I counsel a lot of teenage girls and I know a lot of young women personally. Basically
everyone I talk to struggles with body image. It is now the norm for women to be dissatisfied with their bodies.
[I found this postcard on the postsecrets site.]
* Over one-half of teenage girls and nearly one-third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting, and taking laxatives (Neumark-Sztainer, 2005).
* Girls who diet frequently are 12 times as likely to binge as girls who don’t diet (Neumark-Sztainer, 2005).
* 42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner (Collins, 1991).
* 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat (Mellin et al., 1991).
* The average American woman is 5’4” tall and weighs 140 pounds. The average American model is 5’11” tall and weighs 117 pounds.
* Most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women (Smolak, 1996).
* 46% of 9-11 year-olds are “sometimes” or “very often” on diets, and 82% of their families are “sometimes” or “very often” on diets (Gustafson-Larson & Terry, 1992).
* 91% of women recently surveyed on a college campus had attempted to control their weight through dieting, 22% dieted “often” or “always” (Kurth et al., 1995).
* 95% of all dieters will regain their lost weight in 1-5 years (Grodstein, et al., 1996).
* 35% of “normal dieters” progress to pathological dieting. Of those, 20-25% progress to partial or full-syndrome eating disorders (Shisslak & Crago, 1995).
* 25% of American men and 45% of American women are on a diet on any given day (Smolak, 1996).
* Americans spend over $40 billion on dieting and diet-related products each year (Smolak, 1996).
National Eating Disorders Association's Information and Referral Helpline: 1-800-931-2237 and website:
www.NationalEatingDisorders.org
Teach them to ask questions about the images they see in the media:
I have actually heard food network star Paula Deen say, "Isn't this just sinful?" when referring to a dessert she just made. 
Dove Chocolate tells us, "Eating chocolate is an intimate and personal experience..."
Paris Hilton demonstrates her apparent sexual passion for a hamburger in this famous ad. 
Burger King tells us "have it your way" meaning that by eating their food we get to have whatever we want.
Splenda had a big ad campaign with pictures of hearts and sweet family moments equating eating foods made with splenda with having love.
Jif Peanut Butter had their famous tagline "choosy moms choose Jif" implying that to be a good mom you will serve your kids Jif. 
McDonalds talks about love in their ad and also say "We love to see you smile." They're ready and available to make us feel happy. 
[I found this postcard on the postsecrets site.]
The presenter is Jean Kilbourne and she has a fantastic book that is a must read. To visit her site and find out more click here.
I have this friend that is always going on and on about being a "man's man". He talks regularly about what it means to be "the man." Little did I know he was just watching too many commercials like these: Hardee's commercial stating "Guys don't bake!" 
It's been a while since I've seen a romantic comedy that I actually liked. I loved the interaction portrayed between the main character, Dan, and his three daughters in this fun movie. I think it was pretty honest about some of the struggles of adolescent girls. (Also if you see it note the huge gap between the interaction of the two teen daughters versus the younger with their father... so common.) I also loved the family dynamics in this movie. I think it probably makes a lot of people wish they had a big family that would all vacation and play tons of games together...or maybe that was just me?