According to a national survey released today by the Girl Scouts on the eve of New York City’s legendary Fashion Week, most girls are happy with their bodies and reject thin fashion models as unrealistic.
According to a Girl Scouts of America press release, the survey of 1,002 girls ages 13 to 17 "comes amid continuing controversy over super thin models, so-called 'size zeros.' Critics say the models are dangerously underweight and have charged that the fashion industry’s preference for waif-like women has led to models engaging in obsessive dieting and extreme weight loss, as well as set a poor example for teenage girls."
The study found that girls' friends and peers have much more influence over how they feel about their bodies than do fashion models.
Eighty-two percent said that their peers and friends influenced how they felt about their bodies; 65 percent said it was their parents, and 62 percent reported another family member.
Thin fashion models ranked last by a wide margin, with 54 percent. About 80 percent of Hispanic girls were satisfied with their bodies, with slightly fewer African American (76 percent) and 72 percent of Caucasian teens.
Perhaps most importantly, most teen girls dislike and reject the thin body image often seen in the fashion industry: When girls were asked what they thought about the typical fashion model's body, 65 percent stated it was "too skinny." Nearly as many (63 percent) said it was unrealistic, 47 percent said "unhealthy," and nearly a third (28 percent) said the body shape was "sick."
These results are very encouraging for America's parents, who often think that most teen girls diet constantly to be thin like the fashion models they see, often leading to eating disorders.
Though this study contradicts many common assumptions about the influence that the fashion industry has over young women, previous studies have found similar results.
For example, a 2004 study conducted for Dove's "Real Truth About Beauty" campaign found that most women reject the fashion model body type: "findings affirmed that women around the world are able and willing to embrace a conception of beauty that defies the narrow, physically-focused standards set for them by popular culture" (p. 34). That study also found that 90 percent of women were satisfied with their physical attractiveness and beauty.
According to a 1999 survey ("Pressure to be Perfect? Young Women’s Research Report") of 901 British women between the ages of 18 and 24, more than one-third do not weigh themselves, and half don't diet. Furthermore, almost 90 percent of the young women said they would not want to look like Kate Moss!
The conventional wisdom is that most teen girls have low self-esteem and a poor body image -- partly the result of trying to emulate the thin fashion models they see on TV and in magazines.
Fortunately, the reality is quite different: Most girls have a good body image and positive self-esteem, and reject the images in fashion magazines as unrealistic and unattractive. Girls are smarter than often given credit for, and aren't the gullible fashion zombies that popular culture sometimes depicts. And that's good news for Fashion Week, or any other time.
Tags: Gender, Health, Heroes, Mental Health, Recreation and Entertainment
comments ( )