A new study published in PLoS ONE demonstrates that when women are shown pictures of other women in a range of body sizes, the participants feel more comfortable with the varying sizes.
That means we'd probably be more accepting of the fact that bodies come in all shapes and sizes, instead of the usual Candice Swanepoel and Miranda Kerr body types.
When the women were shown photos of anorexic women, attitudes became more positive there, too. "Showing them thin bodies makes them like thin bodies, more, and showing them fat bodies makes them like fat bodies more," says Lynda Boothroyd, a psychology researcher at Durham University in England, who led the study. She calls it a "visual diet," changing what your eyes eat.
That's an interesting concept - a "visual diet"- to combat weight issues and illnesses such as anorexia and bulimia.
[
NPR via
PLoS ONE]