On the heels of a website's digital creation of a plus-size Barbie, a teen girl has started a change.org petition asking Disney to create a "plus-size Disney princess." She writes: "If Disney could make a plus-size female protagonist who was as bright, amazing and memorable as their others, it would do a world of good for those plus-size girls out there who are bombarded with images that make them feel ugly for not fitting the skinny standard."
Immediately, some pundits were in an uproar predicting that plus-size role models would result in an epidemic of obesity. An obesity expert on Fox, in particular, snarkily warned that Disney would have to follow their plus-size princess by creating a diabetic princess.
Has nobody noticed that -- despite the overwhelming representation of extremely thin to thin body types in the media -- we are currently facing an obesity epidemic?
As I pointed out when I created the NYC Girls Project to encourage positive girls' body image and self-esteem, the way to promote a healthy weight is through exercise and healthy eating, not by making girls feel bad about their bodies -- and certainly not by bombarding them with images of an unattainable, or unhealthy, "ideal." In fact, studies show that stigmatizing kids who are overweight results in weight gain and, somewhat unexpectedly, dieting and body obsession also result in overweight and obesity.
The disturbing reality is that younger and younger girls are unhappy with their bodies: Over 80 percent of 10-year-old girls are afraid of being fat. By middle school, 40-70 percent of girls are dissatisfied with two or more parts of their body, and body satisfaction hits rock bottom between the ages of 12 and 15.
And we know that a not insignificant amount of this unhappiness results from exposure to unrealistic and singular media representations of girls and women. A 2010 study by Girl Scouts of the USA and The Dove Self-Esteem Fund showed that:
•While 81 percent of girls would rather see "real" or "natural" photos of models than touched-up, airbrushed versions, 47 percent say fashion magazines give them a body image to strive for.
•While 63 percent of girls think the body image represented by the fashion industry is unrealistic and 47 percent think it is unhealthy, 60 percent say that they compare their bodies to fashion models, 48 percent wish they were as skinny as the models in fashion magazines, and 31 percent of girls admit to starving themselves or refusing to eat as a strategy to lose weight.
So: despite recognizing the images they see as unrealistic, unattainable, and often not even real, so many girls still aspire to meet these images and then suffer when they can't help but fail to do so.
But now, some are actively reaching out to decision-makers and asking for help and change! As the petition author recognizes and points out "Disney films are highly influential and wide-spread, and they impact the lives of many children, especially girls."
The fear that a diversity of size in role models will damage our girls is a false one. The real risk is the damage we perpetuate by maintaining the status quo.