Mothers and Body Images
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- January
- 23
Where I live in Westchester there are tons of stick-thin women with stick-thin daughters. Which leads me to wonder: how can parents ensure they’re raising a daughter that is happy with her body image and one that does not ask for the gift of liposuction before she turns 16?
Sarah Maria Dreisbach, body image expert and founder of Break-free Beauty, explains that many women are at war with their bodies. “In a culture that worships thin, young, fit, and perfect, few of us can measure up. We’ve passed that dissatisfaction about ourselves on to our children. And they are paying the price.”
As you probably know, eating disorders are now the third most common chronic illness in adolescent girls and have the highest death rate associated with any mental illness. Research suggests that approximately 1% of female adolescents have anorexia, and approximately 4% of college-age women have bulimia. According to statistics posted by the National Institute on Media and the Family, 53% of American girls are unhappy with their bodies by age 13. That figure increases to a staggering 78% by the time girls reach 17.
Sarah Maria advises to honestly address our children’s concerns that we need to face our own demons first. Are we really unworthy if we aren’t fit and toned? Are we only loveable if we are shapely and un-wrinkled, un-blemished? Must we (and our daughters) be perfect to deserve space in the world?
“We have to deal with our own body loathing, at whatever level, before we can help the next generations,” notes Sarah Maria. “Only then can we make a stand for true beauty that is not dependent on dress-size.”
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 at 1:12 pm by Jeanne Muchnick.
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Thanks for taking notice and putting it out there! Please check out the Beautiful Women Project – we are working to raise awareness that women of all ages are beautiful regardless of their physical appearance. Our message: it is the sum of a woman’s experiences that makes her beautiful. The project has been touring and raising awareness since October of 2006b and we would love to come to Westchester at any time. Nancy Bruno
This is an important issue that our society needs to address. I just read the other day that Qualtrics, a top survey company, reported that 56% of Americans feel that they are obese. Obesity rates aren’t even near to that rate! Not only can negative body image be passed on through the media, but also through learning. This article is great because it shows that a mother with a bad body image can greatly influence the body image of her child.