By Meghan McCloskey, Staff Writer
It is no secret that females worry more about certain body issues than men do, like the pressures to be thin and “perfect” by public standards. However, two major magazines have begun to focus more on women’s health and not their dress size.
Most people realize the pressure for young girls to fit in comes from the media. Ever since girls are old enough to watch television or even listen to music, they are exposed to the cookie-cutter mold of famous movie stars and celebrities.
Girls grow up believing to be successful in life they must look, sound and do exactly as they see or hear from their idols in the media.
One of the biggest media outlets that influence girls at an age when they are most influential is the magazines. Many girls cannot wait until they are old enough to read Seventeen or Teen Vogue.
Although these publications give helpful advice to teenage girls like information about schools, travel and friends, the magazines can also negatively affect teenagers. The girls posing in these magazines are mostly thin models whose jobs necessitate their weight.
It seems that the only magazines that are turning this stereotype around are adult women magazines. Magazines like Marie Claire and Glamour are starting a revolution of sorts to try to diminish the unrealistic image of the perfect models in their publications.
Glamour is going full-force with this revolution. They devote an entire edition to body image and the effects it has on women around the world. They include facts about body image in different countries, which shows how much more emphasis America puts on being thin than everyone else in the world.
The best part about the Glamour issue is that it focuses on the health of women related to body issues, which is what most women should worry about. They show that being healthy is the number one goal women should focus on, not about how perfect they think they need to look. Glamour broke the mold of using only stick-thin models in their fashion spreads by featuring average sized women like Crystal Renn and Kate Dillon in features.
Marie Claire has not made as dramatic a change as Glamour, but the magazine has started to turn around by featuring more stories about womens’ struggles with body issues (like eating disorders) and the harmful effects they have had on these women. They also have a weekly blog, “Big Girl in a Skinny World,” written by Ashley Falcon, an intern who is a plus-size woman.
Although two powerful women’s magazines on the market have shown an improvement in the way in which they influence their readers about body image, women still focus too much on their looks and how they compare to other women, rather than their health.
Women need to focus on the way in which they treat their bodies and how they take care of themselves, not stress over how much bigger their thighs look or how much flatter their stomach is compared to the woman sitting next to them.
