What does
the ideal woman look like? According to our society and the media
she must be very thin, tall, and look flawless. Is this true?
No, but a majority of the girls and women in the United States
are obsessed with looking like the models and actresses that grace
magazine covers and appear in films. The perception of women's
body images has changed greatly in the last 60 years. In the 1940's
being thin was associated with being "nervous, submissive,
and socially withdrawn" (Turner par. 1). In the 1980's thin
women were seen more positively and more "sexually appealing"
(Turner par. 1). A very slender body is now the image of beauty,
and the mass media is responsible for this change in women's body
shape and perception.
Successful magazines like YM, Seventeen, Sassy, and 'Teen, frequently
have articles telling teenage girls how to attract the men of
their dreams, how to lose weight, and how to look "perfect."
In the same magazine it will also tell the reader to love herself
for who she is and not to obsess over her body. How can the reader
not obsess over what she looks like when spread throughout the
magazine are pictures of white, thin, blond, gorgeous models.
What the magazines are really saying is that girls should love
their bodies, but only if they look like the images in their magazine.
Diets are published in teen magazines all the time, supposedly
because girls want to know what their eating options are. Girls
don't need to be reading about diets, they need to be reading
about increasing self esteem and self acceptance. Many girls realize
the images in magazines are unattainable and enjoy seeing spreads
like Seventeen's "School-Zone" because it shows real
kids from real schools just hanging out. The fact that they know
images in magazines are unattainable though, doesn't stop them
from being unhappy with their bodies.
Teen magazines aren't the only culprits causing infatuation with
body image and the lowering of self-esteem and among girls and
women. Society is just as bad about stressing the importance of
a thin body and a gorgeous face. Women more than men are judged
strictly on appearance before any words are even spoken. The word
"fat" is used in this society to label people we feel
are overweight and thus must also be lazy, dirty, and unworthy
of our time.
In order to deal with society's harsh view of women who aren't supermodel thin, women turn to eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia to combat their fear of becoming "fat". Donna Marquardt, wrote a poem entitled "Time to Eat" and in it she says this about young girls, "They major in beauty, and makeup, a Seventeen magazine their textbook, taking care to master the tools of a trade necessary for survival." She is aware of the messages that magazines like Seventeen send to young girls-be beautiful, get the guy, stay thin-and yet she still falls victim to an eating disorder. Some young girls also resort to anorexia and bulimia when they first start to grow breasts and curves so that they can postpone looking like a woman. Models are also avoiding looking womanly, a study done by Garner and B. Silverstein indicates that from 1900 through the 1970's women's bodies in the media became "much thinner and less curvaceous" (Turner par. 5).
Still not convinced that the media has a negative effect on women's body images? Maybe this will help. The authors of "The Influence of fashion magazines on the body image satisfaction of college women: An exploratory analysis" did an experiment to see if fashion magazines do effect body image satisfaction. The participants in the experiment were 49 females out of an introductory psychology class at a women's college. 24 were put in the fashion magazine group and 25 in the news magazine group. There was no real difference in mean body height and weight between the two groups. Their were four fashion magazines and four news magazines used in the experiment. Each girl was left in a room for 13 minutes with only the four magazines depending on which group they were in. The women were then given a questionnaire to measure "her perceptions of her own body type, her ideal body type, and the body type considered to be most ideal by society" (Turner par. 12). The second part of the questionnaire asked questions about the participants dieting attitudes and habits. Of the participants, 18 in the fashion magazine group, and 21 in the news magazine group actually red a magazine, the others were left out of the analysis.
They found that women who read fashion magazines were least satisfied with their weight. They exercise only to lose weight, they feel guilty while they eat and after, and desire to be thinner. The finding was that, "Exposure to fashion magazines was related to women's greater preoccupation with being thin, dissatisfaction with their bodies, frustration about weight, and fear about deviating from the thin standard" (Turner par. 21)
The authors of "Exposure to media images of female attractiveness and concern with body weight among young women," conducted three experiments of their own. Each one was conducted on female undergraduates between the ages of 18 and 25. In the first experiment the subjects began by taking the Eating Disorder Inventory test to assess body satisfaction, then they saw slides of fashion models and automobiles. After seeing the slides they were given the Weight Concern subscale of the Body Esteem Scale to measure concern with body weight manipulation. The results indicated that exposure to media images is likely to increase a woman's awareness of weight concern. The second experiment added slides of attractive women who weren't super models, and the results were the same. The third experiment administered a third questionnaire, a checklist was given that didn't prompt social comparisons, and subjects were questioned about any suspicions following the experiment. The results were again the same. The reasoning was that women compare their bodies to society's standards, and they just can't add up.
In this society the media is our way of getting information, and we trust that information. Until women are no longer seen as having to be thin, tall, and gorgeous, many women in this country are going to be dissatisfied with their appearance. When women are unhappy with their appearance and are discriminated because of it, they go to great lengths to become thin and look gorgeous. Most of these ways are unhealthy and before the epidemic grows we need to demand that real women be seen in the media, and not just "Barbie" look alikes.
Higginbothan, Anastasia. 1999. "Teen Mags: How to Get a Guy, Drop 20 Pounds, and Lose Your Self-Esteem." In Kesselman et al. Women: Images and Realities: A Multicultural Anthology. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. Pp. 87-90.
Marquardt, Donna. 1999. "Time to Eat." In Kesselman et al. Women: Images and Realities: A Multicultural Anthology. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. Pp. 122-123.
Newman, Leslea. 1999. "One Spring." In Kesselman et al. Women: Images and Realities: A Multicultural Anthology. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. Pp. 122.
Posavac, Heidi D., Steven S. Posavac, and Emil J. Posavac. Feb 1998. "Exposure to media images of female attractiveness and concern with body weight among young women." Sex Roles: A Journal of Research. v38 n3-4: p 187-199.
Siebecker, July. 1999. "Women's Oppression and the Obsession with Thinness." In Kesselman et al. Women: Images and Realities: A Multicultural Anthology. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. Pp. 123-128.
Turner, Sherry L., Heather Hamilton, Meija Jacobs, Laurie M. Angood, Deanne Hovde Dwyer. Fall 1997. "The influence of fashion magazines on the body image satisfaction of college women: an exploratory analysis." Adolescence. v32 n127: p 603-615.
Female Body Shape Questionnaire
The author of this website is the Monash University Faculty of Medicine Health Promotion Unit. These individuals are faculty at a University that has a unit that focuses on Health Promotion and thus should know what they're talking about. The purpose of this site is to let women test their perception of their body image. This site is a good indicator of the way women really feel about their bodies.
The authors of this website were graduate students at the Columbia University School of Journalism. This was their news media masters project. They did a lot of research on why women's self-worth is linked to the shape of their bodies. They interviewed women and experts to get accurate information. This site is very thorough and informative, we recommend looking especially at the body as commodity link and the fighting back link. They also have many links to different sites related to body image issues.
This site contains an excerpt from the book, The College Woman's Handbook by Rachel Dobkin and Shana Sippy. The book is about college women and how to have a good body image. There is information on where and how to obtain the book.
This site is put out by Debora Burgard, Ph.D. as an educational resource. It is a general site that deals with many women's issues. In it are articles, discussion forums, and research findings that cover a large spectrum of topics including body image. The fact that she contains a Ph.D. leads us to believe that this is a credible site. There is so much information on it that is helpful to women of any ages. Check it out!