Pamela Kruger

September 26, 2006

Do Skinny Models Hurt Girls' Self Image?

According to USA Today, a number of studies have looked at this question, and the resounding answer is, Yes. I doubt that is a surprise to most women raising kids today.
When I was 14 years old, I vividly remember pouring over the pages of Seventeen magazine with a friend, asking each other, "Do you want to look like this? Or that?" This was before the era of Kate Moss, but certainly models were very skinny. Practically every girl I knew was dieting by the time we hit ninth grade.
But today kids are barraged with images of rail thin models and celebrities. My daughters haven't told me that they need to go on diets--yet. But of course, they're going to be affected by these images.
If advertising didn't have power, companies wouldn't pour millions and millions of dollars into their ad campaigns.