In 1985, Gonzalez-Lavin and Smolak found that 94% of the female characters on television shows favoured by young females were below average in weight19. This trend toward an increasingly slimmer ideal in the media over the last few decades has coincided with larger average body weight in women in Western societies20. Thus, this depiction of the female body shape in magazines and on television is hugely distorted and fails to represent the real diversity of female body shapes. The ideal female body that is represented in the media is unattainable for most women without resorting to extreme dieting or exercise behaviours. .
Exposure to Media and Self Comparisons.
Most females in Western society are regularly exposed to idealised images of the female body and often negative comparisons are made. In the U.S. researchers have found that over the course of a typical year, children and adolescents spend more time watching television than any other activity except sleeping21. In an Australian study, female adolescents were found to watch an average of 22.72 hours of television in one week, with an average of 5.43 hours of soaps or serials, and an average of 1.62 hours of music videos in the week under study15. Studies also indicate that many college women frequently read fashion magazines as a leisure activity22,23. A recent study found that the number of hours spent watching music videos was related to adolescent girl's weight concerns24.
Some studies have indicated that females often compare themselves with idealised images presented in media22,25. This tendency to self-compare is another possible factor that makes women vulnerable to the negative impact of media exposure. Fifty percent of the women in one study reported comparing themselves with the models in advertisements "about half the time" or more, and that these advertisements made them feel dissatisfied with the way they look22.