When Jeffrey Zaslow interviewed the fourth graders, they were students at Marie Murphy School in Wilmette, an upscale suburb of Chicago. More than half of them were dieting to lose weight, and told Zaslow things like, I just want to be skinny so no one will tease me or Boys expect girls to be perfect and beautiful.
There may have been some truth to their beliefs, because one male classmate told Zaslow, Fat girls aren't like regular girls. They aren't attractive.
Today, the women, who are mostly in professional careers, believe that today's fourth graders have it worse, because models now look like toothpicks compared to the popsicle sticks they resembled in 1986.
Zaslow noted that in 2006, a Harris survey of 1,059 girls found that 60 percent believed you must be thin to be popular. That was up from 48 percent in 2000.
As one of the young women told him, Our Diet Cokes and Jane Fonda videos seem innocent compared to today.
Labels: social standards, body image
Posted By: Aspen/CRC
