Most, if not all, researches find that women are the targeted group for crises dealing with self-image. They are constantly being put on a pedestal and compared to an ideal that may not even actually exist.

Women go on diets and work out all the time. They're never thin enough,

so they go to unnatural extremes. All they really want is to feel good

about themselves in a sea of doubt and turmoil produced by a multi-

billion-dollar-a-year beauty industry. And they think the panacea is to

look like a supermodel: perfectly thin, tall, sculpted, and commanding-

our cultural epitome of feminine success. (Zimmerman 61)

For over a century, newspapers and magazines have been inundating Americans with images of ideal beauty. Only strict emulation of these ideals has been accepted as attractive. In the earl

the poor were often sick, being thin was also thought to be unhealthy (Kuberksy 22). This ideal was first replaced in the 1890's with the introduction of the Gibson girl, created by an artist. The new image was slimmer and more athletic-looking, and that thinness has since remained an integral part of the female allurement. Thinness, however, is always relative. The Gibson girl had average measurements of 38-27-45-rather chunky by today's standards (DeAngelis 57).

Bulimia. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group,

DeAgnelis, Tori. "Problems With Body Image." Eating

Sourcebook. Los Angeles, California: Lowell

Disorders. Ed. Myra H. Immell. San Diego,

Bell, Ruth, and Leni Zeiger-Wildflower. Changing

Colorado: Living Quest Publishing, 1993.

Kubersky, Rachel. Eating Disorders: Anorexia and

The 1990's heightened the requirements for physical perfection. Models not only had to be super skinny, but also "...strong, lean, and more defined" (O'Neill 98). Modeling began to demand, as it still does today, bodies at their personal peak. Not only are models putting pressure on the rest of womankind, but also they themselves are susceptible to poor body image. Models go through so much to maintain the image that others so envy and try to achieve. They too are "...ensnared with the rest of women in the sticky web of never feeling thin enough, of lacking the inner security of body acceptance" (Latimer 25).

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Some common words found in the essay are:
War II, , World War, Press Inc, House Inc, Seventeen November, eating disorders, Eating Disorders, Leni Zeiger, body image, gibson girl, inc 1999, Lowell House, Publishing Company, diego california greenhaven, california greenhaven, diego california, immell san, san diego, press inc, greenhaven press, california greenhaven press, myra immell san, immell san diego, greenhaven press inc,
Approximate Word count = 1132
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)