Starting young: Barbie

According to Teen Ink a standard Barbie doll is 11.5 inches tall, so at a 1/6th scale, she would stand five feet nine inches. Her chest would measure thirty-six inches, her waist, eighteen inches, and her hips would be thirty-three inches. she would weigh one hundred and ten pounds. Therefore, being thirty-five pounds underweight, lacking the 17 to 22 percent body fat required for women to menstruate, and she would suffer from back problems due to not having enough strength to support her largely proportioned chest. 


Is this really what you want young girls to aspire for?


http://www.teenink.com/opinion/pop_culture_trends/article/225891/Mass-Media-Has-a-Negative-Impact-on-Women/

http://www.beautyfromtheheart.org/2007/05/youre-such-doll.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20055694-10391704.html?tag=mncol;lst;2

Studies

1. In 1998, there was a study done by the Journal of American College Health that found the media to be a mass marketer of the female body image. It has been proven that it is a strong force in creating the stereotype of the tall and thin women as the "ideal" beauty type. (Rabak-Wagener)
2. University of Minnesota conducted a study on 2500 female teenagers that showed the amount of teens using diet pills has doubled, from 7.5% to 14.2%.

Dove Campaign: Self-Esteem Fund

This commercial was shown during the 2006 Super Bowl to promote true beauty. To show that the media portrays the wrong image to young girls and show people in society what real beauty is.
<embed id=VideoPlayback src=http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=1731400614466797113&hl=en&fs=true style=width:400px;height:326px allowFullScreen=true allowScriptAccess=always type=application/x-shockwave-flash> </embed>

"Campaign for Real Beauty”

Dove Campaign 

–It’s featuring realistically-proportioned women proudly showing off their curves in plain white underwear

–It has other commercials criticizing the industry for distorting our perception of beauty

–Dove portrays real  beauty in a positive light

 http://www.dove.us/?dl=/features/videos/default.aspx%7Ccp-documentid=7049579%7Cvideo-id=1&source=shareBlogger

Solutions

Parents: 
    1. Demonstrate healthy eating and exercise habits on a regular basis.
    2. Limit the amount their children's exposure to television 
    3. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ suggests that children watch no more than 1 to 2 hours of quality TV per day, and that the parents watch it with them to discuss the content. 
Outside Help:
    1. Allowing children to receive the message from TV, magazines, and commercials that healthy snacks are the "cool" thing to be eating, instead of the junk food that is normally advertised. 
    2. The government needs to provide funds to give existing media-driven advertising campaigns to provide information to children about good nutrition, exercise, and healthy self-esteem. 
    3. Magazine editors need to find ways to incorporate average sized adults and teens in their publications in order to change the perspective of the ideal woman in society. 
http://ap.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/30/3/257

What Adults Can Do

According to Instead of TV, three ways to avoid young girls from developing eating disorders:
1. Encourage and support their achievements and passions
2. Help young girls get in touch with reality
3. Focus on a healthy lifestyle