Could seeing images of individuals with larger frames be bad for our health? The answer is yes, according to University of Bologna researchers, Davide Dragone and Luca Savorelli.

In a recently published paper, “Thinness and Obesity: A Model of Food Consumption, Health Concerns, and Social Pressure,” the study’s authors claim that societal attempts to increase the ideal body weight could be harmful rather than helpful.

Drs. Dragone and Savorelli focus on the governmental interventions in Europe – Spain, Italy, and Germany, in particular – to increase the culturally defined ideal body weight through regulations on modeling. Recent bills and policies throughout the world have sought to address the prevalence of very thin models on the catwalks. The goal of these initiatives is to counter the damage done by portraying unrealistic and unhealthy images in the media.

But now these researchers are telling us that such policies serve to hurt us. They claim that if we are surrounded by images of people who look heavier, it “induces people to become more overweight,” and thus impairs their health. They warn that this trend will only worsen the “obesity epidemic.”

Interestingly, the authors do make the argument that increasing the ideal body size would be good for our pocketbooks and mental health. They recognize that our “welfare” would be improved if we could avoid the negative feelings associated with feeling the ideal is out of reach, and that discrimination might decrease as well.

The authors remark, “Since the healthy weight and ideal weight do not usually coincide, [people] have to trade off the health and social consequences of their food intake.”

Well how’s that for an awful choice to have to make?

Fortunately, we don’t have to buy into the idea that we really have to make that decision between our social health and our physical health.

For one, there isn’t the one-to-one ratio of physical health to weight that the popular media would sometimes have us believe. In fact, it is possible to be healthy at many different sizes and shapes, and it’s our own internal bias that prevents us from considering that a larger person could be healthier than a smaller one. Studies indicated that most health indicators, such as blood pressure and insulin sensitivity, can be improved through changing health behaviors, even if we don’t lose weight.

In addition, if we believe that seeing images of larger people breeds over-eating and resultant poor health, than perhaps we need to focus on the triggers for our eating. It would be naive to say that our eating habits aren’t impacted by social cues, but if a plus-size Vogue cover girl is going to impact my waistline, then I need to be thinking about whether I’m eating based on my body’s needs and my hunger and fullness cues. If we are truly eating based on the signals of our body, with the occasional influence of a night out with friends, then our bodies should stay at or around a weight that is healthy for us. That weight not be the “ideal” as defined by society, but it will be healthy.

This study is concerning less due of what it actually says and more due to the way that it is already being interpreted and disseminated in the media. My own fear is that hearing that images of larger women will make someone fat, without understanding the intricacies – and fallacies – of the article will serve only to reinforce the weight-bias that the authors lament in their paper.

What are your thoughts? What impact do you think seeing images of larger people in the media would have on your health and welfare?

{Image Credit :: Pocket Rocket Fashion}

With tunes as catchy as they are compelling, P!nk has always brought an smart and powerful female presence to the airways. Her songs often send a message of strength and empowerment, particularly to the young fans that can identify with her history of being an undervalued outcast.

Since her latest music video, “F**kin’ Perfect”, was released last week, Pink has faced some scrutiny for the graphic depictions of bullying, implied eating disorders, and self-harm. [You can view the video here, but please be aware that the imagery may be triggering for some.]

In the video, Napoleon Dynamite star Tina Marjorino plays a young woman reflecting on years of torment and abuse, perpetrated both by others and herself. The piece depicts the woman using behaviors such as extreme dieting and cutting in an apparent attempt to manage the intense feelings of hurt. sadness, and anger that she is experiencing.

I imagine that many among us can relate to the intense pain conveyed in this video. In the eating disorder community, many individuals have already expressed how profoundly they are able to connect with the experiences portrayed. And even among those who have never engaged in self-harm or other behaviors, the video elicits a sense of relatedness based on the anguish that can be caused by being rejected.

But could the imagery in the video hit too close to home for some?

Some members of the mental health community, as well as concerned parents and advocates, have expressed feeling that Pink’s video goes too far. They report concern that the images could be triggering and upsetting for individuals who struggle with these behaviors or could even glamorize them. Indeed, the character in the video experiences an ending that does not suggest the difficult of the potential repercussions of behaviors like cutting and eating disorders, which include serious injury and even death.

Many who have seen the video, however, report feeling a sense of hope. And in fact, Pink reports that a sense of connectedness was her goal in creating the video. She says on her website, “I don’t support or encourage suicide or cutting. I support the kids out there that feel so desperate/numb/powerless, that feel unseen and unheard, and can’t see another way. I want them to know I’m aware. I have been there. I see them. Sometimes that’s all it takes.”

So does creating awareness and potentially connection among those struggling outweigh the potential risk of upsetting and triggering others who are also struggling? Is all publicity good publicity?

These are the tough questions that must be asked when media images are created. There are no easy answers and we are bound to have opinions as varied as each of us. We face this issues much more often than we might think.

Consider the recently deceased Isabella Caro’s anti-anorexia campaign. While the young model was attempting to send a message about the dangerousness of an eating disorder – and may have been effective in steering some vulnerable individuals away from this life – the campaign may also have been extremely triggering to those in the throws of the disorder.

Or what about body image and eating disorder blogs that present stories of individuals at their most ill? Anecdotally, I know that many of the individuals I work with will tell me later in their recovery that during their most vulnerable, these stories did nothing but fuel their disorder, despite a happy ending for the writer. But still others report that these stories offer them a sense of hope – that no matter how severe the problem, recovery is possible.

To me, the important point is that we consider the questions – that we take time to examine the potential implications of what we write, do, say, and create. There is nothing more powerful than a critical mind and a thoughtful consumer.

What are your reactions to Pink’s “F**kin’ Perfect” video? Does the power of the message override images that could upset some people?

{Image Credit :: AMP}

As if the media standards for looking youthful and thin weren’t absurd enough, apparently adult women are now expected not only look prepubescent, but Pre-K as well.

Or so one might assume from a recent spread in Vogue Paris, a notoriously racy and boundary-pushing publication, that featured girls age six donning Valentino gowns, dripping with jewels, painted with heavy make-up, and sporting satin bras.

The December fashion piece was entitled “Cadeaux” (or “Gifts”, for those who need to brush up on high school French) and featured girls who should be spending time reading adventure stories or playing kickball lounging on leopard-print sofas giving their most come-hither stares and reapplying their wine-colored lipstick with manicured nails. In one particularly unseemly photograph, a bejeweled youngster is featured with a toothbrush in her mouth. If this was Parents magazine, I’d applaud the promotion of dental hygiene. But this is Vogue, and there is nothing that doesn’t ooze with sex in this publication.

Tom Ford, fashion icon, guest edited the issue; however, it seems to be Carine Roitfeld, editor-in-chief, who’s taking the heat. Actually, make that former editor-in-chief, as the woman who told reporters that she tries to do “something every month that is… not politically correct,” has “stepped down,” while rumors fly.

Fortunately, or so I hope, most women will recognize not only the ludicrousness of this 15-page spread, but also the potential danger that exists in portraying girls in this way.

So, what’s wrong with playing a little dress-up?

Portraying girls in adult apparel and situations and portraying adult women as young girls (à la Britney Spears sucking on a lollipop in a Catholic school girl uniform) reinforces the sexualization of youth, something that harms both girls and society.

In fact, the American Psychological Association created a Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls and found that these media, products, and societal practices are significantly harming the healthy development of young girls. Dr Eileen Zurbriggen, Chair of the APA Task Force, stated unequivocally, “We have ample evidence to conclude that sexualization has negative effects in a variety of domains, including cognitive functioning, physical and mental health, and healthy sexual development.”

Messages like these in Vogue are sent to young girls during a critical period of identity development. They implicitly convey a message of objectification wherein the girls become objects of adoration for ideals of beauty and sexuality. Girls then internalize these messages and develop shame and fear around their bodies, which results in things like anxiety, eating disorders, depression, and impaired sexual development.

And the effects don’t end there. Society suffers as well, with the sexualization of girls being linked to sexist attitudes, poorer relationships between men and women, and sexual harassment. And consider this: If a young girl is too caught up with shame and fear about her appearance to do things like raise her hand in class or join the science club, we as a society lose out on enormous intellectual and leadership potential that could push us forward.

So while little girls playing in mommy’s clothes and make-up may seem benign, it’s not. Vogue Paris is doing a disservice not only to little girls everywhere, but to all us.

What are your reactions?

When my brother-in-law sent me this link to the new E! series, Bridalplasty, my jaw literally dropped. (Side Note: Thanks to all of my lovely friends and family for being self-appointed Nourishing the Soul media watchdogs!)

In case I ever begin to be deluded that society is waking up to the harm caused by popularizing unrealistic versions of beauty, someone please just remind me to turn on the E! network. Or actually, don’t.

In the latest display of stomach-turning “Who came up with this horrific idea?” idiocy, E! has created a show that single-handedly represents all that I hate about reality television: portraying women as back-stabbing bimbos, promoting body-shame, and glamorizing unhealthy ideals and means of achieving them. Throw in the “celebrity” wedding and you’ve got Bridalplasty, the show that pushes the feminist movement back at least sixty years.

If you haven’t seen a trailer for the show, here’s the premise: Engaged women come together in what E! calls the first competition of it’s kind. As the women progress through wedding-themed challenges, they have the opportunity to weekly win one of the surgeries on their “wish list.” The show’s ultimate winner receives the whole she-bang: a total plastic surgery-induced makeover before her big day. In case you wondering about who is performing these procedures, don’t worry – it’s Dr. Terry Dubrow – a surgeon all too familiar with taking a knife to unhappy people’s bodies from his days on Fox’s The Swan.

Consider one of the show’s early challenges. The women are asked to compete in “Puzzle Play,” a game in which they each cover a picture of their old, unsightly selves with puzzle pieces to create an image of how they will appear on their big day – liposuctioned, Botoxed and chopped. If that’s not bad enough, once the puzzle is complete, the ladies are to run over, grab a syringe (no, seriously) and head downstairs for an in-house “injectibles party.” I’m wondering why someone didn’t call the police. Here’s a clip:

The ethical, medical, and psychological implications are simply staggering.

Bridalplasty explicitly places the emphasis of a wedding (which last time I checked involved the celebration of two people’s love, not lipo) on physical appearance – as if the 40 billion dollar per year wedding industry didn’t have enough revenue streams. I have to wonder about the future spouses of the women on this show and their reactions to their bride’s desire to transform themselves for the big day. Will they even recognize their soon-to-be-wife as she walks down the aisle? Will she recognize herself?

The show also promotes plastic surgery as the answer to body dissatisfaction. Call me crazy, but I can think of quite a few less expensive and less medically invasive ways to love your body. No nipping or tucking involved. Just like dieting, plastic surgery is not the key to a rocking body and often ends up leaving people feeling disappointed and dissatisfied. I’ll tell you the key to a rocking body. Confidence.

And I can’t forget to rant a bit about the way in which these types of shows play on women’s insecurities and body shame to rev up feelings of competition. Oh so cleverly, the producers turn all of that self-hate from being directed inward to being directed toward the girl in the next room. Suddenly we have a house full of screaming, angry women flailing at each other, when the issue is really that these women don’t know where to go with all of the shame and anger they feel for their bodies.

Okay, I think I can breathe again. I’d love to hear your thoughts, though. Share your reactions in the comments!