How much pressure does media play?

[LancesMom]

On womens self esteem? Is media the culprit to how we see ourselves. Or do we as women have higher expectations of ourselves and put alot of the stress on ourselves needlessly?

[stormcris]

Personally, I think other women are the culprit. I had an 82 year old lady tell me once I was gaining weight and needed to stop eating. She wasn't the first from that age group I have heard say these things. Media was not as prevalent when the corset was around and thinking back to Gone With the Wind it was expected for women to have a tiny waist. Even the Ancient Egyptians did all kinds of things to make themselves more beautiful.

[Della529]

I don't know how much the media has to do with some women's self-absorption and cattiness, but I do think we perpetuate the problems by believing in the idea of the perfect body, perfect skin, perfect teeth, perfect hair, etc.  This has been happening for centuries, and I do wonder if it's biological.

[lilyrose73]

For me, I put pressure on myself when it comes to my weight. My DH couldn't care less how much I weigh, in fact I think he likes it when I put on a few pounds because my boobs are bigger LOL. I am not overweight at all, but I work out a lot and watch what I eat because I don't like how I feel or look if I gain 5 or 10 pounds. Plus my 2 good friends are super skinny and I don't want to be the fat friend (they would NEVER make a comment about my weight, it's totally me that feels like that). I think Della is on to something when she says it might be biological.