Hi everyone, I'm in my 3rd year of uni at Leeds and doing my dissertation piece on how media portrayals of women in the mass media may effect women and their body image.

-I'm trying to find out whether women compare themselves to women in the mass media such as in adverts and in the magazines and does this effect self esteem?
-Is this the route problem with low self esteem and negative body image concerning women today or is it something else?
-Would you prefer to see normal, non-models women in adverts, or is it the glamour of models thats entices you?
-Would using 'real' women make you buy products more so and help with a more healthy body image?
-How successful is the Dove campaign in your eyes and is this the way forward for advertising? Should other beauty companies continue in this direction?
-What should change concerning advertising?
-Are shows like 'How to look good naked' helping you to feel better about yourself and why?

Any trains of thought or other suggestions would be most appreciated, your gender, location and age would help me greatly also. Any insights or views will help me lots in trying to pin point some of my answers and give me some interesting insights.
Thanking you

Emma

I find the Dove campaign interesting, as although the women are more normal sizes, none of them are particularly large and all of them are, in my opinion, quite attractive. I'm not sure the whole concept is quite as radical as people make out

Beauty companies, particularly cosmetic companies are probably always going to use fairly attractive women, because that is what sells their product

I think a lot of women do compare themselves to those in the media; but I also think that they will compare themselves to regular women in the street too. It's human nature.

The media will have an effect on how women see themselves; however I can't help thinking that most women who are constantly comparing themselves to others and beating themselves up about how they look have very low self esteem anyway - they would probably feel the same even without the media

In terms of advertising, the type of model doesn't really make me more or less likely to buy a product. The things that would make me consider buying something would be what it had to offer over the competition rather than who was modeling it

hi, i think the media needs to take some responsibility for example they could feature real sizes in features on clothes, just recently i saw a copy of the suns article online praising crystal renn for putting on weight and further down the page an advert for weight loss! The media is full of mixed messages, Heat mag is often a culprit, featuring celebs that they reckon has pot on weight and will then feature a real sized woman, i think women would be helped if models were featured that were more realistic, i am in my 49s and live in stockport, hope this helps, Goks programme does help as he features real women with the same insecurities that most women face.

ah i meant toput in my 40s that was a mistake, just in case it matters!

I'm not sure that any emphasis is put on the image of the "perfect" female that so many men are hit with and the impact that can have on women.

How can a normal women - especially one who has had children and the stretch marks and cellulite that go with it - compete with that?

And if your partner has those expectations then where the hell do you go?

I really do not think there are definitive answers to many of these questions.

There harldy seems to be any two women agree on a good look/ figure. The main aspects that are discussed/ shown in the media are the extremes.

It seems our views are similar, maybe even influenced by American views.

I wonder what shape and size Scandinavian,Balkan, Oriental or Australians talk about!