More than 60 percent of young women in high school express dissatisfaction with their bodies.
In college, it's 80 percent.
The obsession with weight starts early - 42 percent of girls in first to third grade express a desire to be thinner.
According to published research, 15 percent of women would sacrifice more than five years of their life to obtain the weight they desire. (REALLY? Yikes!)
There are at least eight million sufferers of life-threatening anorexia nervosa (reported in girls as young as eight years old), bulimia, and other associated eating disorders in America; 90 percent of these are women.
Since 1992, elective cosmetic procedures have risen a dramatic 198 percent.
Between 1990 and 1999 the number of facelifts in the US increased sixfold.
The diet industry has grown to a $40-billion-a-year business.
Popular women's magazines contain 10 times more diet-promoting articles and advertisements than comparable men's magazines. One out of every 3.8 advertisements sends some sort of message encouraging women to acquire a body that is "barely there".
Somebody PLEASE tell me how we're supposed to raise healthy daughters in this culture?!!?
(Information source: "Eve's Revenge: Women and a Spirituality of the Body")
8 comments:
Tell me about it. When Emily graduated high school last year, she told me how many girls in her class requested either nose jobs or boob jobs for a graduation gift. I have no clue how many got their wish. Plus we live in a relatively small town. I can't imagine the pressure in big cities.
By the way, we got her a camera.
you surround them with adult women of many shapes and sizes who have some measure of self confidence in the way they look and who tell your daughters every chance they get how beautiful they are and who model for them what it means to be a healthy adult woman. and you get their dad to hug them multiple times a day so that they don't look for physical affection from boys who don't love them.
in addition, you buy women's magazines and burn them in your backyard and you make it a requirement for every 13 year old girl and her mother to visit Africa so they can appreciate what it means to really be starving.
anyway, now i'm ranting and not making a lot of sense, and I don't envy you and I just hope that I can raise a son who respects every woman and doesn't let the girls in his life buy into those pressures.
Isn't it just horrifying? And sickening. I hope and pray I am setting a good example of healthy eating and physical activity habits, and positive self-image for my girls.
*sigh* You do have a tough job of it on your hands in today's society. My only answer is to raise genetically-predetermined-to-be-skinny boys, like me! :)
I like the suggestion of taking my daughter on a trip to Africa to see what starvation is....or somewhere else where women accept who they are.
but, if you ever figure it out, Heather, please let me know. I don't want my daughter to EVER hate her self or body image (like I battle with).
I don't know.
And your facts don't even touch on the fact that everything, EVERYTHING is about sex and being sexy and how to get your man. EVERYTHING.
ùyou tell them what you love about their character, their abilities, their gifts, their contributions to life. You tell them how god made them for a reason, how bodies are vehicles for us to carry out meaningful lives through. You touch them. You communicate that making mistakes is a great way to learn something new. And heres the tough part- you accept yourself.
clearly, this is what i would strive for, and not what I actually consistently do.
another thing that grates me is all the news about the "fat" in foods, and then the advertisements overwhelm you with double crust filled with cheese and dipping sauce for pizza - etc etc etc.
I should be taller, I get pulled so many directions.
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