Glamour Body Image Survey Shows Social Media Is Making Women More Insecure
Thirty years ago, Glamour surveyed their big-haired, Scarsdale Diet-following readers about their body image; hey, it was the 80s! Even then, women told the magazine they felt too fat, were unhappy with their body, and they worried a lot about looking fat or “bulgy.” So when the magazine geared up to conduct the survey again in a time people are more accepting of bodies and their different shapes and sizes, they expected these feelings to be different. While they certainly were, it wasn’t for the better.
“I won’t sugar coat it: these were some difficult [survey] results, Cindi Leive, Glamour’s editor-in-chief, told The Today Show. The results being 54 percent of women ages 18 to 40 are unhappy with their body, a 13 percent jump from 1984, and 80 percent of women admitted the mirror makes them feel bad. Men, too, are unhappy with their body 33 percent of the time, but women internalize this much worse. Case and point: Success at work is the leading cause of happiness for men, while losing weight still stubbornly holds the number one spot for women.
But don't point a finger at the photoshopped magazine covers; look to social media. “Celebrities, we all know, have a lot of help," Leive said. "They have a whole pack of trainers and dieticians who help them feel good about their bodies. But really, when you’re looking at women on social media, you’re thinking that’s the girl next door. If she can do it, I ought to be able to do it.”
The girls next door include your friends and neighbors who crop and filter photos the same way you do. Only somehow, in the process of liking and favoriting, you forget the picture has been altered. He or she doesn't really have that tiny of a waist, yet it doesn't stop you from assuming so at first glance. In fact, Glamour found the more time women spend online, the worse they feel about themselves.
You can watch her speak more about this in the video below, and click over to the magazine's website for more survey results.