Article Review: An Endangered Species In The Stomach

Submitted By jkashi03
Words: 448
Pages: 2

A. 022279—K
B. Scientific American, 2005—February
C. “An Endangered Species in the Stomach” pp. 38 – 45 (7 pgs.)
D. February 23, 2015
E. 10 points
F. I have carefully read this entire article and I did not copy and paste material or plagiarized in the writing of the report.

The author of this article gave the definition of body image as a subjective concept of one’s physical appearance based on self-observation and the reaction of others. There are problems with this definition that I will talk about later on in this article summary. The article tried to cover the history of the perceived body image in the United States dating all the way back to the 1900’s. The Girl Scouts of America did a study recently and found that 59% of girls were dissatisfied with their body shape; 66% wanted to lose weight; 66% correctly identified themselves as being either normal weight or overweight; and 33% had a correct image about their weight. Another study showed that Caucasian females had greater body dissatisfaction than African American females. Even with all of the dissatisfaction with their body image, Americans are still heavier than ever right now. More than 66% of adults in the United States are overweight, and more than 32% are obese. One reason that young girls are dissatisfied with their weight and body image is because of the toys that they play with. Girls and even some guys play with Barbie dolls and GI Joe figures that have the perfect body appearance. Seeing this makes the young children want to grow up to be like them. When they grow and see that they are not like the Barbie dolls they become dissatisfied. Another aspect of everyday life causing body dissatisfaction would be