Informative Research Product Organizer
Research Topic: Unrealistic
beauty standards
Focusing Statement:
Are girls under too much pressure to look a certain way?
Essential Background Information for Introduction:
 Even thin women who are not constantly obsessing over their body image are obsessing subconsciously.
 “Society values beauty in girls over intelligence and talent.” -9th grader
 “The beauty and body image obsession is cyclical, contributing to widespread cultural messages and norms that
are negative and harmful for women and girls, which in turn create interpersonal dynamics that are damaging for
women and between women.”
 Women have learned from a young age that the power of a female is tied to what they look like and how “sexy”
they are and not to their character or achievements.
 “Girls are encouraging the negative effects of sexualization and unrealistic physical appearance by policing each
other to ensure conformance with standards of thinness and sexiness, creating a kind of competition among
themselves.”
 “Young boys also pick up on sexualization and appearance-based objectification of girls early by learning to
sexually harass and objectify girls.”
 Interpersonal problems between girls start early, aggressive bullying based on issues such as physical
appearance and social status has been on the rise since the early 90s.
 Women want to be attractive and men want to have attractive partners.
 In a study about the “competition” between women, 80% of women interviewed said they competed with women
over physical appearance. In this competition, women are competing with younger women and their younger
selves usually driven by the belief that winning this competition will reward them with the husband, career and self
that they desire.
 Victorian gender ideology taught that beauty was the “duty” of middle class white women.
 The feminine pursuit of beauty opened many employment doors for women; sales agents, cosmetologists,
advertising writers, “beauty experts”, and inventors.
 By the 1960s feminists began to critique this beauty culture women were being brainwashed into. They
demonstrated against the 1968 Miss America pageant and black women created the slogan “Black is beautiful”.
 No matter your size, the ideal waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), calculated by dividing the waist circumference by the hip
circumference, is 0.7 for women.
 All winners of the Miss America contests from 1920 to 1980 as well as the Playboy models had WHRs between
0.68 and 0.72
 “It is about the most basic of human emotions: love. We want it so much that we’re willing to go to any length for
approval. In our culture, we imagine we will be loved if we are pleasing to imaginary men…We look in the mirror
and he stares back, criticizing us into submission. So we starve ourselves, cut ourselves, and sink into mental
illness to escape from the pain.”
 “…There’s a lot of time I spend hating me, because of media and not being able to relax.” –Barb
 “…I feel all concerned about my appearance. Like I find it hard to relax…I’m very conscious of fashion and style”
–Helen
 “…When you notice that you don’t look a certain way…first of all, people feel shame.” –Virginia L. Blum
 “Whether or not we like it, carving knives and poisons and bovine solutions are the woad and lead oxide of our
times, and a strange clan of replicants of the anorexic, trout-pouting, albino variety has become as visible to us on
a daily basis as our neighbors. Beauty is no longer truth.” –Joanna Briscoe
 The average person sees between 400 and 600 advertisements per day.
 Eight out of every 10 female students have disordered eating in some way, and are regularly dieting.
Potential Hook/Grabber (Story, anecdote, quote about your issue):
 Perfect or Stupid Girls – P!NK video(s)?
 Beauty Pressure video?
Topic 1: Types
of Surgery
Explanation
 Plastic: usually performed to treat birth
defects and to remove skin blemishes
such as warts, acne scars or birthmarks.
Includes procedures such as laser
resurfacing, collagen injections and
dermabrasion. Also includes tummy
tucks, procedures to remove tattoos, and
reshaping the cartilage in children’s ears.

Explanation
 Cosmetic: performed to make the
patient look younger, or enhance
appearance in other ways; usually
focuses on the face. Common procedure
for children is correcting a cleft lip or
palate. For adults, remodeling of the
nose, removal of baggy skin around
eyelids, facelifts, changing the size of
breasts. Popular with men, facelifts,
eyelid surgery, hair transplants and
tummy tucks.

Explanation
 Reconstructive: used to reattach body
parts severed in combat or accidents, to
perform skin grafts after severe burns or
to reconstruct parts of a patient’s body
that were missing at birth or removed by
surgery. Involves rebuilding severely
fractured bones, reattachment of
amputated finger/toe, implanting a
prosthesis.
Evidence/Quotes:
Evidence/Quotes:
 11.7 million cosmetic surgical and non-surgical procedures
were performed in the US during 2007 – representing an
increase of 500% in the overall number of cosmetic
procedures in the past 10 years.
 Women account for 91% of the procedures in 2007.
 The top 5 surgical cosmetic procedures in the US during
2007 were; breast augmentation, lipoplasty, eyelid surgery,
abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) and breast reduction, totaling
$5.3 billion.
Evidence /Quotes:
Topic 2: Eating Disorders
 Present in children as young as 6 and dieting becoming more common in those under 10
 A study of US women between the ages of 24-45 found that 67% (excluding those with actual eating disorders)
are trying to lose weight, while 53% are already at a healthy weight.
 In the US alone, nearly 10 million women suffer from an eating disorder and more than 80% are dissatisfied with
their appearance.
 Of the 1 million women every year in the US who are anorexic or bulimic about 150,000 die.
 “More die of anorexia in the United States each year than died in 10 years of civil war in Beirut.”
 40% of newly diagnosed cases of eating disorders are in 15-19 year old girls but symptoms can occur as young
as kindergarten.
 Causes: Some girls want to hide their bodies (hiding from family problems, sexuality, social situations or rejection)
and become invisible, by either losing or gaining a tremendous amount of weight. Some girls feel out of control in
their lives and feel that by controlling their weight they can gain control of their life again.
Explanation
Anorexia: starvation, severe restriction of food
intake in order to lose weight
 Behaviors: intense overwhelming fear of
gaining weight or becoming fat
(regardless of actual weight, even if near
starvation); believes that their body
Evidence/Quotes:
 1. Restricting type 2. Binge eating/purging type
 1% of American women are starving themselves
 Possessed by thoughts of weight, food and calories 24/7
 Has one of the highest fatality rates of any mental illness
 The body will digest it’s own muscles and organs for energy
due to lack of food.


weight, shape and size is directly related
to how good they feel about themselves
and their worth as a human being; denial
of condition, cannot objectively evaluate
their own weight; hiding of food, chewing
or cutting up food for a long time or not
eating at all.
Symptoms: weakness, fainting,
headaches, constipation, growth of fine
hair all over the body, yellowing of the
palms and soles of feet, severely frail
bones, 3 consecutive menstrual cycles
missed, severely underweight.
Long-term effects: infertility, heart
irregularities and kidney failure.

Fasting – not eating for at least 24 hours
Explanation
Bulimia: bingeing and purging; consuming a
large amount of food in a short amount of time
 Behaviors: recurrent episodes of binge
eating (twice a month for 3 months); no
control over how much they eat, don’t
stop until food is gone; use vomiting,
laxatives, diuretics, enemas or other
medications to get rid of the
calories/weight they just consumed;
excessive exercise; ashamed of eating
disorder, very secretive; very body and
weight conscious; frequent dieting; eating
a large amount of food in a short period
of time
 Symptoms: uncontrollable eating,
purging, usually accompanied by
depression, mood swings, feeling out of
control, swollen glands in the face and
neck, heartburn, bloating, dental
problems, irregular periods, constipation,
indigestion, sore throat, vomiting blood,
weakness, exhaustion, bloodshot eyes.
Evidence/Quotes:
 1. Purging type 2. Non-purging type
 Regularly purge, fast or engage in strenuous exercise after
an episode
 Purging – vomiting or using diuretics or laxatives in greater
than recommended doses
 Strenuous exercise – exercising for more than an hour solely
to avoid gaining weight after an episode
Explanation
Binge Eating Disorder: compulsive overeating
without purging
 Behaviors: obsessive thoughts;
preoccupation and strong compulsion to
consume food followed by feelings of
guilt; frequent episodes of eating
abnormally large sums of food; unable to
control how much is being eaten; eating
at a rapid speed; eating until
uncomfortably full; eating large amounts
of food when not physically hungry;
eating alone because of embarrassment
of amount of food being consumed;
feelings of disgust, depression or guilt
after overeating; secretive;
 Symptoms: episodes of binge eating,
eating when not physically hungry,
frequent dieting, feeling unable to stop
eating voluntarily, awareness that eating
patterns are abnormal, weight
Evidence /Quotes:
 Similar to substance abuse
 Food is used as a way of coping with emotional pain.
fluctuations, depression, shame,
antisocial behavior, obesity
Topic 3: Self-Torture
Explanation
Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)/Imagined
Ugliness: an obsession with a perceived defect
in physical appearance.
 Symptoms: exaggerated fears; anxiety;
delusional thoughts; maladaptive
behaviors; preoccupations with perceived
bodily flaws and physical appearance;
trouble engaging, interacting, and
empathizing with peers; insecurity,
sensitive; narcissistic; introverted;
 Behaviors: extreme levels and
frequencies of mirror gazing, picture
taking, grooming, make up application,
hairstyle/clothing changes, exercising,
dieting, grasping of the body.
 Ritualistic maladaptive behaviors: body
rocking, skin picking, lack of sleep,
inability to focus, decreased appetite,
lack of empathy, lethargy, self-assurance
seeking, social withdrawal, aggressive
outbursts, suicidal ideation. (Similar to
social anxiety, depression, social phobia,
obsessive compulsive disorder, eating
disorders and a variety of other
personality disorders.)
Evidence/Quotes:
Explanation
Self-Mutilation: a deliberate, intentional injury to
one’s own body that causes tissue damage or
leaves marks for more than a few minutes
 Major self-mutilation – (rare and most
extreme) permanent disfigurement, i.e.
castration or limb amputation.
 Stereo typical self-mutilation – head
banging (more common in those with
autism or severe mental retardation),
eyeball pressing and biting.
 Superficial self-mutilation – (most
common) cutting, branding/burning,
friction burn (rubbing a pencil eraser on
skin) hair-pulling, bone breaking, hitting
(with hammer or other object), punching,
interference with wound healing, multiple
piercing or tattooing, drinking harmful
chemicals, etc.
Evidence/Quotes:
 Usually done to cope with overwhelming or distressing
situations or to punish one’s self.
 Self-injurers tend to be perfectionists, are dissatisfied with
themselves or their bodies and are unable to handle intense
feelings or express their emotions verbally.
 Cutting – making cuts or scratches on one’s body with any
sharp object (knives, needles, razor blades, fingernails, etc.).
Can become a habit or compulsive behavior.
 Hair-pulling (trichotillomania) – irresistible urge to pull out hair
from any part of the body; resembles a habit, addiction or
obsessive compulsive disorder.
 Dermatillomania (picking at skin or re-opening wounds) – an
impulse control disorder characterized by the repeated urge
to pick at one’s skin, usually to relieve stress
Explanation
Drug Abuse:
Evidence /Quotes:
 Used to numb their emotional pain, temporarily block out
anxieties, to feel cool or part of a group
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Flaws are often unwarranted, minimal or nonexistent
Genuinely believe they are deformed
Typical focus remains on head/facial area; skin tone, facial
asymmetries, skin appearance, nose and hair loss
May spend 2-8 hours a day focusing on or attempting to
modify their appearance
Failure to recognize they have a disorder
No direct cause yet, researchers argue that cultural emphasis
on beauty promotes beauty based psychological disorders
like BDD
Being continually exposed to “beautiful” people in the media:
1) increase internal pressure aimed attaining similar features
and/or 2) initiate feelings of self-doubt and inadequacy upon
realizing that such features cannot be attained
Topic 4: Society’s Role/Who’s Responsible?
 “The current standard of beauty feeds the fashion, beauty, diet, surgery, entertainment, media and pornography
industry, just for starters.”
Explanation
Hollywood/Celebrity influence?
Evidence/Quotes:
 Miley Cyrus, Vanessa Hudgens, Lindsay Lohan, Nicole
Richie, Paris Hilton, Mischa Barton, Mary-Kate Olsen, Marilyn
Monroe, Kate Moss, Sophia Loren, Twiggy
 (Pop) singers are preselected so that they all look similar.
 The average model, dancer, and actor has been calculated to
be thinner than 95% of the population.
 “The problem with actresses is that we extend all this
imaginary power to them because they’re these iconic
images, but in real life they’re the low end of the production
machinery. Their careers are absolutely over if they don’t do
something.” – Virginia L. Blum
 “…You have blond hair streaking and people trying to look
like Britney [Spears] in Japan.” – Desmond Morris
Explanation
Entertainment/Media/Ads
Objectification & Sexualization of women
Evidence/Quotes:
 Actress Gina Davis believes the more hours of television a
girl watches the fewer options she believes she has in life.
“The vast majority [of female characters] … were either highly
stereotyped or were serving mainly as eye candy.”
 According to one study, girls who watch TV commercials
depicting underweight models lose self-confidence and
become more dissatisfied with their own bodies.
 According to another study, 30 minutes of TV can change the
way a young woman perceives the shape of her body.

In a 1999 study, almost all of the contemporary centerfolds
were considered underweight under Canadian guidelines and
1/3 met the World Health Organization’s BMI criteria for
anorexia.
 “It’s still really hard to go far in the music industry unless you
meet Western culture’s beauty ideal.”
Explanation
Photoshopping/Airbrushing
Evidence /Quotes:
 Oprah Winfrey claims she dieted strenuously in order to be
deemed thin enough for the cover of Vogue in 1998.
 In 2009 Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, defended
photoshopping by saying it makes people “look their best”.
 L’Oréal was accused of lightening Beyonce’s skin in one of
their advertisements, most likely in hopes of widening her
appeal to consumers. Beyonce looks “bleached out to the
point where it looks like they are trying to turn her white …
her hair had also been straightened with not a wave in sight,
as if this was just one more step towards making her look
Caucasian white instead of African America.”
 Advertisers panic about using black models because they
don’t want to alienate white consumers leading to a drop in
sales.
 Advertisers cater to particular fears or desires in order to sell
a product.
 “They’re perfected to death…I don’t see these photographs
as being authentic or real. I see them as being mechanical
and inhuman.” –Ken Harris
 “Product manufacturers are ‘not going to keep something that
looks flawed or natural. They’re not concerned with natural.
They’re concerned with selling their product” –Dominic
Demasi
Explanation
Family, Childhood, Early messages
Evidence/ Quotes:
 From day one girls are dressed in pink, given dolls and other
“girly” toys and being praised for being pretty.
 Mothers are our first example of how to be a woman. Girls
observe how they carry themselves, relate to men, and how
they feel about their bodies. We often adopt our mother’s selfesteem or lack thereof.
 Many parents and even grandparents transfer their
unresolved issues with body image and self-esteem on us.
 Many anorexic girls are daughters of women with eating
disorders.
 Some mothers encourage their teenage daughters not to
leave the house without make up, force their daughters to get
certain haircuts or even offer plastic surgery as a gift.
 Other mothers are victims of jealous mother syndrome, where
their daughters represent something they feel has slipped
away from them. They watch their daughters grow up and
mature and feel jealous if her daughter gets attention from
boys, during a mother-daughter shopping trip, etc. usually
due to a fear of aging. It is an unconscious competition.
Mothers who fall under this category often insult their
daughters.
 Many fathers take pride in their daughters and will brag about
her being “the prettiest girl in the world”. Unfortunately, this
can unconsciously teach girls that the only way to get
attention and affection from men is to be pretty.
Topic 5: Cost ($ and Health Risks)/Extremes women go to in order to achieve “beauty”
 Cosmetics, exercise, diets, liposuction, stomach stapling, anti-cellulite creams, breast, butt, cheek and chin
implants, Botox and collagen injections, chemical peels, facelifts and labia surgery.
 Deaths: Olivia Goldsmith, Micheline Charest, Donda West, Luisel Ramos, Ana Carolina Reston
 Women in their 20s are hoping to supercharge their careers while women in their 40s are trying to remain young.
 The exploding demand for surgery has lead to fake doctors performing the surgeries in the back of beauty salons.
Explanation
Diets/Eating disorders (Unhealthy behaviors)
Evidence/Quotes:
 2008 Australian study found that 1 in 5 15-24 year olds
reported strict dieting or fasting; 30% said they went on food
binges, 14% purged; 45-54 year olds reported: 21% strict
dieting/fasting, 17% binge eating, 29% purging
 20%-40% of girls are dieting by age 10.
 Over ½ of girls use behaviors such as skipping meals,
fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting and taking laxatives to
control their weight.
 13% of women smoke to lose weight.
 According to the American Lung Association, “Teenage girls
often start to smoke to avoid weight gain and to identify
themselves as independent and glamorous … Social images
can convince teens that being slightly overweight is worse
than smoking.”
 Most eating disorders start with dieting. Typically a girl will try
a fad diet to get rid of a few pounds. Unfortunately, fad diets
are dangerous and rarely work. They consist of eating a
severely limited amount of calories for a few weeks. She will
lose the weight like she hoped but it will eventually come
back, starting the dangerous cycle.
 More than one in three girls age 6-12 has been on at least
one diet.
Explanation
Surgery
Evidence/Quotes:
 Women take unnecessary risks, sometimes lifelong, during
cosmetic surgical procedures just to achieve their idealized
physical selves.
 In 2007 the top 5 cosmetic procedure average costs (per
procedure/per year): Breast Aug. - $3,889/$1.5 billion;
Lipoplasty - $2,942/$1.3 billion; Eyelid surgery - $2,840/$684
million; Tummy tuck - $5,350/$992 million; Breast Red. $5,417/$829 million
 The predominant choice of anesthesia for cosmetic surgery
includes many unnecessary, avoidable and potentially fatal
risks such as blood clots to the lungs, airway mishaps leading
to lack of oxygen to the brain, postoperative nausea and
vomiting (PONV), and postoperative cognitive disorder
(POCD).
 Non-surgical cosmetic procedures performed in “retail or spalike settings” may have limited or no full-time medical staff
and may be ill equipped to handle more than routine beauty
services.
 Breast augmentation complications: scar tissue infection,
sagging of implants, rupture or deflation of implants, and
implants settling toward the middle of the chest.
 Tummy tuck complications: infection, bleeding under the skin
flap, blood clots leading to pulmonary embolus, and a
potentially life-threatening blood clot in the lungs.
 Liposuction complications: infection and skin discoloration.
Explanation
Cosmetics/Beauty Services
Evidence /Quotes:
 One full year of tuition and fees at an in-state public college is
equal to almost 5 years of saving $100 a month normally
spent on cosmetics and beauty products. (One year of tuition
and fees is $6,185; 5 years of beauty products savings is
$6,423)
 If a woman invested the average amount of money she
spends on a monthly manicure-pedicure treatment ($50) into
her retirement account every year for 10 years she would
have almost $10,000.
 Women in the US spend a total of $7 billion per year on
cosmetics.
 In the US, cosmetics are not subject to testing by the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA), the FDA is not required to
give “premarket approval” before cosmetics are offered to
consumers. Cosmetic companies are not required to register
information on the ingredients in their cosmetics or cosmetic
related injuries to the FDA.
 Several ingredients found in US cosmetic products contain
phthalates, which can be absorbed through the skin or
inhaled, which have been shown to cause damage to the liver
and reproductive system in animal studies. Europe banned
the use of this chemical in 2003.
 The US FDA does not specifically prohibit carcinogenic,
mutagenic or toxic substances from cosmetic products.
 In the late 19th century, women routinely died from the
ingredients in cosmetics due to arsenic or rat poison.
 “I like wearing make up; I do get a lift from it. I like trying new
colors and matching them with my outfits…Women should be
able to get that lift, but not at the expense of their health.” –
Felicia Eaves
 Stacy Malkan went back in time to her teenage years and
typed in her daily beauty routine into the Skin Deep database,
“I counted 19 products in all --- 230 chemicals, [according to
Explanation
Tanning
Explanation
Skin Whitening/Bleaching
Explanation
Corsets/Wasp waist
Skin Deep], most of them applied to my body before I even
left the house to catch the bus”.
Evidence/Quotes:
 About 10% of Americans use tanning beds.
 Indoor tanning bed use increases the risk for 3 common skin
cancers, basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and
melanoma (the deadliest form of skin cancer).
 The risk for skin cancer from tanning beds increases over
time also known as a “dose-response effect”, meaning the
more visits to the salon, the higher the risk.
 The risk for basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell
carcinoma increased 15% for every 4 visits to a salon each
year while the risk for melanoma increased by 11%.
 Exposure in youth is the most dangerous.
 “Use during high school/college had a stronger effect on the
increase risk for basal cell carcinoma compared with use
during 25 to 35.” –Dr. Mingfeng Zhang
 UVB rays found in sunlight have been known to cause the
most overall damage to all layers of the skin but the effects
are more severe on the surface making them more
noticeable. Damage to the surface layers isn’t as important
because those layers are in the process of dying.
 UVA rays which are given off both by sunlight and tanning
beds, target areas beneath the surface where cells divide to
create new layers. Damage to this area is what raises the risk
of skin cancer. Because UVA rays focus on the lower layers
and leave the surface unharmed the damage can go
unnoticed.
Evidence/Quotes:
 In Asian countries like the Philippines women are using toxic
creams and powders to lighten their skin tone.
 Many of these products contain an animal carcinogen called
hydroquinone that is toxic to the skin, brain, immune system
and reproductive system. Other products contain chemicals
that have the potential to raise the risk of getting skin cancer.
 “’When you first use it, as fast as three days, the skin starts to
peel and it gets really red. Then the skin gets taut, you can
see the veins because it peels too much, and the peeling
doesn’t stop. The skin gets lighter and lighter and thinner and
thinner. Then the face starts to get light and white, but the
neck is still dark, so it looks like there is permanent
foundation.’ Many women don’t know they are supposed to
also use sunscreen” –Anne Larracas
 Skin color is genetic and no chemical can permanently lighten
skin according to dermatologists.
 Chromium and Mercury have also been found in skin
whitening creams such as, Clinique, Estée Lauder, Christian
Dior, Max Factor, Lancôme and Shiseido.
Evidence/Quotes
 “For centuries, society firmly held the belief that women were
weaker of mind and body…women are timid, women faint at
the first sign of danger, women are prone to disease. The
truth behind many of these assertions is that for centuries,
women had been restricting their lung capacity with heavily
boned corsets.”
 "...the lower sections of the rib cage are pushed inward by the
corset. The two sides of the lower rib cage, normally
separated by a space, approach each other as the waist is
progressively constricted. Eventually, of course, the twain
must meet. It is erroneous to suppose that further body
Explanation
Foot Binding
Explanation
Neck Rings
modification is then not possible, however, because the two
halves of the rib cage can and will overlap with continued
tight lacing."
 Lungs: can be crushed to the point where they will not inflate.
 Stomach: can be squeezed down to a size that will accept
very little food, resulting in heartburn and indigestion.
 Bladder: can be kept to a very small size resulting in reduced
capacity.
 All of the major organs in the torso are affected and their
function will be impaired.
 "Many doctors tried unsuccessfully to convince their patients
to loosen their laces as a way of relieving their aches and
pains, but women were often as fondly attached to their
corsets...These women demanded pills, powders, and
potions to relieve their discomforts."
 In pregnancy the infant receives first claim to oxygen,
nourishment, and abdominal space. "Pregnancy in a woman
who is or has been practicing body modification is likely to
result in significant complications that may endanger the
mother’s life as well as potentially harming the child."
 Corset waist measurements: vary between 20 and 23 inches
 Wasp waist measurements: vary between 18 to 16 inches
 Medical problems: cracked and deformed ribs, weakened
abdominal muscles, deformed and dislocated internal organs,
and respiratory ailments
Evidence/Quotes
 Chinese women went: binding their feet to turn them into
"three-inch golden lotuses."
 Banned in 1912, but some continued binding their feet in
secret.
 Bound feet were a status symbol, seen as a mark of class,
and the only way for a woman to marry into money.
 "I regret binding my feet, I can't dance, I can't move properly.
I regret it a lot. But at the time, if you didn't bind your feet, no
one would marry you." –Zhou Guizhen
 Foot binding bandages were about 10 ft. long and made it
difficult for women to wash their feet. Women usually only
washed their feet once every two weeks.
 “Some estimate that as many as 2 billion Chinese women
broke and bound their feet to attain this agonizing ideal of
physical perfection.”
 "I didn't want to bind my feet, but the whole village told me
that I had to. So I did." –Wang Lifen
Evidence/Quotes
 Kayan women of Northern Thailand can wear up to 25 coils
around their necks.
 "At first there is some discomfort, but it is worth it for it is
beautiful." –MaeBlae

First set of coils are typically received at age 5 and weigh
about 4 ½ lbs. New rings are slowly added.
 Worn in African and Asian cultures to create the appearance
of an elongated neck.
 “As the weight of the coils press down, the clavicle is lowered,
and with each addition to the neck rings it falls further,
compressing the rib cage as well. The shoulders finally fall
away to give the appearance of an elongated neck.”
Topic 6: Young Girls
 Recent research shows almost 50% of girls between the ages of 11 and 16 would consider cosmetic surgery to
improve their appearance
Receive the message at an early age that they must be attractive in ordered to be valued, leading them to believe
that their value lies in the judgments of others.
 According to the Supergirl Dilemma study, ¾ of girls in grades 6-12 and ½ of girls in grades 3-5 worry about their
appearance. 74% of high school girls and 56% of middle school girls are stressed about their appearance. ¾ of
the girls in this study feel pressured to please everyone around them; 84% dislike that this is true.
 Girls between the ages of 12-21 suffer from the lowest levels of self-esteem.
 Low self-esteem leads to increased rates of depression, eating disorders, sexual activities, abusive relationships
and poor choices.
 In 2008, 18-24 year olds had the highest approval rating for cosmetic surgery. In a survey of people 18+, 69%
were in favor of cosmetic surgery, increasing 7% from 2006.
 53% of 13 year old girls in the US are unhappy with their bodies, by the time they’re 17 the number rises to 78%.
 In a study by the University of Central Florida, almost half of the girls between ages 3 and 6 were worried they
were fat.
 According to the Canadian Medical Association Journal, about 1 in 3 pre-adolescent girls are trying to lose weight
and 1 in 10 show symptoms of an eating disorder.
 In 2010 a total of 13.1 million body parts were surgically altered, 5% or 655,000 of patients were under 20 years
old.
 Many girls and women hold unrealistic expectations when they decide on surgery and end up being dissatisfied
with the surgery results and may request to have repeat procedures, experience depression and adjustment
problems, social isolation, family problems, self-destructive behaviors and anger toward the surgeon and his/her
staff.
 72% of 15-17 year old girls worldwide avoid certain activities due to feeling bad about their looks
 Between 50 and 70 percent of girls of normal weight believe they are overweight.
Explanation
Evidence/Quotes:
Toddlers & Tiaras
 Wendy Dickey dressed her 3 year old daughter, Paisley, up in
a costume that resembled Julia Roberts’ prostitute outfit from
“Pretty Woman”. Paisley was wearing thigh high black boots,
a tight mini skirt, a skin-baring halter top and a blonde wig.
Dickey doesn’t see anything wrong with her choice, claiming
it was “tasteful and funny”.
 Another mother dressed her 4 year old daughter up as Dolly
Parton, complete with fake C-cup boobs and a fake butt.
 Pageant “requirements”: fake nails, false eyelashes, eyebrow
wax, hair pieces/wigs, spray tan, fake teeth, “slapped-on”
smiles
 “Little girls are supposed to play with dolls, not be dolls” –
Mark Sichel
 The preparation these young girls have to go through can
cause tremendous confusion, leaving them to wonder why
they aren’t good enough without being dolled up.
 “The message the children get is not one about confidence of
competition, but rather that beauty lies above everything
else.” –Phil Giannotti
 Dr. Nancy Irwin, a Los Angeles-based psychotherapist warns,
“Men can pose as agents/managers and track you/your girl
down through the show.”
 By participating in these pageants at such a young age
children can have developmental problems and can struggle
with separating competition from reality. Their parents often
spoil them and subconsciously train them to believe that their
value is based on their pose, smile, hair and clothes.
Explanation
Evidence/Quotes:
Beauty Pageants
 China is making history with the world’s first Miss Plastic
Surgery contest. This contest is not for “naturals”, only for
those who have “suffered for their beauty” by getting plastic
surgery.
 In 2003, then 17 year old Yang Yuan underwent 11 surgeries
to enter the Miss Intercontinental beauty contest.
Unfortunately she was disqualified when someone found her
before-and-after surgery ad.

Topic 7:
“Real Beauty”
Explanation
Classrooms/Education in media literacy
Evidence/Quotes:
 Pictures of celebrities such as Britney Spears, Matthew
McConaughey, Keira Knightley, the wife of the French
president and ex-model Carla Bruni are being shown to
children as young as 10 in schools to expose enhancing
tricks of the media.
 Some say these lessons are taking away from academics
while Simon Lawton Smith, Head of Policy at the Mental
Health Foundation, argues that “it is important that children
understand that what they see is not necessarily the reality.
Enhanced and idealized images of children’s role models can
lead to low self-esteem, anxiety and depression, and
concerns about weight and body shape increase the
possibility of developing an eating disorder.”
Explanation
Katie Halchishick
Evidence/Quotes:
 Model Halchishick becomes the human diagram with Barbie’s
proportions are surgically outlined on her body.
 Only half of what she’d need done: a brow lift, a jaw line
shave, rhinoplasty, a cheek and neck reduction, a chin
implant, scooped-out shoulders, a breast lift, liposuction on
her arms, and a tummy tuck.
Explanation
My Body, My Life Program
Evidence/Quotes
 An eight-week internet-based group program for 12-18 year
old girls with a range of body image concerns, or unhealthy
eating behaviors.
 MBML’s goal is to “reduce body dissatisfaction and eating
problems in girls, ultimately helping them to feel happier and
less preoccupied with their bodies and appearance”.
Evidence/Quotes
 A bipartisan legislative bill that establishes a national task
force that would develop voluntary guidelines and other
measures to promote positive media images of girls and
women.
 The bill would support media literacy programs, promote
research on the effect of media images on young people, and
encourage the adoption of voluntary guidelines to promote
healthier media images for youth.
 If the Healthy Media For Youth Act is passed, it will support
efforts to ensure youth improve their media literacy skills and
receive positive messages about girls and women. It will help
promote healthy and diverse body images, develop positive
and active female role models, as well as portray equal and
healthy relationships between men and women.
Evidence/Quotes
 Protest was organized by the New York Radical Women
(N.Y.R.W.)
 27-year-old Robin Morgan attacked the "ludicrous 'beauty'
standards we ourselves are conditioned to take seriously."
 The "Freedom Trash Can" was where women tossed items
such as dish detergent, false eyelashes, wigs, curlers, copies
of magazines (Ladies Home Journal and Playboy), high
heels, bras and girdles. It was rumored that the women
burned the items in the trashcan but protesters were unable
Explanation
Healthy Media For Youth Act
Explanation
Protest of 1968 Miss America Pageant
to get a fire permit.
A crowd of mainly unsympathetic young men, gathered
around to watch, and suggested that the women throw
themselves in the "freedom trash can."
Evidence/Quotes
 A cultural movement that began in the 1960s aiming to erase
the belief that the natural traits of African Americans, such as
skin color, facial features and hair, are ugly and less
desirable.
 The movement asked that men and women stop
straightening their hair and bleaching their skin in attempt to
reach the unattainable European-Americans’ standard of
beauty.
Evidence/Quotes
 A global effort designed to help widen today’s stereotypical
view of beauty.
 Since 2006, Dove has produced nearly 2,700 self-esteem
educational workshops around the world.

Explanation
“Black is Beautiful”
Explanation
Dove Campaign For Real Beauty/Self-Esteem
Fund
Topic 8: Extreme Cases
 “Skin-lightening creams sell as fast as toothpaste in Africa and Asia; the mothers of 8 year olds in America
remove their daughters’ ribs so they will not have to worry about dieting; 5 year olds in Manhattan do strict asanas
[yoga postures] so they won’t embarrass their parents in public by being chubby; girls vomit and starve
themselves in China and Fiji and everywhere; Korean women remove Asia from their eyelids…the list goes on
and on.”
Explanation
Heidi Montag
Evidence/Quotes:
 At only 23 years old, Heidi Montag underwent 10 surgical
procedures in one day. She had a mini brow lift, Botox in
forehead and frown area, a nose job revision, fat injection in
cheeks, nasolabial folds and lips, a chin reduction, neck
liposuction, her ears pinned back, a breast augmentation
revision, liposuction on waist, hips, outer and inner thighs and
a buttock augmentation.
 She also had a nose job, collagen lip injections and breast
implants going from A to C cups when she was 21.
Explanation
Cindy Jackson
Evidence/Quotes:
 When Cindy Jackson was just 6 years old Barbie was her role
model and she wanted to look just like her. At 21 she moved
to London and at 33 she began her surgeries.
 Cindy set the world record with 52 plastic surgeries. She’s
had laser surgery on her forehead, her upper eyes done, her
lower eyes done twice, cheek implants, two nose jobs, four
facelifts, a chin reduction, several chemical peels, her upper
lift cut and rolled upward (to shorten the gap between her
nose and mouth), and more. Her eyebrows, eyeliner, lip liner
and full lipstick are tattooed on as well.
 The total cost rounds up to over $100,000, not including
maintenance, “Her lips will not permanently stay pouty.
They’ll have to be re-inflated every few months.”
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