The Media's View on Body Shape

Many women have a strong desire to lose weight and have what they consider a perfect body. The desire to be thin causes many women to go to extreme lengths to achieve their desired body shape. These women often put their body through the effects of harmful diets and food restrictions. This only causes them to regain the weight and become even more discouraged.

The messages that drive this desire to lose weight often come from the media. Television, magazines and other media streams insinuate that you need to be thin to be attractive. Think about how many diet related commercials there are during an hour-long television show. There is an economic force behind using women whose bodies are unattainable by many others. Between these commercials you are watching television shows that are supposed to depict realistic people. However, most shows that have come out over the past few decades show only thin, beautiful people as being successful.

Within the past two or three years, there have been a few shows which depict women with a larger body shape. These women, however, tend to be less popular than other women on the show. While network television is getting better about showing a variety of people achieving success, there is still much room for improvement.

The media has done many things in order to reduce the assumed correlation between being thin and being successful. However, we are far from reaching a place where women of all sizes are appreciated and depicted in a positive way by the media.

Now what does the media's view on body shape mean in your life? It could mean many different things. You may feel that you are not where you want to be in your life because of your weight. Seeing images of thin women and their success may have made you feel down on yourself. You may wonder why you can not achieve the same look, weight, and body shape that they have.

The answer is that only a very small percentage of women can attain that look. In magazines, even those with very thin figures are airbrushed to attain the perfect picture the editors are looking for. Even with that knowledge, it still might be very hard to see these images in the media and not think about how you look compared to them.

Let's try something new today. When faced with media images of thin women, try looking at them through different glasses. Instead of thinking about the diets that have not worked for you, think about what you do like about yourself. Think about your successes, both with physical appearance and personal achievements. Although it may be hard at first, point out the parts of your body that you like. Take a good look in the mirror and talk about what you like about that body part specifically. Instead of focusing on what you like about various models, focus on what you like about yourself.