Fiji Islanders
janesoceana.com
If
it is difficult for you to imagine that the media can influence how
we see and feel about our bodies,
read the following:
"IN
FIJI, gaining weight used to be a sign of good health and attractiveness.
Not anymore.
Since
Western television arrived in the Pacific Island country in 1995,
Harvard researchers have discovered a shocking new trend
of bulimia, anorexia, and
Western-style dieting among adolescent Fijian girls.
A Harvard Eating
Disorders Center study, which spanned 1995-98, found that girls who
watched television three or more nights a week were 50% more likely
to say
they were "too big or fat," and 30% likelier to diet. In a 1998
survey, 15% of girls said they had tried to control their weight by
vomiting.
Fiji currently has one
TV station, which beams in programs from the U.S., Australia, and the U.K.
Among the most popular programs are
"Melrose Place,"
"Beverly Hills, 90210," and "Seinfeld."
bbb.uk
Within 3 years of being
exposed to television, in a country that did not even have a word
for dieting before 1995:
50% of their teenaged
girls were dissatisfied with their bodies, 30% were dieting and
15% became
bulimic.
Keep that in mind as you
ponder the following statistics and images, and wonder in what ways
you may
have also been affected:
w
Did you know that if shop mannequins were real women they'd be too thin to
menstruate?
jwz.org
w
Did you know that there
are 3 billion women who don't look like supermodels -
and only eight who do
?
theage.com
w
Did you know that the 1950's icon Marilyn Monroe wore a size
14 ?
Bob Jennings, ©Stars and
Stripes/KOREA/1954
w Did
you know that if
Barbie was a real woman, she'd have to walk on all fours due to her proportions
?
susansdolls.com marysspidersweb.com susansdolls.com
w
Did you know that the
average American woman
is 5'4, weighs 144 lbs, wears between a
size 12-14,
graphics.boston.com
and
that the average American
model is 5'11 and weighs 117 lbs ?
fashion.org
w
Did you know that one
out of every four college aged women has an eating disorder ?
media.collegepublisher.com
w Did
you know that the
models in the magazines are airbrushed -
not perfect ?
onlineathens.com
w Did
you know that a
psychological study in 1995 found that three minutes spent looking at a fashion
magazine caused 70% of
women to feel depressed, guilty, and shameful ?
cosmopolitanmagazine.com
w Did
you know that models twenty years ago weighed 8% less than the average woman,
and
that today they weigh
23% less ?
thecompany.net
TEXT:
Student Nutrition Action Committee at UCLA