Does Media Pressure Us To Be Thin?

This is one of the reasons Ephedra got pulled of the market was due to marketing it to teens

I think tabloids There so thin covers do more harm than good.
Teens often pick up tips from those after school eating disoder type movies.

Maybe I'm being non-PC in saying this, but I really think we make too much of an issue of the 'thin' thing, and not enough of the 'responsibility' side.

I'm not talking just personal responsibility either. Governments, businesses and families need to work together on this problem. Education about realistic and healthy body weights needs to take place in our schools and workplaces (yes - even adults need to learn what is healthy and what is not!).

We need to quite pretending that there is no problem, and that the average person's diet is 'just fine', and get to the roots of the problem - too may calories, too many processed foods, too many animal-sourced foods, and not enough movement.

Being a friend does not mean you keep silent when a friend chooses junk food for lunch again. Being a friend means commmenting and offering support and help.

Leanne: I agree, except for your comments about animal-sourced food. I've seen people build great bodies on diets made almost completely of natural animal products combined with weight lifting. This not only applies to the amount of fat they lost and the amount of muscle they gained, but they also stopped getting sick, their blood pressure went down, their cholesterol and blood sugar levels became normal, etc. They also gained quite a lot of bone density and their joints stopped hurting. I think processing and inactivity, not animal foods, are the real killers.

There are many defendable reasons for not eating animal food. One is efficiency; another is ethics. However, nutrition is not one of them, unless you still believe the government's nutritional recommendations.

The women on that cover look revolting, and this is what young impressionable girls are looking up to, and young men are being told is desirable? Apparently whoever is thinner gets the job, so why are stars like Reese Witherspoon and Kate Winslet amongst Hollywoods' highest paid actresses? It IS possible for healthy women to get work in Hollyweird, as long as they have genuine talent and good self-esteem.

Whether it is an obsession with thinness, fatness, curves, whatever, it still gives the negative message that you must look a certain way to "fit in". Personally, when I look at these women I think, "How humiliating to feel the need to do this to themselves for a little bit of publicity, don't they have any dignity or faith in their own acting ability?" Perhaps if young girls could somehow see their idols for what they really are, emptyheaded fame-junkies willing to do anything for their next fix, they might turn towards role-models with a more positive message to spread.

"There are many defendable reasons for not eating animal food. One is efficiency; another is ethics. However, nutrition is not one of them, unless you still believe the government's nutritional recommendations."

I agree completely, when will people learn that it's not the animal products themselves that cause health problems, but the way they are processed. We are omnivores, after all, designed to eat real meat, not hot dogs.

Caramelle-oh:
Reese and Kate as "healthy" girls? Please. Reese shot to stardom after Cruel Intentions and after losing weight. Look at the difference of her then versus now. As far as Kate goes, yes, she may be slightly larger than Calista Flockhart, et al. but she is by far a typical woman. She is quite thin and gorgeous. They may be healthier than most, but compared to someone like me, at 130 and 5'6", who is athletic and fit, they are still quite small. Just because they are better than Nicole Ritchie does not mean they are healthy.

Leanne, I agree with you completely, the media feed into this idea of the "perfect body" and it's unrealistic. In fact magazine photos of models are changed to make them look smaller than they really are. Then all these researchers wonder why young girls have self esteem issues, they're being bombarded with this idea that they're not perfect unless they look like this. The truth is that hardly anybody will ever fit these ideals. Everyone is perfect the way they are. Everyone is made exactly how they should be. People need to stop stressing about fitting into these unrealistic ideals, and just be happy with the person they are.

I think a lot of stars like Nicole Ritchie, Kate Bosworth, Lindsey Lohan, etc., are trying to get thinner so they get attention from the press. They have nothing else really going for them, I guess. If they can claim that they have an "eating disorder", they can get an extra 15 minutes of fame. Celebrities with actual eating disorders don't advertise it...has anyone seen Victoria Beckham lately?? When she was in the Spice Girls, she was healthy but now she's a skeleton and she claims she has no eating disorder.

I think it's horrible that we as a nation are trying to emulate skeleton-like women that probably have less muscle mass than many children. I'm fit and muscular and will NEVER be "skinny" like those actresses (unless I stop eating, start snorting coke, and stop working out) and I look healthy. I think a main key to stopping the insanity is to promote HEALTHY women as the ideal for our young girls...size shouldn't matter as much as overall health.

As if pressure to fit in isn't enough, the endless parade of ultra-thin women in fashion magazines, films and television constitutes an even more powerful influence.

Here's some irony for you, when I went to the story on People's web site there was an ad for Lany Bryant in the sidebar. I think my computer knows I'm fat. Must be spyware.

I'm debating with whether or not I agree with Leanne's post about commenting on what your friend's eating. In my experience, eating disorders are about control. Being a critic usually doesn't help. Unfortunately, unless you are a practicing therapist and someone has come to you willingly there really is not much you can do for someone with this kind of disease. They have to WANT to get better and to WANT help. However, there is something to be said about making sure your friend knows you're there for them. And I would make those comments when food is not present. I think that's the most frustrating thing about it, waiting until someone can ask you for the help you're always willing to give. Force it on them, they're just going to back further away.

I don't even see what the average girl gets from being that thin. Almost every guy I've discussed this with likes a woman that is fairly muscular with a reasonable layer of fat to make them smoother. In other words, they liked slender, but not skinny. Wide shoulders and back were considered a plus. They also believed that an attractive woman usually nourishes her body properly. As one of my friends puts it, "you can tell if a girl's been over-dieting or over-exercising; their face and skin tell the whole story."

Women need to realize that being overly skinny is not attractive to most men, just like men need to realize that the physiques built with steroids are not attractive to most women. A slender, well-nourished body with symmetric, tastefully developed musculature is attractive in both genders, not to mention healthy and strong.

Many guys DO LIKE the skinny type of women. I saw it every day when I still lived in Southern California.

skinny type: hardly any musculature, very small (height), size 0 or 2. That is just THE DESIRED LOOK over there.

Women go for it and guys desire those women.

katy: That hasn't been my experience, but I've never lived in South CA.

Well. I just wrote down what I observed over there :-)
I personally don't think it is a good idea to be that skinny, nor do I think it is attractive.
...but many people (men and women) would disagree with me, I guess.
In Southern Cal. basically all younger women look alike: blond, thin, pink clothes etc. So it is no surprise that everybody wants to look like the actors in Hollywood. And it is no surprise that guys desire such a girl.
I have seen girls doing ridiculous amounts of cardio and stuff, but there have always been only three girls at the gym lifting weights: myself and two others.
I don't get it, since weight lifting is so much fun :-)

"Reese and Kate as "healthy" girls? Please."

I suggest you take a close look at their skin, hair and eyes in comparison to the skeletons they are surrounded by. You can tell whether a person looks after themselves properly by these factors. When I talk about "healthy", I mean that they are at a weight which suits their frame and body type. I have never seen either women referred to as "skinny".