How many of us watch the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and immediately regret everything that we ate that day? According to kglobal, the average Victoria's Secret model weighs 115 pounds. In comparison, the average American woman weighs 162.9 pounds. We compare ourselves to these models because as women in today's society, we believe that these models represent the ideal body image. What has made us think that models should represent the ideal body image for women in America? The problem is that media portrays what women should look like when they should really focus on the concept of a healthy body.
Here's a powerful statistic for you: The National Eating Disorder Association states that 60% of girls ages six to 12 are concerned about their weight or becoming too fat. That means that every three in five school-age girls already have some idea of what their body is 'supposed' to look like. This also is proof that girls are learning from an extremely early age about body image, which can have a very negative impact not only on their future but on their self-concept as a female in today's society. Many of these cases can lead to the constant pressure to lose weight and diet throughout their lives and may even lead to future eating disorders.
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The term 'skinny' is affecting women's self body image because that is what we are taught from an early age to aspire to be. We are shown in magazines, on television shows, and taught by celebrities that in order to succeed in life, you need to be thin. When girls grow up with this image in their heads, more and more are becoming self-conscious with their bodies, which greatly affects their well-being as a whole. Instead of the media portraying the constant thin ideal, what they need to be doing is showing powerful, successful, and beautiful women who beat that image. We should be teaching girls that being healthy is FAR more beautiful and important in the long run: not only for their happiness, but also their health.
What should the perfect body image be? Healthy.
In the 1930's through 1950's, women with voluptuous and curvy bodies were seen as having the ideal body image. From the 1960's to today, "thin" is seen as the ideal body type. What we need to do is make a multitude of ideal body types in order for women all around the world to live their lives without changing things about them in order to be happy. Something needs to change with the way that we view women's bodies before society is left with only self-conscious women with low self-esteem.
