14 DAY TRIAL // As it was not enough, the continuous bombardment of wasp-waisted blonde bombshells all around us, from magazine covers to net and television, designers push up all kinds of anorexic wire-thin models, like Kate Moss or Gemma Ward.
That's too much for common women,and it triggers bad feelings in all women about how they perceive their own bodies despite the size, shape, height or age of the viewers.
The new research at University of Missouri-Columbia discovered that all women were equally and negatively impacted after watching images 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 team surveyed how 81 women subjects felt about themselves, from their body weight to their hair, and after that a part of them were exposed to neutral images, while others watched models in magazine ads for one to three minutes.
When the subjects were re-evaluated after viewing the images, all those women displayed a decrease in their level of satisfaction with their own bodies.
This approach points out that most women should avoid the impact of the media, regardless of weight. "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 magazine 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."