Plus-Sized and Confident

It is not surprising that so many women are so displeased with their bodies. Did you know that the BMI (Body Mass Index) of Miss America contestants has decreased from normal in the 1920s to unhealthily underweight by the year 2000?

And as women in the media get thinner (whether in fact or by photoshop manipulation), obesity is becoming an increasingly worrisome problem in the United States and perhaps in other Western countries as well.

Perhaps, distressed at being unable to match the increasingly unrealistic idealized female body shape on the small and large screens, in magazines, and the Internet, many women find consolation in another chocolate bar or pint of ice cream. Then they buy diet products that promise to help them curb their appetites and achieve the perfect body that the before-and-after advertisements tell them is within their reach.

If you are interested in an informative academic article on this subject, click: Ideal Body Perceptions in the USA.

I believe that when we women learn to love ourselves in whatever shape body we currently find ourselves - and to walk with the self-assurance we see in the plus-sized models in the videos above - the more relaxed attitude and emphasis on health rather than on size - will help us achieve the balance that eludes us right now.