We grow up hearing the phrase "It's what's inside that counts." But how many of us actually believe it?
It's common knowledge that women have body issues.
In fact, a survey done by the University of Colorado found that a select group of women overestimated the size of their hips by sixteen percent and their waists by 25 percent, though the same women were able to correctly estimate the width of a box.
The same survey revealed other disturbing statistics, such as dieting ages and depression levels.
In 1970, the average age a girl would start dieting was fourteen. In 1990, it was eight.
It's frightening to me to think of what that age might be today, twenty-one years later.
According to the University's studies, the "ideal" womanly size portrayed by fashion models, actresses, Barbie dolls, and Miss America is 5'5," wears a size five and weighs 100 pounds.
The average American model is 5'11" and weighs 117 pounds. By contrast, the average American woman is 5'4" and weighs around 140 pounds.
On top of that, despite being tall and thin already, the women we compare ourselves to in magazines are photoshopped to look even smaller than they are, according to a YouTube video called The Photoshop Effect, which interviews a photographer who actually does the editing.
It was funny, waiting for the video to load, because the advertisement I had to watch was about dieting too.
"Eat this, it's only 100 calories and you can still get your sugar fix! You're on the way to a healthier, thinner you!"
The women in those commercials are never even fat.
It's all subconscious, in my opinion.
We see someone thin and pretty eating something low in fat and calories, and we think if we eat it, we'll look thin and pretty, too.
I say it's funny, because the reality is that in the University of Colorado study, when presented with pictures of women, thirty percent of those surveyed chose a body shape that was twenty percent underweight.
I blame the media. I blame photo editing and capitalism and businessmen who feed off the low self-esteems of women who look like women and not emaciated stick figures.
I remember watching an episode of America's Next Top Model one summer and being disgusted because they told the "plus size" model, who actually falls into the "average" category, that she needed to lose weight.
I was even more disgusted when I realized that I was shorter and weighed more than the model did.
The worst part, though, is that it's not good enough for diet companies who rake in $40 billion every year to stick to a young adult audience.
They're going for kids as young as two and three now.
The television show Toddlers and Tiaras is one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen in my life.
I expected to see little girls running around having a blast playing dress up with their mothers.
Instead, I saw young children being spray tanned, slathered in makeup and stuffed into glittering tutus and leotards.
They were being trained to adhere to strict diets and criticisms, learning that looks are the most important thing.
When they didn't win, many of the little girls would even burst into hysterics, wailing that they weren't pretty enough.
It's sick and I think it's only aiding in the growing depression and suicide rate of the overweight population of our country.
I tend to believe that it really is what's inside that counts, especially when the outside is edited and fake.
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