Americas Ideal Weight
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. Women's magazines are said to contain 10.5 times more advertisements and articles promoting
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 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 it's 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 5'4, 142 pound women that many of us are is normal- not the 5'9, 110 pound figure seen on the cover of Glamour and Cosmopolitan.(1) Yet when today's society labels women in 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
Some common words found in the essay are:
Cosmopolitan Glamour, Weight American, Glamour Cosmopolitan1, Kate Moss, Commonwealth Fund, Cindy Crawford, Miss America, Marilyn Monroe, Townsend English, , cindy crawford, eating disorders, improve appearance, american women, children age, body type, miss america, body types, size shape, weight loss,
Approximate Word count = 994
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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