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Breaking
Body Image
Barriers
Michele L.
Clerici
 16-year
old,
Christina
Catalani,
doesn’t
diet. She
doesn’t
watch her
weight.
She’ll
admit that
she eats
from the
time she
wakes up
in the
morning to
the time
she goes
to bed at
night.
Her mother
says that
when
Christina
has her
girlfriends
over they
eat faster
than she
can put
food out
for them.
“I don’t
mean they
just have
some chips
and dip, I
mean they
eat!” she
says.
Christina
is pretty
satisfied
with her
body and
she seems
to think
that most
of her
friends
feel the
same way.
Then her
mother
begins to
talk about
a certain
girl that
used to be
part of
the
clique.
“She would
come here
to hang
out and
while the
other
girls were
eating,
she would
just sit
there. I
would ask
her if she
wanted
something
to eat and
she would
say, ‘No
thanks,
I’ll just
have a
glass of
water.’
She must
have been
a closet
eater,
though,
because
she gained
weight
little by
little and
then over
the
summer,
she just
stopped
hanging
out with
the
girls. I
never see
her
anymore.”
It seems
that
Christina
might
represent
the
average
high
school
girl while
her
girlfriend
represents
the
unhappy
and
unfortunate
minority.
Is it
surprising,
then, that
according
to recent
body image
research,
two-thirds
of all
high
school
females
are either
dieting or
planning
to diet?
This means
that more
than half
of all
high
school age
girls are
dissatisfied
with their
weight,
with the
seeds of
dissatisfaction
rooted
during the
preadolescent
years
(7-12),
and
sometimes
tracing as
far back
as five
years of
age.
Body image
and the
changing
standards
of society
are
certainly
not new
ideas;
however,
as teens
seem to be
growing up
much
faster in
today’s
media-driven
world, the
pain of
self-hatred
and a lack
of
self-confidence
are
becoming
more and
more real
for them.
Some may
say that
the
pressure
of having
a “perfect
body” is
so
overwhelming
in today’s
society,
that it
has become
the
majority
of what
teenage
girls
think
about on a
daily
basis.
“I think
that girls
my age,
and in my
high
school,
think
about
their body
image
non-stop,”
says Erin
Keane, a
high
school
freshman.
Erin
attends
Washington
Township
public
high
school and
feels
strongly
about the
need for
girls her
age to
obsess
about
their
weight and
body
image.
Her
sister,
Catlynn, a
senior,
shares a
similar
perspective.
“I think
that body
image is
important
to girls
in my
school.
The people
I go to
school
with are
very
superficial
and image
is all
they think
about,”
she says.
As far as
the
dieting
habits of
the two
girls,
neither
claim to
be
concerned
with them,
only with
being
healthy.
However,
both have
noticed
the
image-driven
eating
habits of
friends
and other
classmates.
“I don’t
feel it’s
necessary
to diet,
because I
don’t
over-eat
and I’m
phyisically
active.
On the
other
hand, many
of my
friends
feel its
necessary
to diet
because
they think
they’re
fat, when
in fact,
they weigh
less than
me… but
just have
less
self-confidence,”
says
Erin.
The
extremity
of this
obsession
with
dieting
and trying
to attain
a perfect
body can
be seen in
the
increasing
numbers of
girls
diagnosed
with
anorexia,
bulimia,
and
various
other
eating
disorders.
These
cases are
still
considered
a small
minority
in the
face of
the
“average”
teen
girl.
Nonetheless,
two-thirds
of high
school age
females
diet or
plan to
diet,
revealing
the
“average”
teenage
girl as
one who is
considerably
dissatisfied
with her
body and
often
taking
unhealthy
risks as a
means of
overcoming
this lack
of
confidence.
Studies
have even
shown that
girls who
try to
lose
weight are
more
likely to
gain
weight
over time,
making the
challenge
to meet
such high
standards
practically
impossible.
“All of
the girls
in my
school are
perfect
and I am
the
opposite,”
says
Catlynn.
She also
says that
many of
her
friends
feel it
necessary
to diet,
but can
never
fully “go
through
with it
because
they
always get
hungry.”
Add
together
the
constant
hunger and
lack of
energy
that comes
with
dieting,
and the
barrage of
constant
food-related
media
experienced
on a daily
basis, and
the result
is a
formula
for
failure.
Most
teenage
girls are
not even
remotely
aware of
the
dangers
associated
with
dieting.
Aside from
the
physically
and
nutritionally
harmful
aspects,
are the
mentally
detrimental
effects.
By
limiting
calorie
intake,
the body
is
deprived
of
essential
body
chemicals
that
regulate
brain
activity,
moods, and
emotions,
leaving
dieters at
a higher
risk of
depression.
When asked
about
female
celebrities
they most
admire,
all three
girls
mentioned
singers or
actresses
who exude
the
standards
of perfect
body
image.
Christina
chose
Ashanti
because of
her “sex
appeal,”
Erin chose
Jennifer
Garner for
her beauty
and
“muscular
build,”
and
Catlynn
chose Cher
for her
ability to
look
“awesome”
even
though she
is
“fifty-something.”
Does the
media hold
sole
responsibility,
then, for
the way
that young
girls are
obsessed
about
their
inability
to achieve
such
perfection?
These
three
teenagers
seem to
agree that
the
biggest
influence
on their
self-image
is
television,
movies,
magazines,
and
music.
“Reading
beauty
magazines
make me
feel like
I need to
better
myself,
like I’m
not good
enough the
way I am.
I feel
determined
to ‘fix’
what’s
wrong with
me, even
though
nothing’s
really
wrong…
it’s just
not
‘perfect,’”
says
Erin. And
while
Christina
considers
herself
pretty
self-confident,
she is a
witness to
the
influence
of media
on other
girls who
are
“worried
about
their
bodies…and
they’re
only
teenagers.”
A lack of
respect
for one’s
own body
throughout
high
school
leads to
even more
complicated
issues
further on
in life.
Most
college
females
fear the
notorious
Freshman
Fifteen,
and they
continue
to battle
the
pressures
of weight
and size
as they
get
older.
They
linger
between
the
realization
of real
freedom
and the
unconscious
internalization
of the
“thin
ideal,”
rooted in
the
painful
struggle
for a
perfect
body
throughout
their
teenage
and high
school
years.
In today’s
society,
it’s no
wonder
girls are
caring
more and
more about
their
physical
appearance.
How do we
teach
them? How
do we make
them see
that a
beautiful
female is
more than
a
Britney-Spears-body
and an
endless
diet?
Strong
female
roles are
the key to
self-confidence,
and
breaking
down the
barriers
of
media-driven
body
ideals
will keep
teen girls
from
falling
into the
tragic
struggle
of
perceived
exterior
inadequacy
and
ugliness.
Read other
articles
by
Michele
Michele
is a
communications
major at
Mt. St. Marys, and
servers as
Emmitsburg.net
Communications
Director | 
