Women are often bombarded by fictitious media images about their lives and bodies, and find themselves subscribing to a lifestyle which only relates to a small minority. Most women are aware of these impossibilities yet they feel the pressure to continue to strive for the image of the “top model” and oh…… a size 4’.

Society shapes our body image. In some societies, a robust woman is viewed as being fertile and therefore admired. In the North American culture, however there exists an obsession to be thin and fit. Thinness is associated with high social class, with success, and with the ability to attract a man. The standard of white female beauty has become more narrowly defined and restrictive, making it nearly impossible to be thin enough, fit enough, or young enough. Society sets such high and unrealistic standards that no one can really fit the mold of the ideal beauty.

The ironic reality to our society is that the majority of women on the covers of high fashion magazines are white, but still the average white North American woman yet alone women of other American cultures, can never truly attain this “ideal” image of beauty without anguish, frustration, and/or disappointment. These “media standards of beauty” are rarely obtained and should continue to receive criticism of how they are manipulating body image for many women who probably are experiencing transitions and changes to their lifestyles for various reasons.

Numerous research studies on body image have shown that girls that are from ethnic backgrounds such as Afro-American and Chinese-Americans, for example showed to have a higher self-esteem relating to their body image compared to those of young white American girls in the same age group. The reason was that few of the girls from these ethnic backgrounds rarely compared themselves to the images displayed in the magazines or television; they did not view these figures as realistic role models. The media is doing great damage to the way that our young girls view beauty as well as themselves, but this image could be reversed by positive affirmations by older women who inspire their young lives. Positive affirmation should be given to young girls in regards to their body image when ever possible.

Studies conducted by the Melpomene Institute for Women’s Health have shown that women who were 50 years and older felt underrepresented in the media. In a study a few years ago by the institute, it was found that the suggested weight for a woman 5’4” in height and under 19 years was 113 lbs and 120-122 lbs. for women 19 and older. This is hardly realistic and healthy for older women. The problem for mature women is the lack of positive representation for their age group. Another study by the Melpomene Institute conducted in 1985 found the following: 39% of women aged 20-29 believed they looked better than most women compared to 87% of women over the age of 50 choosing the same response. The results of these studies are quite amazing; they suggest that satisfaction with body image increases with age.

Curious to see how accurate these results were, I decided to conduct a simple survey of my senior women’s fitness class to see how they would fair in regards to age and body image, this questionnaire was created for women of 50 years and older.

The following are a few random replies from the survey:

One participant said how she felt unsatisfied because she was underdeveloped compared to other women her age when she was in her 20s-30s. She also stated that what had the greatest effect on her body image were other women, she constantly compared herself to others. When asked about her perception today, she responded that she was satisfied with her body today; “I am happy that I have my health and excellent use of both my arms and legs, this is what is most important to me now”.

Another female participant stated that she always felt good about her body in her 20s and 30s; she was always secure and confident in herself and abilities. She also stated that she never had negative feelings about her body; she always knew what she liked and never changed anything about her appearance. In regards to exercise, she replied that she never did it regularly, but she always liked to walk and run wherever she was going, if it was not too far. She also shared how when she was growing up, she would walk three miles to school each day, and three miles home after school, this was her exercise. In regards to the media, she felt that the media was changing its concept of what is beautiful in America. This has been evidenced by new advertisement campaigns to show natural beauty. Finally when asked about her perception of her body image today, she responded that, “Yes, I am guilty of eating too much and gaining more weight than I should have. My skin is still very good, beauty comes from the inside not just the physical appearance”.

In short, the various research studies have shown that in general a woman’s perception about her body image and value increases with age. The results of my short survey were no exception; all women stated that they felt more confident about their bodies as they matured. Beauty is not just on the outside.

Women come in various shapes and sizes; this should be celebrated. By maintaining a healthy lifestyle with fitness, exercise and a good diet, you not only help protect yourself against diseases and increase your quality of life but it will also make you feel good about yourself.

I also write a weekly blog which is published to address the issues which effect women in their daily lives. Such issues which have been discussed vary from the effects of the media on body image to the benefits of exercise and stress management.

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Really interesting post. Thanks for taking the time to post this. I think that as you go through life your priorities change and that probably accounts in part for the change in perception of your body image. I think something else that affects it is relationship status. Any thoughts on that?

There's so much to all of this.

I think most women have strong body awareness at all stages of life. It's just maybe that at some stages, they're doing it for one set of reasons while at other times they're doing it for other reasons and have other motives and influences.

I think a whole lot of women make comparisons: comparisons between the now-her and the her from years ago, comparisons of themselves to their peers, comparisons to women who are 20 years younger, etc. I think it's a near-constant thing for a whole lot of women to do. Of the older women who do this, I have this feeling that they don't admit it or they have a tendency to write it off or have learned to say the "obviously right" things.

Maybe what we get good at doing is concealing the fact that we make those comparisons--we get better at giving the impression that it's not about x when part if it really is a lot about x. That might give someone the impression that as a woman ages, she cares less about body image when really, it's that she maybe has learned to guard those thoughts/feelings.

I was talking about something like this with a friend who had to do an online survey at work. It was supposedly anonymous, but the survey was designed such that it would be simple to identify the participant based on the answers to the demographic questions. She knew that and didn't feel comfortable answering the [very personal] questions honestly; however, she also didn't feel comfortable objecting to the survey outright. So she answered the questions with the "obviously healthy" answers just to avoid potential unpleasantries.

Hi Zeroth. I think that there are some women that do try to hide their true feelings about their bodies but I also believe that there are large amounts of women who actually feel comfortable with themselves the older they become.

Why? Good question. Maybe this particular "type" of woman who still feels uncomfortable with herself is actually unhappy over all. The women whom I spoke with genuinely felt that they had many things to be grateful for rather than to focus on what people were thinking about their bodies. Perhaps something in their lives made them realize all of the time that they wasted worrying about what others thought.

I believe that the things which were important or a priority in our 20's often evolve to meet our needs as we age and have new experiences in our lives.

Hi, DejaFit! This is a really interesting topic. I'm so glad that you posted it and it's timely. I have a friend who is struggling with this sort of thing and it's hard, but it's caused me to think about a lot of this over again. Seems like I see friends/family/coworkers cycling around this sort of problem a lot. Your post is timely and welcome!

In talking with my friend and others--lots of other family/friends/coworkers over the years--I think that a lot of women spend a lot of time with criticality of self and worrying about perception of self by others. And I think in their 30s and 40s they come around to the notion that it's not healthy and they want to--know they have to--pull away from that sort of thinking and into something higher. Yet I think it takes years and years and years to break those habits and wear in new grooves of healthy and well-motivated thinking/acting.

I think there are stages to some types of learning. You maybe come to accept a concept intellectually/logically before you breathe it in deeply and know and accept it, live it. Along the way, you maintain conscious efforts to pull away from one thing & into another, but it takes awhile for that to become habit/ingrained. I think what you're describing is the group of women who have made it firmly to that latter group; I'm describing women in that former group--the ones who maybe know it and know mostly how to give the impression of having risen to a new level but who aren't there fully (yet).

I've not done any formal study of this. I've just watched it happen personally and with friends, family, co-workers who've gone through their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s. (In several more years, I'll have some friends/family who are in their 60s so I'll be able to understand that a little bit more from more-direct experience. ) All of that said, it's hard to quantify this sort of thing just because of the nature of the problem.

There's a chapter in the book Freakonomics that speaks to this intricacies of this kind of data-gathering and interpretation--it's fairly interesting (although it might be too fundamental for some people--it's written for the extreme layperson, like me). It was still an interesting read.

also worth nothing (i think) is that women can sometimes be their own worst enemies and worst critics. of course there are historical reasons for the way that women react, feel threatened or in awe toward other women and ourselves but if we are talking about being productive, the first step toward any type of change isn't attacking "top models" or victoria's secret or men. that's misguided and not useful. images of beauty are what they are -- images of prescribed beauty. it is what it is and honestly, it ain't going nowhere.

the most productive thing that women can do is to be women - to be themselves and not participate in the sexism that's been perpetuated. every time a woman blames another woman or purposefully finds faults with another woman to put her down, she's participating in sexism (against women) and using that woman as a means to her own ends. and every time a beautiful woman walks in the door, that is no reason why any other woman should feel bad or inadequate about herself. we're all human beings who are drawn to beauty, i mean, why else do we like nature and flowers and beautiful animals so much?

also, there are so many definitions of feminism that, in my opinion, have been warped. it's not about getting on the an all male football team, it's about creating a team that is for women and unique to women because we are different and those are the differences that make us women. we don't want to be men, we want to be women and women need to start to create these places in society instead of finding fault within society.

so, whether you choose to wear stilettos or combat boots. whether you read cosmopolitan and love fashion and models or if you are a tomboy who doesn't wear make up or feel the need to fit into the "conventional" standards of beauty, it doesn't matter. the most feminine thing a woman can do is to be herself because she is a woman. nothing else matters and until we, as women realize this, we are participating passively in a system that leads us to be unhappy with ourselves. NO ONE is going to change anything unless women make the change and it's an organic change that starts with every woman and can't be placed on the evils of society if the goal is to be productive. it has nothing to do with magazine covers. it's about stability, self esteem and awareness.

no one can live outside of society but being yourself, as a woman, is the ultimate feminist act.

Hmm. So What about all of the men that strive to be fit. Why is that okay? There's nothing wrong with striving to be fit and lean if that's what you want. It doesn't matter if you're a woman. We shouldn't be paying attention to the media. It should be about health. The fact is, a lot of people are overweight. Loving your body and loving yourself is great, but it does not make obesity okay. Part of being confident in your body and your body image is knowing when something needs to be changed. I'm a size 2 and I am at a healthy weight. I really don't understand the whole idea that thin women are thin because they're anorexic. I eat a lot. (And I mean a lot). And I'm a size 2. I'm not thin because of the media. It's a combination of genetics and healthy habits.

I just thought I'd mention that there's nothing wrong with being thin. I'm self confident, I love my body, I'm not anorexic, and guess what? I'm thin.

i think it's great that you happy with your body but (i personally think) the more relevant issue to this discussion is why are you happy with your thin, size 2 body?

is it because you are lucky enough to be a genuinely happy person or is it because it happens to fit w/in the social conception of what's good and beautiful -- being thin. or maybe a bit of both. no one can live outside of society and of course our environment has been engrained within us. there's nothing wrong with that or with the fact that you are thin. as long as you are happy.

on the other hand, if models and actresses were all a healthy size 8, would you try to gain weight or would you be happy as a size 2? who knows.

as i mentioned in my previous post and as you mentioned, it's a waste of time to blame society because it's counterproductive and in fact, more harmful than beneficial. why? because it's a losing battle. yelling about beauty conceptions and magazines and skinny models will get you absolutely nowhere. there's nothing wrong with wanting to be look a certain way or having certain goals in life as long as you are aware of why you are doing them and ideally, these ideas and goals are based on something real and meaningful to you. if you are happy with the way you are, then there's no issue.

My question is this:

Does anyone really think that rail thin is sexy? A lot of models and actresses look so skinny to me they have absolutely no sex appeal.

Fit is great, skinny and shapeless isn't.

Example: I used to think Gwen Stefani looked great, now she's built like a mop handle. I don't get it.

I agree being too skinny to where the lady has no curves or meat on her is not attractive, i don't see why so many women want to look like those bony thin models.

I'd take a girl with some meat and curves over a skinny girl with no curves at all any day

i think that sometimes rail thin is sexy and sometimes it's not. depends...

if someone is naturally really thin but still looks healthy, (full face, some butt and also nice calves and arms) then i find that attractive, for example: christy turlington, naomi campbell, giselle? they all have nice bodies that look natural and beautiful.

but, i do agree that the whole skinny crazy can get ugly. someone who is not supposed to be a waif probably needs some more fat to prevent looking ill. i mean, it would just be so sad if jessica biel dropped any weight at all. she has a gorgeous, muscular and healthy body and is not rail thin by any means.

overally, i think it depends on the person and their body...

I agree that every now and then, a woman can be very thin and still shapely...and therefore attractive. I feel that that way about Courtney Cox...and yes, Giselle, but they are the minority for me. Give me Beyonce or Salma Hayek any day

right on! i think shapely is the key and beyonce's body is that and then some!

To respond to your point, if all of the models were a size 8, (Which for me is overweight, but for some women it isn't) I would not want to try to gain weight. I have had a difficult time getting up to a size 2. I used to fit in a size 0 which, frankly, was embarrassing. My mother accused me of having an eating disorder even though I ate whan I was hungry and stopped when I was full. It turns out, that just like with people who have a tendancy to gain weight by following their hunger patterns, I have a tendancy to lose weight. It is a constant struggle. If I am stressed out I will not turn to food for comfort like many people, my hunger signal actually shuts off. I don't know why, but it can be a huge burden. I constantly have to eat more than I feel like eating. I always feel uncomfortably full when I eat what I should be eating. I do not have a body image problem like anorexia, I just have a fast metabolism coupled with a low appetite. I feel more comfortable at my current weight, about 116 lbs, than I did at 105 lbs at my lowest. I feel stronger and healthier. I like my thin body because I will never have the stereotypical "female body". when I do put on weight it goes to my mid section. I am flat chested and relatively buttless. I also have broad shoulders compared to my hips. I will never have those feminine "curves" even if I gain weight. It will all just go to my belly. I take pride in the masculine aspects of my body. There are some physical advantages to it. It is easier for me to gain muscle mass in my upper body, and I don't have huge breasts getting in my way all of the time. I can do more pull-ups than some of the guys in my weight training class which is rare for a young woman. The only way I could truly emulate the media images of women would be to grow 4 inches and get breast and butt implants. I would never do that because I don't want that.

Size is another issue. You said, a healthy size 8. For me, size 8 would never be healthy. I don't have the bone structure or build for it. I wasn't made that way. For some women, size 2 will never be healthy. It depends on the person. Not all size 2's are disgustingly thin, and not all size 8s are overweight. Not everyone fits into a box or a category. We are all different. For you, size 8 may be ideal, but that doesn't mean it's ideal for everyone else. It really isn't about size or body image, it's about health. I've weighed my options, (excuse the pun), and I've found a happy medium. Take the thinness that genetics gave me, bulk up a little in muscle and I'll be all set.

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