Princesses aside, many young girls worry they are fat

Parents who worry their young daughters may be overexposed to princess images on television and in movies and videos can take a small measure of satisfaction from a new study showing girls age 3 to 6 don't suffer body-image problems from observing these characters. However, the study still found that even little girls worry they are fat.

The role of media in shaping girls' perceptions of their appearances has been a concern for many years. Several studies suggest that grade-school-age girls and teens compare themselves with fashion models and television and movie stars and may become dissatisfied with their own appearance as a result. But the new study, which surveyed 121 U.S. girls, found they were not affected by watching "Cinderella" or Belle in "Beauty and the Beast." Half of the girls watched videos of pretty, thin heroines and half watched videos that did not contain appearance-related messages. After observing the girls' behavior during play, the researchers concluded that young girls were more likely to adopt the persona of the princess instead of focusing on her appearance.

Despite this positive finding, 31% of the girls said they always worried about being fat and another 18% said they sometimes worried about being fat, according to the study, conducted by the researchers from the University of Central Florida.

The new Disney movie "The Princess and the Frog" opens this week in Los Angeles, providing a good opportunity for parents to talk to their daughters about perceptions of beauty. For example, parents can point out how the princess' waist is unrealistically tiny and that no one has perfect skin.

"We need to help our children challenge the images of beauty, particularly thinness, that they see and idolize and encourage them to question how much appearance should be part of their self-worth," said the lead author of the study, psychology professor Stacey Tantleff-Dunn, in a news release. "We should help them build a positive self-image with an appreciation for many different types of body attributes."

The study is published online this week in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology.

-- Shari Roan

Photo credit: Actress Anika Noni Rose arrives at the premiere of Walt Disney Pictures' "The Princess and the Frog" at the Disney Studios in Burbank. Credit: Kevin Winter  /  Getty Images.

Not all women hate their bodies

Overweight and obese women being treated at an inner-city family-planning clinic apparently don't assess their physical characteristics in quite the same way that medical professionals do. They tend to like their bodies.

In a study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, most overweight and obese women underestimated their body size when comparing silhouettes of body shapes -- and some of them chose heavy silhouettes as their personal ideal.

Previous research had found ethnic differences in whether or not people see themselves as overweight or obese. And this study confirms that African American and Hispanic women are especially likely to underestimate their body size. (The few white women in the study overestimated their body size.)

The researchers, from Temple University, are understandably chagrined by all of this. They point out that the health risks of being overweight mean women ignore reality at their own peril. And they say the findings show the need for more education about the negative effects of "excessive body size."

It's true. Of course it is, but ...

Physical self-appreciation among women is so very rare. Here's hoping that the education doesn't actually do damage.

-- Tami Dennis

Photo: Self-perceptions, as with reflections, vary by person.

Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Watching plastic surgery on TV causes anxiety

Reality television shows that focus on physical transformation, such as "The Swan," "Dr. 90210" and "I Want a Famous Face," may be highly entertaining but, to some women, they also create high anxiety. A study published in Configurations, the official journal of the Society for Literature, Science and the Arts, found that women equate beauty with wealth and social status and that the more they watch these shows, the more likely they are to feel anxious about their bodies.

USC professor Julie Albright surveyed 662 male and female college students in Los Angeles and Buffalo, N.Y. The majority of the respondents said the makeover shows made the women more beautiful and made the respondents less satisfied with their own appearance, especially particular features such as their legs or waist. This "beauty anxiety," said Albright, may lead them "to more often seek reassurance about their disliked feature from others, to feel more worried about their disliked feature in public and social settings, and to become more upset when someone notices or comments on it."

The women in Buffalo appeared to have more anxiety over their appearance than those in Los Angeles. The Buffalo students were from families with an average lower income compared with the students in L.A. While the L.A. students tended to see their "problem bodies" as a moral failing, the women in Buffalo believed their body issues were keeping them from success. As reality shows have become more prevalent, and have featured women from all walks of life, women may see plastic surgery as a valuable step in achieving social and economic success.

"Women are being taught to access power and status through their looks," Albright said in a news release. "Before women might buy a Louis Vuitton purse to show off their 'status.' Now they might buy new breasts as a sign of their success."

-- Shari Roan

Photo: A "Swan" participant prepares for plastic surgery. Credit: Robert Voets/Fox

For overweight women, roadblocks to exercise may be in their head

Let's be honest -- most of us are able to exercise, we just choose not to. We set up our own roadblocks that undermine whatever intentions we may have to be physically active.

But obese women may have more of those roadblocks. A study presented at the Obesity Society’s annual scientific meeting in Phoenix this week found that obese women create more mental barriers that keep them from exercising than normal or underweight women.

Researchers from the Center for Obesity Research and Education and the kinesiology department at Temple University in Philadelphia surveyed 105 overweight and obese women and 173 normal and underweight women enrolled in a home-based exercise promotion trial. Overall, the overweight and obese women told of more perceived obstacles to exercise than their slimmer counterparts. They were more likely to feel self-conscious about how they looked while exercising, felt they lacked self-discipline, hated to fail so didn’t try, feared injury, viewed activity as hard work, had minor aches and pains, and felt too overweight to exercise.

Overweight and obese women who had these stumbling blocks at the beginning of the study were less likely to be physically active at a 12-month follow-up.

But rather than interpret these barriers as rationalizations, researchers saw them as challenges that need addressing. "These might sound like excuses to some people," said lead author Melissa Napolitano, associate professor of kinesiology, in a news release, "but for those who have these aversions, they’re real problems."

Tailored programs, she added, are necessary to help overweight women clear these hurdles and sustain a weight-loss program.

-- Jeannine Stein

Photo credit: George Briggs

Hollywood's beauty secret, out at last

As the fear of hard economic times infects, yes, even Hollywood, plastic surgeons and beauty consultants are pitching lower-cost alternatives to pricey face-lifts: Botox, lasers and all variety of creams, some of which reporter Shari Roan explored in one L.A. Times story on stem cell ingredients, and in another story on exotic botanicals.

Even a segment of the Daily Show once sent reporter Larry Wilmore to Beverly Hills to see how the rich and beautiful are coping, what with less wealth available to spend on beauty. He heard resident Goldy Anthony lament, "I haven't had Botox in 8 to 9 months," while Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Kotler said, "I guess you can judge the economy by how many wrinkles are out there."

Now, according to a news release from Frownies Facial Pads, a Hollywood secret, kept under wraps since the product first came out in 1889, is out of the bag. The low-cost cosmetic treatment consists of craft paper with glue backing, called Wrinkle Eradicators in the 19th century, and still available under the new name. For about $20, customers get 144 of the sticky pads. You simply moisten the pad, stick it around the forehead, frown lines or crow's feet before bedtime, and wake up with skin that is smooth and youthful.

The trouble is, there are no scientific studies backing the face-taping process, which claims to retrain skin cells to be wrinkle-free, according to a site that reviews wrinkle creams. And of 66 people who took the time to write a review of the product on a website, some swear by the pads, while others say they're a waste of money.

But, with recession in the air, they are definitely cheaper than plastic surgery.

-- Susan Brink

Photo: Tom Sobolik/Black Star/Picture Quest. Brushstrokes on life's canvas? Or just plain old wrinkles?

Physically nude, emotionally naked

Fifty-four women have bared all -- bodies and minds -- for a new book showing off (proudly) the female body in just some of its myriad forms. "This Is Who I Am: Our Beauty in All Shapes and Sizes" reveals the strength and frailties inherent in the bodies of the young and the old, the heavy and the thin, the small-breasted and the wide-hipped, the tattooed and the scarred.

And then author and photographer Rosanne Olson goes further, sharing the women's very real stories. Emily, 22, reflects on her seemingly normal appearance -- and the part of her lung lost to cystic fibrosis. Donna, 39, is learning to accept the body she wishes were 60 pounds lighter. Jan, 88, a dancer before World War II, has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Loti, 38, loves her brown skin and cares not whether she has hair. Gretchen, 42, likes her wide shoulders and finds her mastectomy scar interesting.

Olson, who has battled anorexia and worked with breast cancer patients, says she wants the book to awaken women to the beauty within each of them, to not feel bound by stereotypes, by the perceptions of others or by their own imagined imperfections. "My hope is that this book will be a catalyst for compassionate conversation among women and men everywhere," she says in the introduction.

The photographs are beautiful, to be sure, but the stories are what give the women their power -- or, rather, acknowledge the power they already possess.

But we're a product of our culture. Or biology. If there's a woman out there who, looking at this book, does not automatically compare herself positively or negatively to the photos therein, please, please, let me know. And tell me how you mastered that instinct.

And if there's a woman out there who, looking at this book more closely, does not see the beauty of these women and the strength in their stories, please share that as well. I'd like to know how that's possible.

-- Tami Dennis

Photo: Book cover, Workman Publishing