary Cultural Perspective.” » Journal of Advertising Research 48.1 (March 2008): 71-79. Premier Business Source. EBSCO host. Howland High School Lib., OH. Internet. March 28 2014 .