distoritions of ourselves...

[blackcherry2002 5]

Ok I have no clue if these statistics are real or made up(I found them on a website and am not claiming they are mine at all)...but honestly they sound pretty real, especially because i was a child in the 1990's and girls really do diet when they are 8 years old...it's sad...

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• Dieting
  
• One out of three women and one out of four men are on a diet at any given time.
  
• 35% of occasional dieters progress into pathological dieting.
  
• Two out of five women and one out of five men would trade three to five years of their life to achieve their weight goals.
  
• Diet and diet related products are a 33 billion dollar a year industry.
  
• In 1970 the average age a girl started dieting was 14; by 1990 the average age dropped to 8.
  
• One half of 4th grade girls are on a diet.
  
• 81% of ten-year-old girls are afraid of being fat.
  
• 51% of nine and ten-year-old girls stated they felt better about themselves when they were adhering to a diet.
  
• While only one out of ten high school girls are overweight, one out of ten high school juniors and seniors diet.
  
• 79% of teenage girls who vomit and 73% of teenage girls who use diet pills are frequent readers of women’s health and fitness magazines. This is in contrast to less than 43% of teenage girls who do not participate in these purging methods.
  

• Body Image
  
• In one study, three out of four women stated that they were overweight although only one out of four actually were.
  
• Four out of five U.S. Women are dissatisfied with their appearance.
  
• 81% of ten-year-old girls are afraid of being fat.
  
• A study found that adolescent girls were more fearful of gaining weight than getting cancer, nuclear war or losing their parents.
  
• Over one half of normal weight white adolescent girls consider themselves fat.
  
• Following viewing images of female fashion models, seven out of ten women felt more depressed and angrier than prior to viewing the images.
  
• When preschoolers were offered dolls identical in every respect except weight, they preferred the thin doll nine out of ten times.
  
• A study asked children to assign attractiveness values to pictures of children with various disabilities. The participants rated the obese child less attractive than a child in a wheelchair, a child with a facial deformity, and a child with a missing limb.
  
• A study found that women overestimate the size of their hips by 16% and their waists by 25%, yet the same women were able to correctly estimate the width of a box.
  
• In a Glamour survey, 61% of respondents said they were ashamed of their hips, 64% were ashamed of their stomachs and 72% were ashamed of their thighs.
  
• 30% of women chose an ideal body shape that is 20% underweight and an additional 44% chose an ideal body shape 10% underweight.
  
• 50% of women wear size 14 or larger, but most standard clothing outlets cater to sizes 14 or smaller.
  

• Models
  
• In 1950 mannequins closely resembled the average measurements or women. The average hip measurement of mannequins and women were 34 inches. By 1990 the average hip measurement was 37 inches, while the average mannequins hip measured only 31 inches.
  
• If today's mannequins were actual human women, based on their theoretical body-fat percentages they would have probably ceased to menstruate.
  
• The average U.S. woman is 5'4" and weighs 140 pounds. In contrast, the average U.S. model is 5'11" and weighs 117 pounds.
  
• Over the last three decades fashion models, Miss America contestants, and Playboy centerfolds have grown steadily thinner, while the average woman's weight has actually risen.
  
• Some of the pictures of the models in magazines do not really exist. The pictures are computer-modified compilations of different body parts.
  
• A study found that 25% of Playboy centerfolds met the weight criteria for Anorexia.
  
• Twenty years ago the average fashion model weighed 8% less than the average woman. Today she weighs 23% less.
  
• Kate Moss is 5'7" and weights 95 pounds. That is 30% below ideal body weight.
  
• Supermodels Niki Taylor and Elle Macpherson also meet the Body Mass Index physical criteria for Anorexia.
  
• Gisele Bundchen was Vogue's model of the year, in part the magazine states, because she strays from the rail-thin image. Gisele is 5'11" and weighs only 115, that is 25% below her ideal body weight
  

• Television & Movies
  
• Following the introduction of Western television in Fiji, there was a surge in the rate of eating disorders.
  
• One out of every four television commercials sends out some sort of message about attractiveness.
  
• 80% of women who answered a People magazine survey responded that images of women on television and in the movies make them feel insecure.
  
• Actresses Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz and singer Diana Ross all meet the Body Mass Index physical criteria for Anorexia.
  
• Model/Actress Elizabeth Hurley stated in Allure Magazine, "I've always thought Marilyn Monroe looked fabulous, but I'd kill myself if I was that fat."
  
• Pamela Anderson is 5'7" and weights 120 pounds. She is supposed to be the voluptuous ideal yet she is 11% below ideal body weight. In contrast, a generation ago Marilyn Monroe set the beauty standard at 5'5" and weighed 135 pounds. Today her agent would probably tell her she had to lose weight!
  

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[heartfire 4]

I've heard a lot of these statistics too.

I think the societal outlook on women's bodies are all out of whack. I just hope to do right by my daughter and hope she's not all body image messed up too.

I know for myself, growing up, I had body image issues. I thought I was fat too. I knew I was the thinnest in a family of fatties but still thought I was fat. You look at pictures now and know I wasn't fat. I was normal. Just didn't know it then!

[Shamrockgirl60 1]

Oh I believe it my daughter is 5'11" and her weight was 130, it's now about 160 after having her baby, and she wants to lose about 20 lbs. and be 140. At 130 she was thin. She tried modeling for a while and they wanted her to get down to 115 she told them to go to hell...and quit. She would rather be healthy. I think she looks fine at 160 she has a bit of a pouchie but it's OK. She is losing slowly eating fairly healthy.

Most models look sick. I hate seeing really really thin teenagers. But what I hate almost as much as that are the very obese ones. There has to be a nice happy medium.

At my lowest weight when I was 24 I was 5'4" and 102 lbs. I look back and I looked awful. Way too thin, I would be in style now. I looked my best at 115 to 120 lbs. I hope to get down now to 130 at the lowest and would be happy at 140.

It's a very sad world we are living in when little girls are so afraid of being fat.

[peanutbubbamom 0]

I know that this is going to sound very, very bizarre, but I believe that I always had the OPPOSITE problem. Even at 320 pounds, I never looked in the mirror and said, "holy crap are you fat". I always thought I looked pretty darn good. Sure, I was a little chunky (uh, last time I checked that's about 160 pounds of extra chunky), but it was no big deal. And, every time I saw a picture of me where I looked big, it's always because 'it was a bad picture', or 'the lighting was bad', blah, blah, blah. Very strange. That's why I have a hard time with people complimenting me on my weight loss. I never really thought it was a big deal, but obviously, it's made a big difference!