Maybe looks aren't everything, but beauty is a major obsession. The Looks Books puts the pressure in perspective and helps get you in touch with your own style.

Here, for the first time, are girls' unmuted voices from the front lines of adolescence, personal and painfully honest. By laying bare their harsh day-to-day reality, Reviving Ophelia issues a call to arms and offers parents compassion, strength, and strategies with which to revive these Ophelias' lost sense of self.

Only recently have parents been speaking openly about their struggles with tormented teen girls ("Ophelias"), many of whom struggle with eating disorders, depression, suicidal behavior and other problems.

You might want to visit the PBS website to read more on self-image.

To get more information visit the NASE website to learn more about self-esteem.

Self-Esteem

"I believe that beauty magazines promote low self-esteem. Ever since I was growing up I’ve felt like I was worthless. I used to be teased by others. As a result I developed low self-esteem."

Anonymous

Ever realize that the way you think is determined by the outcomes of others? Do you view yourself just as you are do you view your self just as others see you? How can this possible effect me? Well you can't touch it, you smell it, but you can see it, and you can feel it. What is it that they suffer from? It's called Self-esteem and Self -image.

It's important to understand the meaning of these words before identifying the problems. Esteem describes the way you think about some one or something that is important or the value that a person has. Unfortunately, efforts to convey the singificance and critical nature of self-esteem have been hampered by confusion and misconceptions of the meaning of self-esteem. Some have establish self-esteem as feeling good or having a positive attitude about ones self. Others think that it is only about ones ego, arrogance, conceit, narcissism, or even sense of superiority that could lead into violence.

Self-esteem is not the euphoria of buoyancy that may be temporarily induced by a drug, a love affair, or even a compliment. It is not an illusion or hallucination. Lots of things can make us "feel good " for a while. If self-esteem is not grounded in reality if it is not built over time through operating consciously, and with integrity it is not self-esteem.

"I believe that beauty magazine promotes low self-esteem. Have you ever looked at a seventeen magazine? The magazine is filled with ways to make your self over. The magazine gives you make up tips, nail tips, and fashion tips. Yet this magazine like many other fails to really appeal to the teens without subtly telling them that there is something wrong with them. These magazines were created to give girls a positive view of themselves. Out of the entire magazine very few pages actually promoted a good self image to young girls.

A close relationship has been linked between low self-esteem and violence, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, eating disorders, suicide, and low academic achievement. These are only one of several contributing factors. However it is difficult to try and reach an agreement on the nature of self-esteem itself because of the many different views. However the general view that is widely agreed upon is that the term self-esteem includes cognitive, affective, and behavioral elements. It is cognitive one consciously thinks about oneself as they consider the discrepancy between their ideal self, the person they wish to be, and the perceived self. Behavioral In the sense that it has manifested in such behavior as assertiveness, resilience, being decisive and respective of others.

Self Image: The Fantasy, The Reality

1. The average American woman wears a size 10 or larger (not a 2 or 3, like your average model).

2. Twenty years ago, the average model weighed 8% less than the average woman; today, models weigh 23% less.

3. 400-600 advertisements bombard us everyday in magazines, on billboards, on TV, and in newspapers. One in eleven has a direct message about beauty...and that's not even counting the indirect messages.

4. 60% of high school girls with eating disorders or related symptoms do not believe they need counseling.

5. Eighty percent of 10-year-old American girls diet.

6. Between 1996 and 1998, teenage cosmetic surgeries nearly doubled, from 13,699 to 24,623. (Source: American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons)

7. One million teenage boys have eating disorders, and as many as 400,000 are steroid users.

8. Steroid use can cause acne, lower a guy's sperm count and make the testicles smaller.

Advice: "Don’t reject everything that makes you different. Embrace every thing about you that makes you unique. Embrace the world with open arms and those who are of like minds will receive you."

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