|
 
A model poses on a runway at the University of Texas Evolution
Fashion Show (Steve Hopson photo). Below, Associate
Professor Laurie Mintz is looking for ways to reduce women's
acceptance and self-comparison to female mass media images.
|
Models
Create Body Dissatisfaction
By Jennifer Faddis
The rail-thin blonde bombshell on the cover of a magazine makes
all women feel badly about their own bodies despite the size,
shape, height or age of the viewers. A new University of Missouri-Columbia
study found that all women were equally and negatively affected
after viewing pictures of models in magazine ads for just three
minutes.
“Surprisingly, we found that weight was
not a factor. Viewing these pictures was just bad for everyone,” said Laurie Mintz, associate professor of education,
school and counseling psychology in the MU College
of Education. “It had been thought that women who are
heavier feel worse than a thinner woman after viewing pictures
of the thin ideal in the mass media. The study results do not
support that theory.”
The study measured how 81 women felt about
themselves, from their body weight to their hair, and then exposed
some of them to neutral images, while others viewed models in
magazine ads for one to three minutes. The women were evaluated
after seeing the images, and in all cases, the women who viewed
the models reported a drop in their level of satisfaction with
their own bodies.
The study suggests that the majority of women
would benefit from interventions aimed at decreasing the effects
of the media, regardless of weight. Mintz said past interventions
have targeted specific groups of women, such as those with pre-existing
eating and body-image concerns, but this study suggests that reducing
the acceptance of mass media images of women and trying to stop
the social comparison process is important for helping all women.
“Most women do not go to a counselor
for advice; they look to Seventeen or Glamour
magazines instead,” Mintz said. “These unrealistic images
of women, who are often airbrushed or partially computer generated,
have a detrimental impact on women and how they feel about themselves.”
The study — “Predictors of Media
Effects on Body Dissatisfaction in European American Women” — was published in the March issue of Sex Roles: A Journal
of Research.
Archives
| Comments | Home SUBSCRIPTIONS
Subscribe
| Change Your
Address | Unsubscribe
Copyright © 2007 — Curators of the University of Missouri
DMCA and other copyright information.
All rights reserved.
An equal opportunity/ADA institution.
Published by the Mizzou Alumni Association
Questions? Comments? E-mail comments@mizzoualumni.org
Last Update:
November 15, 2007
|
