Do scantily clad media icons affect girls’ body image?
Researchers are finding that what girls see on the pages of their favorite magazines and what they see dancing in front of them in music videos can affect how they feel. Why? These media outlets paint an unrealistic picture of what a girl’s body should look like and these ordinary girls don’t fit the bill.
Do magazine models influence girls’ body esteem?
Researchers from the University of Minnesota published a study in the 2007 issue of the Journal of Pediatrics. They suggested that teenage girls who read about diet and weight loss in magazine articles may be negatively influenced years later.
The magazines feature impossibly skinny supermodels alongside “back-to-school” diet plans and tips for getting your body into “bikini” shape. Front page headlines scream; “50 shortcuts to a sexier body” (Glamour) or “6 ways to lose weight: easy diets that really work” (Allure)
Articles may say “Embrace your curves,” but airbrushed photos of skinny models tell a different story. Suffice it to say that some advertisers have more than one cookie jar on their hands.
Who was in the studio? More than 2,500 high school students who were surveyed, weighed, and measured in 1999 and again in 2004. About 55% of the participants were girls.
The scoop: Teenage girls who frequently read magazine articles that include diet articles are more likely five years later to engage in extreme weight-loss practices, such as vomiting, than girls who never read such articles. This result was not influenced by whether the girls were considered ‘overweight’ by medical standards or whether the girls believed weight was important to them.
High school girls who read diet articles (compared to those who didn’t) were twice as likely to try to lose weight 5 years later by fasting or smoking cigarettes. These girls were also three times more likely to use extreme weight loss practices, such as taking laxatives or vomiting to lose weight.
“Forty-one percent of teen girls report that magazines are their most important source of information about diet and health, and 61 percent of teen girls read at least one fashion magazine regularly,” ‘Eric Stice, Ph .D.
The problem: they may not know what’s going on; but the girls are being cheated. Studies show that the average fashion model is much taller than the average woman, but weighs approximately 23% (a fifth) less. According to the National Association of Eating Disorders, while the average woman is 5’4″ tall and weighs 140 pounds, the average model is 5’11” and weighs 117 pounds. In addition to thinking, advertisers and editors use retouching techniques to make models appear even slimmer and taller.
Note: Other studies have found that 69% of girls feel that magazine models influence their idea of the perfect shape (Field et al). Other statistics show similar body image issues, such as
–modeling industry standards suggest women should have waists no larger than 253 and hips no larger than 35 1/2 inches, also recommend measurements of 34-24-34;
–women’s magazines have 10.5 times more weight loss ads and articles than men’s magazines;
–60%+ of college students feel worse after reading magazines;
–changes found in magazines between 1970 and 1990 include a greater emphasis on fitness for attractiveness and a decrease in the model’s hip-to-waist ratio (becoming less curvaceous);
–1 in 3.8 commercials sends a message about attractiveness;
–the average person sees between 400 and 600 ads per day;
–7 out of 10 girls say they want to look like a character on TV
Do music video models have an impact on girls’ body image?
Researchers at the University of Sussex, led by Dr Helga Dittmar, have found that the use of ultra-thin models in music videos can cause girls to develop a poor body image. The article was published in the Journal of Body Image.
Who was in the studio? 87 girls ages 16 to 19 were put into random groups. A third watched music videos of the Pussycat Dolls and Girls Aloud, known for being slim and attractive. Another third of the participants were asked to listen to the music but not watch the videos. The final groups were only asked to learn a list of neutral words. All three groups were asked questions asking them to remember what they heard or saw. The responses measured levels of self-esteem, body satisfaction and mood.
The scoop: After just 10 minutes of exposure, the researchers found that the groups that had watched the music videos with the slim, attractive stars exhibited the greatest increase in body dissatisfaction compared to those that simply listed the songs from memory. . task with neutral words. Also, and perhaps most worryingly, it didn’t matter if the girls had high or low self-esteem to begin with, they were all affected equally.
The problem: Girls see these music video icons as what they should aspire to be. Seeing skinny celebrities can make girls feel “less then” and wonder how they can look like their heroes. Girls tend to engage in dieting, poor eating, and other more extreme weight loss behaviors.
The media is all around us. Even when we are not looking for it; We see it every day. The way ultra-thin models, singers, actresses and entertainers are portrayed in the media seems to have a profound impact on the way girls see themselves and evaluate their bodies.