Law of Attraction Magazine February, 2016 | Page 9

Women of t he Worl d,
Unit e!
Banish Body Image Anxiet y! Bring Back
Body Conf idence One Woman at a t ime!
That is my message and that is my mission:
to take action against the pressure to be
?perfect?! When ?perfection? is unrealistic,
imaginary, and potentially dangerous to our
health, it?s time to turn our
backs on the media
standards for real-life,
red-blooded women?s
bodies!
Mass Media Mania
The mass media idealizes
thinness and demands
impossible standards for
women to consider
themselves ?attractive?.
Print and broadcast
advertisements, television,
film, and music exalt the
tall, white, thin, tubular
blonde haired woman
(usually with implants) as the ideal. Because
of the prevalence of these images presented
as the norm in all media, modern women are
forced to acknowledge the difference
between what they see in their bedroom
mirrors and those unreal presentations of
perfection. In a 2004 Westminster
University publication, Professors Dittmar
and Howard made this statement regarding
the prevalence of unrealistic media images:
?Ultra-thin models are so prominent that
exposure to them becomes unavoidable and
'chronic', constantly reinforcing a discrepancy
for most women and girls between their actual

size and the ideal body.?
Since then, according to the same research team
(Dittmar and Howard), women?s sizes have
grown larger, while societal standards of body
shape have become thinner. And only a very
small percentage of women in Western Countries
live up to the criteria the media uses to define
beauty. This universal increase in beauty
pressure for women of all ages and sizes to
meet media?s impossible
standards has increased our
negative feelings about our
bodies. The same year as the
Westminster report (2004),
Dove? Industries studied the
effects of these images on
women?s self-esteem and
discovered that onl y 2% of
women worl dwide f el t good
about t heir appearance!
That?s both sad and crazy!
And no news to me!
Ironically, 2004 was the time
` in my coaching practice that
my clients?concerns seem to
focus less on lifestyle success
and more on specific body
issues. Diet, exercise, and their apparent failure
to lose weight, keep in off, and reduce their
jeans?size became the dominant subject matter
in our sessions. As a former dancer/ choreographer and professional fitness expert, I
expected the majority of my clientele to hire
me because of my knowledge and experience
in those fields. As a certified Law of Attraction
specialist, I knew my expertise went beyond
simple diet and exercise, so I included those
principles in my practice and attracted the
clients who would most benefit from my whole
person approach.
Page 9 - February, 2016