American Women Research Paper
In the American culture, women are starving, and gorging themselves, their children, and their loved ones. Some women hate and want to get rid of everything that makes them female; a pear shaped body and curves (Keresey). Many eating disorder specialists agree that chronic dieting is a direct consequence of the social pressure on American females to achieve a nearly impossible thinness. Women are taught from childhood to judge the worth of their bodies looking at an emaciated standard of beauty, which the media has been blamed for upholding and possibly even creating (Schneider). To explore the broader context of this controversial issue, this paper draws upon several aspects on how common body dissatisfaction in adolescent females is,
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and also reflects upon research that presents several important ideas regarding the connection between the mass media and body dissatisfaction. "Body image is the subjective sense people have of their own appearance and their body"(Body). "Body dissatisfaction is defined as a subject's satisfaction with their bodies" (Lewis). People tend to have a distorted sense of their own body (Body). Perceptions about body images are shaped from a variety of experiences and begin to develop in early childhood. It has been shown that children learn to favor thin body shapes by the time they enter school. "By the age of 10, most girls are afraid of becoming fat (Body)." Overall body size and image concerns have been reported to be more prevalent among females than males. Gender related differences in acceptable body size are shaped from a variety of societal definitions of appealing shapes for males and females. Girls are taught to focus on the external aspects of themselves. "Learning to do their hair, polish their nails and paint their faces, is virtually a rite of passage into womanhood in the American culture"(Body). "Boy's, on the other hand are taught to focus on their athletic abilities rather than there looks" (Body). Many males' report being unhappy with some aspect of their body, but concern about body weight appears to be a far more common and more important aspect of body dissatisfaction by females than males. Survey data indicates that about one-half to three-quarters of females who are normal in weight consider themselves to be overweight (Lewis). Researchers have observed that while a boy learns to view his body as a means for achieving power and control in the world, while a girl learns that a main function of her body is to attract others (Lask). Many advertisements lead girls to believe that they must be found thin to be attractive. As girls grow older and their body changes, they become increasingly dissatisfied with their bodies and consistently desire to be thinner. The appearances of models in the media may send a dangerous message about eating disorders, but fashion, and fitness magazines, and some television shows with thin characters also play a part in influencing irregular eating patterns of young women (DeGroat). Most surveys state that symptoms of women's eating disorders are stronger for magazine reading than from television viewing. However women that watch television shows with thin women in them, shows a woman's drive for thinness (DeGroat). Watching shows with heavy women shows that women are concerned with their body dissatisfaction (DeGroat). Either way you look at it, media influences both. Kristen Harrison, an assistant professor of communication studies has many things to say about media influence on eating disorders. She says," Instead, the overall emphasis on feminine thinness exemplified by multiple media depictions of slender models and actresses should be considered for its possible influence on disordered eating" (DeGroat). Food plays a major role in a woman's life. For females, food is depicted as a reward or a way of socializing. But women are also taught that they are supposed to be thin and fit, yet this is difficult to accomplish if females indulge in a large range of food. Being diet-obsessive, the mass media provides a sharp contrast to the pleasure of food, and what it is supposed to bring to females. Thus there are clear and quite strict limits on the degree to which American females may attempt to satisfy their impulses toward food (Body). "Market data enterprises Inc. estimated the size of the weight loss industry at
$32, 680 in 1994"(Dittrich). "The clientele of this industry are about eighty five percent woman, most of whom regain the weight lost with in two years" (Dittrich). A sample of popular women's magazines contained approximately ten times as many dieting advertisements and articles as a similar sample of men's magazines. "This ratio exactly matches the ratio of females to males with eating disorders" (Harrison).
Societal standards of beauty change dramatically over time. Today the body ideal is to be thin. However, this has not always been the case. Only a century ago, the ideal female body was the opposite of what it is today. Cellulite, which use to be called "dimpled flesh", was considered beautiful. "Fatness was viewed as a sign of energy and health" (Body). The body ideal in the 1920's was similar to that of today, which is thin. However, this look was achieved through the use of clothing styles and fashion. Then in the 1950's more voluptuous figures, such as Marilyn Monroe set the new standard for the ideal woman. However, this look didn't last for long with the arrival of Twiggy in the 1960's. Twiggy's look was one of a pre-pubescent boy. In the 1980's the look was still thin, but with more of an emphasis on a toned, fit look. "The body ideal for woman of today's times is one of very thin large breasted combination" (Body). Unfortunately, for many people the ideal thin body is nearly impossible to achieve (Body). This makes women feel dissatisfied with their appearance. Hence, the beginning of a negative body image.
In a famous study comparing Pageant contestants, and Playboy centerfold models, Garfinkel, Schwartz, and Thompson, found many interesting statistics. Their study reported a significant decrease in the body measurements and weights of Playboy centerfolds and Miss America Pageant contestants. Pageant contestants' weight decreased significantly over the time of the study, and more often than not, pageant winners weighed considerably less than the other contestants. Also found in their study, sixty nine percent of the playboy centerfolds and sixty percent of the pageant contestants weighed at least fifteen percent less than expected based on height. This is important because being at least fifteen percent below one's expected body weight is symptomatic of anorexia nervosa. "Surprisingly, as the body standard has continued to be thin, the average weight of women has actually risen" (Harrison).
Another study that is more recent compared to the study of Playboy centerfolds, and Pageant contestants, was conducted by King, Touyz and Charles. This Australian study attempted to determine which women are affected by the media images. Ninety-six female undergraduate psychology students from the University of Sydney participated in this study; no girl's suspect of having an eating disorder took part in the exercise. "The students took a Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ), which measured their concerns about their own body shape" (King). "Participants were then shown one accurate and six distorted photographs of thin and heavy female celebrities and were asked to choose which photograph portrayed the celebrity's true body shape" (King). Based on the girls BSQ's, the girls were separated into two groups: a low-body-shape concern group and a high-body shape concern group. The results were that the high-body-shape concern group judged the thin celebrities as thinner than actuality and the low-body-shape concern girls judged them more accurately. "The researchers believe that these results provide an explanation for why women with a higher concern about their body, appear to be more strongly affected by media exposure of thin females, based on their perception of the images" (King). Recently, researchers have become concerned with the question of how and to what degree advertising involving thin and attractive women is related with chronic dieting, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorders in American females (Lewis). The American female's obsessive quest for the perfect body is both reflected and promoted by advertisements. Promises of body changes bordering the impossible are everywhere in magazines and on television. For example, the advertisements for diet pills promoting the loss of ten pounds in a weekend (found in the back of most teen magazines). Such advertisements and advice to young women nourish the obsession that carries with it an array of psychological and behavioral problems. Whether or not they are too heavy, females who see themselves as overweight show decreased satisfaction with their bodies. Body dissatisfaction in females appears to encourage disturbed eating behaviors. "In a study conducted by [Garfinkel, Lin and Goring, 1995] they found that a large number of girls and women, while not meeting the formal criteria for an eating disorder, have partial syndromes and many are seriously impaired by their disordered eating" (Lewis). "Fifty-five percent of college women have binged, and at least sixteen percent of them once a week" (Lewis). "At least eighty percent of fifteen-year-olds report binge eating, and eleven percent purging behavior" (Lewis). In the United States culture, an appearance has important social consequences. In many cases, attractive people are selected more often as work partners, more often for hiring, and more often for dating partners. "In this type of environment, it is reasonable to expect women to be concerned with their appearances and to compare themselves to other women on that basis" (Body). Advertising, retailing, and entertainment industries produce images of beauty that pressure women to conform to the current ideal body type. "Research shows that thinness in women is emphasized in media presentations" (Schneider). Media images, particularly those of high profile fashion models, only reinforce a cultural ideal for women. Media images are everywhere in daily life and because models in advertisements are highly attractive, comparison with such standards generally result in lower self-esteem, dissatisfaction with appearance, eating disorders, and or a negative body image (Harrison). A traditional gender role perspective portrays the importance for women to be evaluated positively in terms of attractiveness, of which thinness is a major part, than to be evaluated positively in terms of intelligence. "Numerous studies have since confirmed the objective existence of the thin ideal in the media, and those women are judged a significant extent on their appearance generally and on their weight" (Baker).
There have also been attempts to investigate empirically how women perceive these social pressures, and how they affect women's behavior.
People magazine asked 1,000 women, ranging in ages from 18-55, about their bodies and how the images of Hollywood's slender stars influence their self-esteem. Eighty percent of the respondents said that images of women on television, and in movies, fashion magazines and advertising make them feel insecure about their own looks. How insecure? Enough so that 93 percent of the women have tried to loose weight, 34 percent said they would consider or have had cosmetic surgery and 34 percent would be willing to try a diet even if it posed as a health risk. Some 28 percent of the woman surveyed admitted that they had turned down social invitations because of discomfort with their looks, and 10 percent have avoided medical appointments because of their weight. When the women were asked what caused their greatest insecurity with their body, all fingers pointed to the mass media with 37 percent off woman saying the portrayal of women on television and in movies, 24 percent pointed to fashion magazines and another 19 percent responded with advertising. These results indicate that many women are unhappy with their bodies and acutely aware of how they compare with the mass media's images of the "ideal" body (114+). As Judy Lightstone quoted, "If we place pornography and the tyranny of slenderness alongside one another we have the two most significant obsessions of our culture, and both of them focussed upon a woman's body"
(Keresey). Almost everyone has, at one time or another, wished they could change something about themselves. For many people, the desire to change involves something about their physical appearance. Body image is something that influences everyone. Body image affects people of all ages, both males and females. However, in the United States females are in particular, more conscious about looking good. For some their happiness and self-worth are largely determined by their body image. Whether or not body size, body shape, measurements, and so on, match society's ideals; determine how satisfied women are with themselves. In many cases, appearance becomes more important to the female than one's health and well being. The media has been responsible for promoting a standard of beauty that in most cases is unattainable to many people and unhealthy to most people. However, due to the effect of poor body image, influenced by several factors, women fall prey to this cultural ideal of thinness. The impact that the media has on women's body image is generally poor and often detrimental to their perception of their body image. This poor perception can cause several vulnerabilities in women including the need to create poor eating pathologies to achieve this ideal.
Works Cited
Anderson, Arthur, and Deborah Sandler. "Body Image Distortions: A common psychological condition in cosmetic surgery cases." Hampstead Psychological Associates, LTD (2000): 12 pars. 11, April 2001 http://www.cosmeticsupport.com/info/bdd3.html
Baker, Dawn, Rebecca Sivyer, Tony Towell. "Body Image Dissatisfaction and
Eating Attitudes in visually Impaired Women." International Journal of Eating Disorders v 24 (1998): 17 pars. 12, April 2001 http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com
Botta, Renee. "Television Images and Adolescent Girls' Body Image
Disturbance." Journal of Communication (spring 1999): 13 pars. 12, April 2001 http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com
"Body Image in Our Time-From a Feminist Perspective." 1999. 17 April 2001. http://www.grammashouse.net/bodyimage1.html DeGroat, Bernie. "Media Influence Eating Disorders." News and Information
Services. 22 Oct. 1997. 17 April 2001. http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/9798/Oct22_97/media.htm
Dittrich, Liz, Ph.D. "About-Face Facts on BODY IMAGE." 1996-2000. 17
April 2001. http://www.about-face.org/resources/facts/bi.html Guillen, Barr & Levine. "The Media, Body Image, & Eating Disorders". Journal of Adolescent Health (1994) Plenary Presentation at the Third Annual Eating Disorders on Campus Conference (1997): 5 pars. 10, April 2001 http://www.edap.org/media1.html
Harrison, Kristen, Joanne Cantor. "The Relationship Between Media
Consumption and Eating Disorders." Journal of Communication v 47 (Winter 1997): 14 pars. 12, April 2001 http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com
Keresey, Maggie. "Get a Better Body Image." Teen Magazine Nov. 1997 v41 n11: 58. http://www.edreferral.com/body_image.htm
King, Natalie, Stephen Touyz, and Margaret Charles. "The Effect of Body
Dissatisfaction on Women's Perceptions of Female Celebrities." Nutrition Research Newsletter. (2000): 6 pars. 10, April 2001 http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com
Lask, Bryan and Rachel Bryant-Waugh, eds. Anorexia and Related Eating
Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence. East Susses, UK: Psychology Press Ltd, 2000.
Lewis, Jordan. "Eating Disorders." 8 Jan. 1996. 17, April 2001. http://odysseus.calumet.yorku.ca/courses/3700/proposals/lewis.html Schneider, Karen S. "Mission Impossible." People Weekly 3 June 1996 v45 n22:
64. http://www.edreferral.com/body_image.htm
Stice, Eric, Diane Spangler, and W. Stewart Agras. "Ultra-thin Magazine Models
Negatively Impact Girls with Pre-existing Body Image Dissatisfaction." Self-help Magazine (1999): 6 pars. 10, April 2001 http://www.shpm.com/articles/eating/magmodels.html
and also reflects upon research that presents several important ideas regarding the connection between the mass media and body dissatisfaction. "Body image is the subjective sense people have of their own appearance and their body"(Body). "Body dissatisfaction is defined as a subject's satisfaction with their bodies" (Lewis). People tend to have a distorted sense of their own body (Body). Perceptions about body images are shaped from a variety of experiences and begin to develop in early childhood. It has been shown that children learn to favor thin body shapes by the time they enter school. "By the age of 10, most girls are afraid of becoming fat (Body)." Overall body size and image concerns have been reported to be more prevalent among females than males. Gender related differences in acceptable body size are shaped from a variety of societal definitions of appealing shapes for males and females. Girls are taught to focus on the external aspects of themselves. "Learning to do their hair, polish their nails and paint their faces, is virtually a rite of passage into womanhood in the American culture"(Body). "Boy's, on the other hand are taught to focus on their athletic abilities rather than there looks" (Body). Many males' report being unhappy with some aspect of their body, but concern about body weight appears to be a far more common and more important aspect of body dissatisfaction by females than males. Survey data indicates that about one-half to three-quarters of females who are normal in weight consider themselves to be overweight (Lewis). Researchers have observed that while a boy learns to view his body as a means for achieving power and control in the world, while a girl learns that a main function of her body is to attract others (Lask). Many advertisements lead girls to believe that they must be found thin to be attractive. As girls grow older and their body changes, they become increasingly dissatisfied with their bodies and consistently desire to be thinner. The appearances of models in the media may send a dangerous message about eating disorders, but fashion, and fitness magazines, and some television shows with thin characters also play a part in influencing irregular eating patterns of young women (DeGroat). Most surveys state that symptoms of women's eating disorders are stronger for magazine reading than from television viewing. However women that watch television shows with thin women in them, shows a woman's drive for thinness (DeGroat). Watching shows with heavy women shows that women are concerned with their body dissatisfaction (DeGroat). Either way you look at it, media influences both. Kristen Harrison, an assistant professor of communication studies has many things to say about media influence on eating disorders. She says," Instead, the overall emphasis on feminine thinness exemplified by multiple media depictions of slender models and actresses should be considered for its possible influence on disordered eating" (DeGroat). Food plays a major role in a woman's life. For females, food is depicted as a reward or a way of socializing. But women are also taught that they are supposed to be thin and fit, yet this is difficult to accomplish if females indulge in a large range of food. Being diet-obsessive, the mass media provides a sharp contrast to the pleasure of food, and what it is supposed to bring to females. Thus there are clear and quite strict limits on the degree to which American females may attempt to satisfy their impulses toward food (Body). "Market data enterprises Inc. estimated the size of the weight loss industry at
$32, 680 in 1994"(Dittrich). "The clientele of this industry are about eighty five percent woman, most of whom regain the weight lost with in two years" (Dittrich). A sample of popular women's magazines contained approximately ten times as many dieting advertisements and articles as a similar sample of men's magazines. "This ratio exactly matches the ratio of females to males with eating disorders" (Harrison).
Societal standards of beauty change dramatically over time. Today the body ideal is to be thin. However, this has not always been the case. Only a century ago, the ideal female body was the opposite of what it is today. Cellulite, which use to be called "dimpled flesh", was considered beautiful. "Fatness was viewed as a sign of energy and health" (Body). The body ideal in the 1920's was similar to that of today, which is thin. However, this look was achieved through the use of clothing styles and fashion. Then in the 1950's more voluptuous figures, such as Marilyn Monroe set the new standard for the ideal woman. However, this look didn't last for long with the arrival of Twiggy in the 1960's. Twiggy's look was one of a pre-pubescent boy. In the 1980's the look was still thin, but with more of an emphasis on a toned, fit look. "The body ideal for woman of today's times is one of very thin large breasted combination" (Body). Unfortunately, for many people the ideal thin body is nearly impossible to achieve (Body). This makes women feel dissatisfied with their appearance. Hence, the beginning of a negative body image.
In a famous study comparing Pageant contestants, and Playboy centerfold models, Garfinkel, Schwartz, and Thompson, found many interesting statistics. Their study reported a significant decrease in the body measurements and weights of Playboy centerfolds and Miss America Pageant contestants. Pageant contestants' weight decreased significantly over the time of the study, and more often than not, pageant winners weighed considerably less than the other contestants. Also found in their study, sixty nine percent of the playboy centerfolds and sixty percent of the pageant contestants weighed at least fifteen percent less than expected based on height. This is important because being at least fifteen percent below one's expected body weight is symptomatic of anorexia nervosa. "Surprisingly, as the body standard has continued to be thin, the average weight of women has actually risen" (Harrison).
Another study that is more recent compared to the study of Playboy centerfolds, and Pageant contestants, was conducted by King, Touyz and Charles. This Australian study attempted to determine which women are affected by the media images. Ninety-six female undergraduate psychology students from the University of Sydney participated in this study; no girl's suspect of having an eating disorder took part in the exercise. "The students took a Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ), which measured their concerns about their own body shape" (King). "Participants were then shown one accurate and six distorted photographs of thin and heavy female celebrities and were asked to choose which photograph portrayed the celebrity's true body shape" (King). Based on the girls BSQ's, the girls were separated into two groups: a low-body-shape concern group and a high-body shape concern group. The results were that the high-body-shape concern group judged the thin celebrities as thinner than actuality and the low-body-shape concern girls judged them more accurately. "The researchers believe that these results provide an explanation for why women with a higher concern about their body, appear to be more strongly affected by media exposure of thin females, based on their perception of the images" (King). Recently, researchers have become concerned with the question of how and to what degree advertising involving thin and attractive women is related with chronic dieting, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorders in American females (Lewis). The American female's obsessive quest for the perfect body is both reflected and promoted by advertisements. Promises of body changes bordering the impossible are everywhere in magazines and on television. For example, the advertisements for diet pills promoting the loss of ten pounds in a weekend (found in the back of most teen magazines). Such advertisements and advice to young women nourish the obsession that carries with it an array of psychological and behavioral problems. Whether or not they are too heavy, females who see themselves as overweight show decreased satisfaction with their bodies. Body dissatisfaction in females appears to encourage disturbed eating behaviors. "In a study conducted by [Garfinkel, Lin and Goring, 1995] they found that a large number of girls and women, while not meeting the formal criteria for an eating disorder, have partial syndromes and many are seriously impaired by their disordered eating" (Lewis). "Fifty-five percent of college women have binged, and at least sixteen percent of them once a week" (Lewis). "At least eighty percent of fifteen-year-olds report binge eating, and eleven percent purging behavior" (Lewis). In the United States culture, an appearance has important social consequences. In many cases, attractive people are selected more often as work partners, more often for hiring, and more often for dating partners. "In this type of environment, it is reasonable to expect women to be concerned with their appearances and to compare themselves to other women on that basis" (Body). Advertising, retailing, and entertainment industries produce images of beauty that pressure women to conform to the current ideal body type. "Research shows that thinness in women is emphasized in media presentations" (Schneider). Media images, particularly those of high profile fashion models, only reinforce a cultural ideal for women. Media images are everywhere in daily life and because models in advertisements are highly attractive, comparison with such standards generally result in lower self-esteem, dissatisfaction with appearance, eating disorders, and or a negative body image (Harrison). A traditional gender role perspective portrays the importance for women to be evaluated positively in terms of attractiveness, of which thinness is a major part, than to be evaluated positively in terms of intelligence. "Numerous studies have since confirmed the objective existence of the thin ideal in the media, and those women are judged a significant extent on their appearance generally and on their weight" (Baker).
There have also been attempts to investigate empirically how women perceive these social pressures, and how they affect women's behavior.
People magazine asked 1,000 women, ranging in ages from 18-55, about their bodies and how the images of Hollywood's slender stars influence their self-esteem. Eighty percent of the respondents said that images of women on television, and in movies, fashion magazines and advertising make them feel insecure about their own looks. How insecure? Enough so that 93 percent of the women have tried to loose weight, 34 percent said they would consider or have had cosmetic surgery and 34 percent would be willing to try a diet even if it posed as a health risk. Some 28 percent of the woman surveyed admitted that they had turned down social invitations because of discomfort with their looks, and 10 percent have avoided medical appointments because of their weight. When the women were asked what caused their greatest insecurity with their body, all fingers pointed to the mass media with 37 percent off woman saying the portrayal of women on television and in movies, 24 percent pointed to fashion magazines and another 19 percent responded with advertising. These results indicate that many women are unhappy with their bodies and acutely aware of how they compare with the mass media's images of the "ideal" body (114+). As Judy Lightstone quoted, "If we place pornography and the tyranny of slenderness alongside one another we have the two most significant obsessions of our culture, and both of them focussed upon a woman's body"
(Keresey). Almost everyone has, at one time or another, wished they could change something about themselves. For many people, the desire to change involves something about their physical appearance. Body image is something that influences everyone. Body image affects people of all ages, both males and females. However, in the United States females are in particular, more conscious about looking good. For some their happiness and self-worth are largely determined by their body image. Whether or not body size, body shape, measurements, and so on, match society's ideals; determine how satisfied women are with themselves. In many cases, appearance becomes more important to the female than one's health and well being. The media has been responsible for promoting a standard of beauty that in most cases is unattainable to many people and unhealthy to most people. However, due to the effect of poor body image, influenced by several factors, women fall prey to this cultural ideal of thinness. The impact that the media has on women's body image is generally poor and often detrimental to their perception of their body image. This poor perception can cause several vulnerabilities in women including the need to create poor eating pathologies to achieve this ideal.
Works Cited
Anderson, Arthur, and Deborah Sandler. "Body Image Distortions: A common psychological condition in cosmetic surgery cases." Hampstead Psychological Associates, LTD (2000): 12 pars. 11, April 2001 http://www.cosmeticsupport.com/info/bdd3.html
Baker, Dawn, Rebecca Sivyer, Tony Towell. "Body Image Dissatisfaction and
Eating Attitudes in visually Impaired Women." International Journal of Eating Disorders v 24 (1998): 17 pars. 12, April 2001 http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com
Botta, Renee. "Television Images and Adolescent Girls' Body Image
Disturbance." Journal of Communication (spring 1999): 13 pars. 12, April 2001 http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com
"Body Image in Our Time-From a Feminist Perspective." 1999. 17 April 2001. http://www.grammashouse.net/bodyimage1.html DeGroat, Bernie. "Media Influence Eating Disorders." News and Information
Services. 22 Oct. 1997. 17 April 2001. http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/9798/Oct22_97/media.htm
Dittrich, Liz, Ph.D. "About-Face Facts on BODY IMAGE." 1996-2000. 17
April 2001. http://www.about-face.org/resources/facts/bi.html Guillen, Barr & Levine. "The Media, Body Image, & Eating Disorders". Journal of Adolescent Health (1994) Plenary Presentation at the Third Annual Eating Disorders on Campus Conference (1997): 5 pars. 10, April 2001 http://www.edap.org/media1.html
Harrison, Kristen, Joanne Cantor. "The Relationship Between Media
Consumption and Eating Disorders." Journal of Communication v 47 (Winter 1997): 14 pars. 12, April 2001 http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com
Keresey, Maggie. "Get a Better Body Image." Teen Magazine Nov. 1997 v41 n11: 58. http://www.edreferral.com/body_image.htm
King, Natalie, Stephen Touyz, and Margaret Charles. "The Effect of Body
Dissatisfaction on Women's Perceptions of Female Celebrities." Nutrition Research Newsletter. (2000): 6 pars. 10, April 2001 http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com
Lask, Bryan and Rachel Bryant-Waugh, eds. Anorexia and Related Eating
Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence. East Susses, UK: Psychology Press Ltd, 2000.
Lewis, Jordan. "Eating Disorders." 8 Jan. 1996. 17, April 2001. http://odysseus.calumet.yorku.ca/courses/3700/proposals/lewis.html Schneider, Karen S. "Mission Impossible." People Weekly 3 June 1996 v45 n22:
64. http://www.edreferral.com/body_image.htm
Stice, Eric, Diane Spangler, and W. Stewart Agras. "Ultra-thin Magazine Models
Negatively Impact Girls with Pre-existing Body Image Dissatisfaction." Self-help Magazine (1999): 6 pars. 10, April 2001 http://www.shpm.com/articles/eating/magmodels.html