Facts

•  The average U.S. woman is 5’4” and weighs 140 lbs whereas the average U.S. model is 5’11” and weighs 117 lbs (Women in Advertisements & Body Image, 2005).

•  The number one wish for girls 11-17 is to be thinner (HealthyPlace, 2008).

•  45% of women feel that women who are more beautiful have greater opportunities in life (Dove, 2004).

• 59% of women strongly agree that physically attractive women are more valued to men (Dove, 2004)

•   70% of women wish that the media would do a better job of portraying women’s diverse physical attractiveness, including age, shape and size (Dove, 2004).

•  Obsession with body size starts at a very early age. “…as many as 80 percent of 9-year- old suburban girls are concerned about dieting and weight” (Urla and Swedlund, 1995).

•   47% of girls were influenced by magazines pictures to lose weight, but only 29% were actually overweight (Women in Advertisements & Body Image, 2005).

•  Adolescent girls experience very high levels of body dissatisfaction and as many as 90% of them want to reduce the size of their body (McCabe, Ricciardelli, Ridge, 2006).

• 69% of girls reported that images of females displayed in magazines influence their thoughts of the ideal body figure, and 47% said that the images made them gain the desire to diet and lose weight (Ata, Ludden, Lally, 2006).