Overweight Women Dislike Their Bodies.

With rates of obesity escalating worldwide, a survey of American women reports that 70% of overweight females (vs. 41% of thin women) like their bodies less than they like themselves and suggests that this negative body image is fueled by unrealistic images of females portrayed in the media. Conducted for the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Foundation with technical assistance from Shape Up America!, the survey findings underscore how cultural stereotypes about women's bodies affect their long-term health and reveal that many overweight women are stigmatized about body image.

Twenty-eight percent of the overweight females surveyed said that the women they see in the media make them feel worse about their body. Seventy-seven percent say media can have a negative effect on women's health because they set unattainable standards for appearance.

"These results are not academic; they translate into ill health," emphasizes Barbara J. Moore, president of Shape Up America! "We know that people are more likely to improve their eating and exercise. habits if they feel good about themselves. In our culture, idealized and unattainable body images of women undermine self-esteem and make healthful changes less likely."

According to the poll, which compared the views of females in three different weight categories, overweight women give lower ratings than others not only on how they feel about their bodies, but how they judge their self-worth. On a scale of one to 10, 17% of overweight women rated their bodies as a nine or 10, in comparison to 38% of...