Since the dawn of communication, media has been used to convey news and ideas to anyone willing to take the time to absorb them. Beginning with the printed word and soaring to unimaginable heights with the inception of radio, television and, more recently, the internet, media is able to shape popular culture and influence public opinion. I believe, however, that when abused, the power of the media can harm the general public. Media and its depiction of the ideal body weight are creating problems of low self-esteem, poor body concepts and a rise in eating disorders through spotlighting unrealistic body images.
             Women have always been concerned with their appearance and it would be difficult to find a culture that doesn't see physical beauty as important. America, however, is taking it to the extreme. It is disturbing that so many women and girls today are led to believe that the only way to be beautiful and desirable is to be pencil-thin with their ribs visible and their collarbones protruding. Women are dieting more today than they have ever done before. They are striving for an unattainable body figure that is portrayed by the media as being the ideal standard for today's woman.
             Female personalities have grown steadily thinner in recent years, with the full-breasted, curvy Marilyn Monroe-type figure of the 1950s and 1960s fading into oblivion. The average female model of today is 5'11, 110 lbs-maintaining her weight at about 15 or 20% below what is considered healthy for her age and height. The average real-life American woman is 5'4", 140 lbs. The difference in these two body types is staggering. The pendulum began to swing the other way in the 1970s and it is now out of control. We have a generation of women so self-conscious about their bodies that it is affecting their health.
             In the past decade there has been a direct link between the exposure to thin-ideal media and the rise in eating di...