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American women constantly struggle with acceptance and appearance. Daily exposure to images of waif thin models and articles of diets that will improve your appearance and self-esteem only add to the strife. This mass exposure sways our struggle for acceptance by failing to show us diverse body types. With the huge number of females with eating disorders (5 - 10 million) in this country, the media who pushes thin is in everyday seems largely at blame. (5) Many people find it extremely disturbing to see an article on one page in a magazine of a young girl dying or suffering from anorexia, and on the next page an ad for clothing with an obviously underweight model. The obvious glorification of thinness in this country sends a dangerous message to women of all ages- yet who takes the blame? In a recent study taken by the Commonwealth Fund, 4 out of 5 American women find their appearance dissatisfactory and one half of women resort to some type of dieting. (5) This dissatisfaction clearly resonates from the media- mainly from magazines.
Womens magazines are said to contain 10. 5 times more advertisements and articles promoting weight loss than mens magazines. (5) Rarely do we see a woman on the cover of magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Glamour that weighs over 120 pounds. True, these magazines often include articles about losing weight in a healthy manner, but in a study of one teen magazine over a period of 20 years, most of the articles promoted weight loss saying it would improve appearance. Of these articles, 74 % cited to become more attractive as a reason to exercise, and 51 % noted the need to burn calories or lose weight. In the same study, adolescent girls were polled in regards to health issues and where they received the information. Ninety-seven percent replied that their source was the media. (5) The ideal body craze does not just affect women and teenagers but children as well. The need to be thin resides on the minds of one half of American elementary school students between first and third grade.
This seems ridiculous to many, since most children do not lose their baby fat until they reach the age of 13. Yet maybe the media does not take full responsibility in the influencing, but people in general and their obsession with placing a value on personal size and shape. The statistics on children and their concern about weight can be traced to the parents possibly putting pressure on them. Four out of 5 children at age 10 have expressed a fear of becoming fat, and one half of children of the same age feel better about themselves if they are on a diet. (5) Although most of these parents feel as though they are doing the right thing by suggesting diets for their children, they may in fact do more harm than good. Studies have shown that mothers who are overly concerned about their daughters weight and physical attractiveness may put the girls at increased risk of developing an eating disorder. (1) College students are in the spotlight for eating disorders as well, trying to avoid the freshman fifteen. As many of them claim they are just on a diet, however, they are really putting themselves at high risk for obtaining an eating disorder. (2) Perhaps if women of all ages knew the real facts behind the photo shoots of Cosmopolitan magazine they would not obsess over being thin.
ABCs program 20 / 20 aired a story on a photo shoot of Cindy Crawford, showing 2 hours of digital editing and airbrushing that was done to her face and body. Not only did they make her face appear flawless, they trimmed her thighs and arms to make them seem thinner. They then went in and took any visible fat cells on her thighs and erased them. This is not to say Cindy Crawford has a weight problem or a flawed body. Perhaps todays models cannot live up to the standards set by our society. People magazine recently pointed out that Miss America contestants have become much more thin over the past years- so thin that they weigh in at a striking 15 percent below recommended body weight for their height. (4) Yet, Miss America is not the only thing in this country changing its weight standard.
Marilyn Monroe, a prominent figure of beauty in and American icon 30 years ago, wore a size twelve. Now such figures as Cindy Crawford and Kate Moss are idolized and they wear a size two- maybe four. Trying to obtain this body type is impossible for most women in this country- even if they starve themselves. (4) What most women need to realize is that only a handful (5 %) of women in America actually look like the models seen on magazine covers. The 54, 142 pound women that many of us are is normal- not the 59, 110 pound figure seen on the cover of Glamour and Cosmopolitan. (1) Yet when todays society labels women in the normal weight range wrong and unattractive it makes the word normal lose all meaning. This may explain why diet products have brought in over 33 billion dollars in profit annually. (4) A possibility exists that the media does not directly cause eating disorders and weight obsessions, yet they do affect the way Americans perceive themselves. Perhaps if the media concentrated on a variety of body types and included a more positive message regarding health and self-esteem; this issue could be reduced significantly.
People might not concentrate on one particular body type and in time could learn to value their health and normality of their body and its size and shape. Bibliography:
Free research essays on topics related to: miss america, american women, eating disorders, body type, weight loss
Research essay sample on Eating Disorders Weight Loss
