Is high street fashion damaging your body image?
Recently, I’ve had the sheer pleasure of shopping for a wedding dress in some beautiful stores across London. As magical as this experience has been, I found myself reflecting that high street fashion is still far less body-neutral and body-diverse than I’d hoped to see in 2023. Whilst it’s hard to imagine that fashion doesn’t play a role in shaping our body image, to what extent is it responsible for distorted and potentially damaging beauty standards?
Research has shown that young women, and increasingly all genders, are extremely sensitive to visual messaging promoting unrealistic body ideals. Early interaction with Barbie dolls has been shown to lead to greater thin-ideal internalisation in young girls (1), whilst exposure to Western television in adolescent Fijian girls led to greater preoccupation with their body shape (2). This preoccupation eventually led to some young women developing an eating disorder in an attempt to control their weight (2).
The thin-ideal clearly permeates popular culture, consolidated by familial, peer and media influences, and even modern day healthcare. This ideal impacts women's psychological wellbeing and is a serious risk factor for disordered eating and eating disorders among young people and adults (3). Currently there are an estimated 1.25 to 3.4 million people in the UK with an eating disorder (4). These numbers are on the rise with the NHS reporting a 25% increase in the number of children and young people starting treatment for an eating disorder in 2022 - a new record demand for services (5). Worryingly, these numbers still don’t account for the number of individuals struggling with disordered eating habits or poor body image, both key risk factors for the development of an eating disorder (3). Disordered eating poses significant risk to our physical health, depriving the body of essential nutrients it needs to function, grow, and thrive. Additionally, eating disorders are associated with a rise in depression and anxiety placing a significant burden on our mental health (6).
The Study
This study (7) aimed to explore whether fashion retailers promoted realistic body standards by examining the size of male and female mannequins used in high street stores across the UK. The researchers also examined if the stores changed the size of the mannequin depending on the age of the consumer targeted.
Methods
Two independent masked researchers (one male and one female) visited national chain fashion retailers on the high streets of Liverpool and Coventry with at least one mannequin on display. They completed two visual rating scales, a BMI based body size guide and a contour drawing rating scale, which depicted body sizes ranging from very thin/underweight to obese.
To ensure all body sizes were depicted on these scales, researchers added a much slimmer or larger figure than the first and last figures resulting in a rating scale between 1 and 11 for the contour drawing scale and 1-12 for the BMI based body size guide rating scale.
Based on responses from 30 members of the general public, stores were categorised into the following target age ranges: under 30 years old, 30-50 years, 60 years and above, or no specific age range.
Results
17 stores were visited resulting in the visual assessment of 32 female and 26 male mannequins.
On average, female mannequins were given ratings corresponding to the underweight body size on both the contour and BMI scales (2.9 and 1.4, respectively).
On average, male mannequins were given ratings corresponding to a healthy body weight on both the contour and BMI scales (4.8 and 2.8, respectively).
Female mannequins were significantly thinner than male mannequins using both scales.
100% of female mannequins were underweight, whilst only 8% of male mannequins were underweight.
There was no difference in the size of the female mannequins in stores targeting a younger age group, but a significant difference in the size of male mannequins (male mannequins were smaller in stores targeting younger age groups).
Strengths
The use of national retail chains provided very representative data, meaning that the data collected in these stores will be similar to what the average person in the UK will see.
Limitations
The use of visual rating scales may have introduced some bias into the results, since they are not as accurate as anthropometric measures. However, further analysis showed that the two researchers agreed on the size of the mannequins 84% of the time, which implies low variability between body size estimates.
Conclusion
Overall, the findings from this study showed that female mannequin body size represents a very underweight woman for stores targeting all age groups. This is particularly concerning for younger women with research showing those 19 years and under may be more vulnerable to thin imagery (8) making them highly susceptible to internalisation of (very) unrealistic beauty standards. However, additional concerns are raised for women in the higher age categories. The natural hormone and age-related changes experienced by women throughout life move their bodies further away from unrealistic fashion-led physical ideals with more potential for psychological harm.
Interestingly, the findings showed that male mannequins represented a healthy weight man. Whilst this highlights the disproportionate pressure on women to be “thin”, it is important to appreciate that men may face other societal pressures such as being more muscular (9). This study did not test this, nor did it directly investigate the effect of fashion retailer mannequins on body image. However, given that mannequins are used to sell beauty ideals, it is presumed that widespread use of underweight female mannequins may cause body dissatisfaction and thus poses a risk to the development of eating disorders (6).
These results confirm concerns that the so-called ‘ideal body’ we are programmed to aspire to, is far from ideal for a woman. This should act as evidence and a strong reminder that it is not you that needs to change to emulate the mannequin. It is the mannequin that needs to be remodelled to represent the body of a healthy woman. Unfortunately, since 2017 (and at the time of writing), there has been no wide-spread or sustained initiative taken by retailers or governmental bodies to address this concern. But it’s not all bad news. Thankfully, in recent years there has been an overwhelming amount of support for the body neutrality movement online, with social media beginning to include more diverse and real representations of beauty. Long may this continue! Whilst we still have some way to go, perhaps we are slowly approaching a place where society is starting to value all women, all genders, and all bodies?
I remain hopeful.
REFERENCES
1. Rice K, Prichard I, Tiggemann M, Slater A. Exposure to Barbie: Effects on thin-ideal internalisation, body esteem, and body dissatisfaction among young girls. Body Image [Internet]. 2016 Dec [cited 2023 Jul 25]; 19: 142-149. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27697597/ doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2016.09.005.
2. Becker AE. Television, disordered eating, and young women in Fiji: negotiating body image and identity during rapid social change. Cult Med Psychiatry [Inteernet]. 2004 Dec [cited 2023 Jul 25]; 28 (4):533-59. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15847053/ doi: 10.1007/s11013-004-1067-5.
3. Thompson, J. K., & Stice, E. Thin-Ideal Internalization: Mounting Evidence for a New Risk Factor for Body-Image Disturbance and Eating Pathology. Current Directions in Psychological Science [Internet]. 2001 Oct [cited 2023 Jul 25]; 10 (5), 181–183. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8721.00144 doi: 10.1111/1467-8721.00144
4. Beat Eating Disorders. Statistics for Journalists [Internet]. [cited 2023 Jul 25] Available at: https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/media-centre/eating-disorder-statistics/
5. NHS England. NHS treating record number of people for eating disorders [Internet]. 2022 Mar [cited 2023 Jul 25]. Available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/2022/03/nhs-treating-record-number-of-young-people-for-eating-disorders/
6. Stice E, Shaw HE. Role of body dissatisfaction in the onset and maintenance of eating pathology: a synthesis of research findings. J Psychosom Res [Internet]. 2002 Nov [cited 2023 Jul 25]; 53 (5): 985-93. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12445588/ doi: 10.1016/s0022-3999(02)00488-9.
7. Robinson, E., Aveyard, P. Emaciated mannequins: a study of mannequin body size in high street fashion stores. J Eat Disord [Internet]. 2017 May [cited 2023 Jul 25]; 5, 13. Available at: https://jeatdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40337-017-0142-6#citeas doi: 10.1186/s40337-017-0142-6
8. Groesz LM, Levine MP, Murnen SK. The effect of experimental presentation of thin media images on body satisfaction: a meta-analytic review. Int J Eat Disord [Internet]. 2002 Jan [cited 2023 Jul 25]; 31 (1): 1-16. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11835293/ doi: 10.1002/eat.10005.
9. Edwards C, Tod D, Molnar G, Markland D. Perceived social pressures and the internalization of the mesomorphic ideal: The role of drive for muscularity and autonomy in physically active men. Body Image [Internet]. 2016 Mar [cited 2023 Jul 25]; 16: 63-9. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1740144515001357?via%3Dihub doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2015.11.003
This article was researched and written with the help of Noor Wadi, MSc GHP & HCPC Registered Diabetes Dietitian, and wonderful intern at Holly Dunn Nutrition.
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