Body Image and The Media (2024)

How does an average woman compare
to a typical mannequin and a Barbie doll?

The average woman is 5’4″, roughly 145 lbs., and wears a size 12.She has a 37″ bust, 30″ waist, and 41″” hips. A mannequin is 6 feet tall and a size 4 or 6. She has a 34″ bust, a 23″ waist, and 34″ hips. Estimates vary, but if Barbie were life-size, she’d be over 6 feet tall and weigh 101 lbs. A Barbie doll’s neck is TWICE the length of a normal human’s neck! If a woman had the same measurements as a Barbie doll or a typical mannequin, she wouldn’t have enough body fat to menstruate! The “typical model” weighs 20% less than the average woman!

Body Image and the Media …

Since the 1960’s Miss America contestants and Playboy models have been getting thinner and thinner while the average American woman is getting heavier and heavier. Eating disorders have risen substantially since the 1960’s.
Marilyn Monroe wore a size 12; Jennifer Aniston wears a size 0.
A study in 1992 found that watching 30 minutes of TV ads depicting thin models led to increases in body dissatisfaction among women.
Symptoms of eating disorders increased fivefold among teenage girls on Fiji following the introduction of television. Traditionally, this is a culture that focuses on the importance of eating well and looking robust (“going thin” is seen as a sign of illness or lack of money). Fiji has only one TV channel which broadcasts American, Australian, and British programs. Favorite programs include Melrose Place, ER, and Xena: Warrior Princess.
A study of 4,294 network television commercials revealed that 1 out of every 3.8 commercials send some sort of “attractiveness message,” telling viewers what is or is not attractive. It is estimated that the average adolescent sees over 5,260 “attractiveness messages” per year on TV alone.
A study in 1995 found that just 3 minutes spent looking at models in fashion magazines caused 70% of women to feel depressed, guilty, and shameful.
Two studies in the late 80’s and early 90’s examined the content of the most popular men’s and women’s magazines. Both found 10 times more ads and articles on diet/shape/weight in the women’s magazines as compared to the men’s (e.g., 159 in the women’s; only 11 in the men’s).
A study in 1997 found that media use predicted disordered eating, drive for thinness, and body dissatisfaction. This study also found that magazine usage led to greater problems than TV usage.
Even supermodels cannot live up to the culture’s beauty ideal. Through computer imaging (sometimes called “digital dieting”), their bodies are sculpted into the images we see. As a result, even supermodels express dissatisfaction with certain parts of their bodies!

More Facts

The “ideal woman” – portrayed by models, Miss America, Barbie dolls, and movie stars is 5’7″, weighs 100 lbs. And wears a size 4-6.
One third of all American women wear a size 16 or larger.
75% of American women are dissatisfied with their appearance.
Out of 40,000 women who responded to an open call for a modeling agency, only 10 women made the semifinals…out of those, the agency deemed only 4 women to be bookable models…4 out of 40,000.
25 years ago, the typical model weighed 8% less than the average woman…now, the typical model weighs 23% less than the average woman.
The average woman is 5’4” and weighs 145 pounds. In 1954 Miss America was 5’8” and weighed 133 pounds…by 1980 Miss America was 5’8” and weighed 117 pounds.
A model with anorexia, upon seeing a magazine cover with a picture of an emaciated Karen Carpenter right before her death (from anorexia), said to herself, “how lucky to be that thin when she died…how can I get that thin without dying…”
Distorted body image used to be seen only in individuals with an eating disorder. In a study of non-eating disordered women, 75% considered themselves overweight … 45% of them were actually underweight.
More women fear becoming fat than dying.
Over half of the females studied between ages eighteen and twenty-five would prefer to be run over by a truck than to be fat, and two-thirds would choose to be mean or stupid rather than fat.
Young girls are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of cancer or losing their parents.
A study in Norway revealed that the risk of mortality is greater for individuals at 10-20 pounds BELOW ideal weight than for overweight individuals.
One study showed that in 80% of 11 years olds, thinness is a valued trait.
By age six, children have learned to regard the obese as ugly, lazy, stupid, unworthy…all negative adjectives.

Improving Your Body Image …

Be the Voice of Reason!

Unsafe dieting, body dissatisfaction and unhealthy eating behaviors are all “contagious”! When we see others engaging in these practices or expressing concern about weight and body size, we begin to assume that these are acceptable, even necessary. This is not the case! Be the person who models healthy eating and exercises sensibly. Love your body for what is allows you to do every day, not for what it could be if it was thinner!

Body Image and The Media (2024)

How does an average woman compare to a typical mannequin and a Barbie doll?