Very interesting article about body esteem

http://www.webmd.com/skin-beauty/features/build-a-better-body-image-no-dieting-required

this reminds me of a time in Central America when a US company had come in and was looking for workers without success. Everyone was content with what they had. Then someone at the company gave the native population Sears catalogs (this was around 1910 when the catalogs were hot items). Suddenly they had more workers than they knew what to do with, because the catalogs caused the natives to want things they didn't have. Same sort of thing, only image is being sold instead of products.

They say that by today's standards, Marilyn Monroe would be considered fat.

Just in the interest of accuracy. I'd like to make two things clear here, now that I've said that:

1) I'm not saying women are supposed to be size 6-8.

2) I'm ashamed that I know Marilyn Monroe's dress size, and anything about vintage clothing.

:rofl:

and I was skin and bones. To get much smaller, they'd have to cut out my hip bones!

My shoulders barely dip in towards my hips no matter how much I've weighed, even when wrestling, I weighed 112. On the plus side, any daughters I have should have good birthing hips, lol.

generated by the U.S. of A.

D'où venons-nous? Que sommes-nous? Où allons-nous?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_Do_We_Come_From%3F_What_Are_We%3F_Where_Are_We_Going%3F

The article itself is quoting research done by Slim Fast -- a company which can cash in on dissatisfaction. And THIS is what their research produced (?!):

"Seventy-eight percent of the women in our survey said they wished they could wear a smaller size -- even the ones who were already a size 8," says Martz.

I think it is hard to quantify what that really means. But I am not surprised that people, of either gender, when asked if they would like to be someidealized weight said "yes". If they asked men is they would like to have a body like Peyton Manning I think a similar percentage would answer "yes"

I am not seeing any studies cited there that prove TV is the cause. It says only girls who watched these shows at least three times a week were 50% more likely to have a distorted body image. Did watching TV cause eating disorders? Or were girls who have eating disorders more likely to watch Ally McBeal and the like because it reinforces what they were trying to achieve? I find these kinds of statistics to be very loose. Consider that cable television also showed these girls Oprah, Rosie O'Donnell and Rachel Ray.

The goal of commercial television advertisers is to sell you things. That includes the things that you don't have becasue you really don't need them. Advertising has to make you dissatisfied with what you have (or don't have) before it can sell you anything.

Anorexia, real anorexia, existed before television and many theorize that its origins are chemical (endorphins released by the starving body) and deeply psychological. I'm not sure that TV can induce anorexia any more than it could induce schizophrenia.

There is an epidemic of anorexia in the entertainment and ad industry. The influence has definitely changed people's views of what is attractive. I'll see photos of 90 lb actresses with nothing but skin and bones, and people posting comments will mention their "great legs" and such, when there is literally nothing but bone.

Hey, if media images and celebs don't influence people, then why do companies spend BILLIONS each year for visual advertising? Why do they use celeb endorsers? Why do pro athelets wear logo clothes? Why did every teen girl look lik Madonna during the 80s? And why are so many young girls suddenly hell bent on giving birth, after tiring of carrying a chihuahua around last year?

and what TV executives think that they find attractive.

I've yet to meet a hetero man that thinks really really skinny women like Calista Flockhart are attractive.

That speaks volumes about our society. K&R.