Magazines Present an Unrealistic Image of Physical Beauty Have you ever thought about how the media might influence our opinions about ourselves? Images in magazines and on television create an idealized picture of what a beautiful woman should look like in our society. Young women are bombarded by these images every day. As a result, they grow from adolescence into adulthood with an unrealistic picture of beauty in their minds. This distorted view of reality is extremely dangerous for the female psyche.
The average woman in the United States is a size 12–14; however, runway and fashion models are often a size zero. The unrealistically thin portrayal of women is concerning. Some models and actresses are even speaking out about their frustrations with the portrayal of women in magazines. Actress Kate Winslet, famous for her role in the movie Titanic, complained about an image of her published in a magazine in which her body was digitally stretched to look thinner. She stated, "The retouching is excessive. I don't desire to look like that." Winslet went on to express her concerns about the unrealistic and unhealthy message that digital altering of images creates in the female mind.
The images in magazines are the result of the effects of special lighting, makeup, and even image editing tools like Photoshop. Even the images of the world's most beautiful supermodels are altered to make the models appear taller, thinner, or otherwise, different from their original pictures. If even the models' images are altered, how is the average woman supposed to feel about her own beauty?

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Read the excerpt from the passage.

Have you ever thought about how the media might influence our opinions about ourselves? Images in magazines and on television create an idealized picture of what a beautiful woman should look like in our society. Young women are bombarded by these images every day. As a result, they grow from adolescence into adulthood with an unrealistic picture of beauty in their minds. This distorted view of reality is extremely dangerous for the female psyche.

Which two ideas do these sentences reveal about the author's point of view?

The author thinks that images of adolescents in the media should be mainly positive.
The author hopes that people will understand the strength of the female psyche.
The author believes that the media negatively influence modern ideas about beauty.
The author finds idealized images of females disturbing and potentially harmful.
The author feels that only realistic images should be allowed in magazines.