Open the new issue of Vogue magazine. Check out the glossy photos of super model Kate Moss. How does it make you feel about yourself?
According to a recent U of T study looking at photos of young, thin, beautiful models can actually make women feel good about themselves. This contradicts the old assumption that looking at cover models makes the rest of us feel bad.
“Everybody assumes that people’s reactions are negative,” says psychologist Dr. Peter Herman who supervised the study. “Various theories of eating disorders have suggested in the past that exposure to media images, by which I mean thin, attractive models, drives girls to diet.”
His study, conducted by undergraduate student Ramon Joshi, looks at the first link in a possible chain of events that could result in an eating disorder: how do women react when they see these images?
Co-supervisor in the study, Professor Janet Polivy, reveals that the most positive response was from chronic dieters. “They look at the pictures and fantasize ‘Oh wouldn’t it be great to look like that. When I lose 20 pounds I’m going to be able to wear that dress,’ or ‘I’m going to be able to look that good.'”
Dieting girls seem to identify with the models rather than compare themselves to them. They begin to develop a fantasy about being like those models.
“A fantasy usually involves yourself doing something or being in some situation that is normally out of reach for you,” explains Herman. “While you sustain [the fantasy], you can enjoy imagining yourself being a glamorous, sexy model.”
Herman does not have direct evidence to support his theory. “We simply invoked this fantasy explanation as the most plausible [reason] why looking at these models would make the girls feel good,” he says.
Polivy believes the fantasy goal develops when people think about themselves, not the pictures.
She bases this on the fact that after looking at magazine photos the girls were given an unrelated questionnaire about themselves to fill out. “The girls were not asked about the pictures at all,” comments Herman.
Other studies have found that looking at pictures of models causes women to feel bad. “It’s pretty straight forward,” Herman explains. “It’s a social comparison explanation that says, ‘Well, I’m me and she’s her, and she looks great and by comparison to her I really look horrible.'”
But what this older theory fails to explain is why, if looking at these images makes women feel bad, do they go out of their way to keep looking at them?
“Young women consume these images ferociously; in magazines, television, movies…why would they do that if it was making them feel worse and worse?” asks Herman.
So girls are eager for the images because through them they can picture themsevles as models. But when young women believe they can and should be like Elle Macpherson or Tyra Banks, eating disorders can develop.
The old theory suggests that women can overdiet as well, but because they feel miserable, not hopeful.
“So you end up dieting through the positive or the negative route,” concludes Herman. “I don’t think either way is particularly healthy. Misery isn’t a great state of mind, but fantasies have their problems as well. It’s fun to indulge in [them], but when you start to believe them or accept them to the point of trying to make it part of your life, then you know you’ve got a problem.”
“But if they’re held up as something to aspire to and not necessarily be,” adds Polivy, “then they’re more inspirational and people can wind up feeling good.”
