More Hard Facts

"30% of women chose an ideal body shape that is 20% underweight and an additional 44% chose an ideal body shape that is 10% underweight."

"The average U.S. woman is 5’4” and weighs 140 pounds whereas the average U.S. model is 5’11” and weighs 117 pounds."

"After viewing images of female fashion models, 7 out of 10 women felt more depressed and angry than prior to viewing the images."

via University of Colorado.

Some Hard Facts

Here's some numbers I came across about teen girls and body image from a poll by Girl Scouts of America. It's absolutely heartbreaking; nine out of ten girls (aged thirteen to seventeen) felt pressured by the media to be thin. Over a third of the participants had known someone with an eating disorder.

One hopeful fact: "More than 80 percent of teen girls said they would rather see natural photos of models rather than pictures that had been digitally altered or enhanced."

I would love to see the numbers about teen boys and how much effect the media has on their self-image.

Read the whole story here.