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Cyndi Sarnoff-Ross is a licensed psychotherapist with almost twenty years of clinical experience in the fields of clinical psychology and organizational management. She has worked extensively with a wide variety of…
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Girls Who Hate Their Body Grow Up to be Women Who Hate Their Body
My daughter’s elementary school recently brought in a speaker to discuss body image with the female students and to encourage positive attitudes around appearance. Apparently there have been some negative comments about girls’ bodies from the boys and even some body bashing from the girls. My daughter is in the 4th grade! What this should signal to readers is just how young body image issues start for girls.
The not so subtle messages that these kids are bombarded with, by both print and electronic media, are having a profound effect on their sense of themselves. This fact has never been more significant than it is now, in this age of constant streaming images. According to current data, 80 percent of woman are unhappy with their appearance and over 10 million have eating disorders. The statistics become staggering when you look at information from the National Eating Disorders Association. Among 1st through 3rd graders, 81% are fearful of becoming fat.
These are truly heartbreaking numbers, that foreshadow a lifetime of self-loathing, for these girls who are starting out their journey to adulthood with such negative ideas about their bodies. Eating disorders at their best lead to depression and the interruption of normal functioning, and at worst can be deadly. Of note is the fact that this is a problem that originated in the US, other cultures have begun to be plagued by these issues because of the infiltration of American media into their societies.
Parents and educators need to make every effort to combat these strong negative images. Children are always listening, and mothers in particular are strong role models for their daughters. Hearing a mom criticize her own body sets a negative tone and that dissatisfaction with self is contagious to daughters. As mothers we can create an environment of self-acceptance and set examples of healthy attitudes towards food and our bodies.
Schools and educators should keep an eye out for name-calling and bully behaviors that create shame in young girls. They, in conjunction with parents, must be mindful of the images that our young girls are exposed to on a regular basis. There needs to be a cultural shift, and it needs to happen soon. The well being of the next generation of women depends upon it.
- Cyndi
The not so subtle messages that these kids are bombarded with, by both print and electronic media, are having a profound effect on their sense of themselves. This fact has never been more significant than it is now, in this age of constant streaming images. According to current data, 80 percent of woman are unhappy with their appearance and over 10 million have eating disorders. The statistics become staggering when you look at information from the National Eating Disorders Association. Among 1st through 3rd graders, 81% are fearful of becoming fat.
These are truly heartbreaking numbers, that foreshadow a lifetime of self-loathing, for these girls who are starting out their journey to adulthood with such negative ideas about their bodies. Eating disorders at their best lead to depression and the interruption of normal functioning, and at worst can be deadly. Of note is the fact that this is a problem that originated in the US, other cultures have begun to be plagued by these issues because of the infiltration of American media into their societies.
Parents and educators need to make every effort to combat these strong negative images. Children are always listening, and mothers in particular are strong role models for their daughters. Hearing a mom criticize her own body sets a negative tone and that dissatisfaction with self is contagious to daughters. As mothers we can create an environment of self-acceptance and set examples of healthy attitudes towards food and our bodies.
Schools and educators should keep an eye out for name-calling and bully behaviors that create shame in young girls. They, in conjunction with parents, must be mindful of the images that our young girls are exposed to on a regular basis. There needs to be a cultural shift, and it needs to happen soon. The well being of the next generation of women depends upon it.
- Cyndi
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Something is wrong when a female takes TOO MUCH INTEREST to inspect, ogle, or stare at another female's style of dress AND then becomes jealous, envious--covetness!!
There is always competition to dress better, to outdo the others; to smell better, to outdo others; to be more foo-foo than your friend, than others at work, in school!! All the crap on TV to sell to--Women AND they buy into it! Beauty begins from the inside!! Treat your body well and one will glow.
Men always complimented my Petiteness while women grew hateful, jealous, resentful, envious towards me for what I was born with--being well-proportioned. My ex-hus got me butterfly jewelry because he said I was dainty, small, petite.
1) That show about baby beauty pageants should be canceled. Girls that age should be playing with blocks and toys and dolls and toy trucks and all sorts of other things. Getting makeup, dressing up, and learning how to present themselves is shameful.
2) Get more girls into sports, be it soccer, softball, volleyball, swimming, what ever. Great way to round out a young person's sense of self.
3) Get more girls interested in finding out just how smart they are! Girls can be good a math, science, history, any subject!
4) I hear there are laws being considered that would REQUIRE advertisers to disclose when they use artificial methods (ie photoshop) to alter the appearance of person.
5) Put Spiky in charge of casting for TV shows, I like her sentiment!
Women, you can choose how you react to the ridiculous standard of "normal" that's flashed in front of you. Like realize you are worth much more than your looks, whether you're beautiful or ugly. It's tough because there is clearly a double standard -- men can "earn" attractiveness whereas if women aren't born with it they resort to getting it artificially, which is much more expensive and risky than developing a personality.
The magazines, teh models, the shows, everything. Its all bullshit and it needs to stop. Have never cared, have never let anyone diminish me. I wish more girls were stronger but even moreso I wish we didn't have to be so strong as to resist the brainwashing from day one that we are here only to look pretty. If you're a woman and you're not pretty enough, you might as well be dead. But a fat "ugly" guy could be funny, president, have other qualities we don't seem to mind.