Comment: Teenagers and beauty

The third task of your exam question asks you to comment on the following statement from Text 2: “I wouldn’t like to be a teenager growing up, there’s too much pressure on them now…” (ll. 13-14).

Text 2

Text 2 was written by Kate Morey, and it was published in 2009 on the website of “BBC News”. The text focuses on the decision of 13-year-old British student Kianna, who wants to have a breast implant surgery to be accepted by her group of friends. 

The statement which you have to comment on belongs to Angela, Kianna’s aunt. She comments on the difficulty of being a teenager nowadays when the media heavily influences the decisions of teenagers.

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Text 1 and Text 3

For you to better understand the pressures that teenagers might be subjected to, we recommend you also focus on Text 1 and Text 3.

Text 1 discusses the pressure of being in concordance with beauty standards imposed by the fashion industry, for instance:

Yet the reason supermodels are so famous is precisely because they are not typical; though they may work to keep their bodies healthy, their proportions are often unable to be imitated naturally. Young women, whose bodies are often going through growth spurts, can damage their bodies by eating too little, exercising too much, or undergoing surgery in response to the quest for “unachievable perfection.” (ll. 21-16)

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