Editing Body image (section)

=== Weight ===
{{See also|Fat acceptance movement}}

The desire to lose weight is highly correlated with poor body image. Kashubeck-West ''et al.'' reported that when considering only men and women who desire to lose weight, sex differences in body image disappear.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Kashubeck-West S, Mintz LB, Weigold I |title=Separating the Effects of Gender and Weight-Loss Desire on Body Satisfaction and Disordered Eating Behavior |journal=Sex Roles |volume=53 |issue=7–8 |pages=505–518 |date=October 2005 |doi=10.1007/s11199-005-7138-4 |s2cid=145544847 }}</ref>

In her book ''[[The Beauty Myth]]'', [[Naomi Wolf]] reported that "thirty-three thousand women told American researchers they would rather lose ten to fifteen pounds than achieve any other goal."<ref name=Wolf1991 /> Through repeated images of excessively thin women in media, advertisement, and modeling, thinness has become associated with not only beauty, but happiness and success. As Charisse Goodman put it in her article, "One Picture is Worth a Thousand Diets", advertisements have changed society's ideas of beauty and ugliness: "Indeed to judge by the phrasing of the ads, 'slender' and 'attractive' are one word, not two in the same fashion as 'fat' and 'ugly.'"

Research by Martin and Xavier (2010) shows that people feel more pressure from society to be thin after viewing ads featuring a slim model. Ads featuring a larger sized model resulted in less pressure to be thin. People also felt their actual body sizes were larger after viewing a slim model as compared to a larger model.<ref>{{cite journal | author1 = Martin Brett A. S. | first2 = Xavier | last2 = Robina | year = 2010 | title = How do consumers react to physically larger models? Effects of model body size, weight control beliefs and product type on evaluations and body perceptions | url = http://www.basmartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Martin-and-Xavier-2010.pdf | journal = Journal of Strategic Marketing | volume = 8 | issue = 6 | pages = 489–501 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130801063704/http://www.basmartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Martin-and-Xavier-2010.pdf | archive-date = August 1, 2013 | doi = 10.1080/0965254X.2010.525252 | s2cid = 167961694 }}</ref>

Many, like journalist [[Marisa Meltzer]], have argued this contemporary standard of beauty to be described as anorexic thinness, an unhealthy idea that is not representative of a natural human body: "Never before has the 'perfect' body been at such odds with our true size."<ref name=Wolf1991>{{cite book|last=Wolf|first=Naomi |author-link=Naomi Wolf|title=The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women|url=https://archive.org/details/beautymythhowima00wolf_1|url-access=registration|year=1991|publisher=Vintage|isbn=978-0-09-986190-4}}</ref><ref>Meltzer, Marisa. "Absolutely Flabulous". Blogs & Stories. The Daily Beast, September 2, 2009. Retrieved January 25, 2010.</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Lunsford|editor-first1=Andrea A. |editor-last2=Ruszkiewicz|editor-first2=John J. |editor-last3=Walters|editor-first3=Keith |title=Everything's an Argument with Readings|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=puCAMAEACAAJ|edition=4th|year=2013|publisher=Bedford Books |isbn=978-1-4576-3149-8|last=Goodman|first= W. Charisse|chapter=One Picture is Worth a Thousand Diets|pages=605–611}}</ref> However, these figures do not distinguish between people at a low or healthy weight who are in fact overweight, between those whose self-perception as being overweight is incorrect and those whose perception of being overweight is correct.

Post-1997 studies<ref>{{cite web|title = Obesity Statistics: U.S. Obesity Trends|url = http://www.naaso.org/statistics/obesity_trends.asp|publisher = North American Association for the Study of Obesity|access-date = March 8, 2008|year = 2006|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060206185213/http://www.naaso.org/statistics/obesity_trends.asp|archive-date = February 6, 2006}}</ref> indicate that around 64% of American adults are overweight, such that if the 56%/40% female/male dissatisfaction rates in the ''[[Psychology Today]]'' study have held steady since its release, those dissatisfaction rates are if anything disproportionately low: although some individuals continue to believe themselves to be overweight when they are not, those persons are now outnumbered by persons who might be expected to be dissatisfied with their bodies but are not.

Some argue that the [[social pressure]] to lose weight has lessened what is described in both popular and academic parlance as an "[[obesity epidemic]]",<ref>{{cite web|title = Statistics Related to Overweight and Obesity|url = http://www.win.niddk.nih.gov/statistics/|publisher = [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|CDC]]|year = 2006|access-date = January 23, 2009|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090130040952/http://win.niddk.nih.gov/statistics/|archive-date = January 30, 2009|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title = The obesity epidemic in the United States—gender, age, socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, and geographic characteristics: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis|last1 = Wang|first1 = Youfa|last2 = Beydoun|first2 = May A|journal = Epidemiologic Reviews|year = 2007 |doi = 10.1093/epirev/mxm007|pmid = 17510091|volume = 29|pages = 6–28|doi-access = free}}</ref> despite the adverse effects.<ref name="ThompsonHeinberg1999">{{cite journal|last1=Thompson|first1=J. Kevin|last2=Heinberg|first2=Leslie J.|s2cid=8279216|title=The Media's Influence on Body Image Disturbance and Eating Disorders: We've Reviled Them, Now Can We Rehabilitate Them?|journal=Journal of Social Issues| volume=55| issue=2|year=1999| pages=339–353 |issn=0022-4537| doi=10.1111/0022-4537.00119}}</ref> Overweight children experience not only discrimination but overall body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem, [[social isolation]] and depression. Because of the negative stigma, the child may suffer severely from emotional and physical ailments that could persist past childhood into adulthood.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rankin |first1=Jean |last2=Matthews |first2=Lynsay |last3=Cobley |first3=Stephen |last4=Han |first4=Ahreum |last5=Sanders |first5=Ross |last6=Wiltshire |first6=Huw D. |last7=Baker |first7=Julien S. |date=2016-11-14 |title=Psychological consequences of childhood obesity: psychiatric comorbidity and prevention |journal=Adolescent Health, Medicine and Therapeutics |language=English |volume=7 |pages=125–146 |doi=10.2147/AHMT.S101631 |pmc=5115694 |pmid=27881930 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chao |first=Hai-Lun |date=2015-05-06 |editor-last=Hills |editor-first=Robert K |title=Body Image Change in Obese and Overweight Persons Enrolled in Weight Loss Intervention Programs: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=10 |issue=5 |pages=e0124036 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0124036 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=4422747 |pmid=25946138|bibcode=2015PLoSO..1024036C |doi-access=free }}</ref>