长篇阅读(段落信息匹配).docx

Beauty and Body Image in the Media
[A] Images of female bodies are everywhere. Women—and their body parts—sell everything from food to cars. Popular film and television actresses are ing younger, taller and thinner. Some have even been known to faint on the set from lack of food. Women’s magazines are full of articles urging that if they can just lose those last twenty pounds, they’ll have it all—the perfect marriage, loving children, great sex, and a rewarding career.
[B] Why are standards of beauty being imposed on women, the majority of whom are naturally larger and more mature than any of the models? The roots, some analysts say, are economic. By presenting an ideal difficult to achieve and maintain, the cosmetic and diet product industries are assured of growth and profits. And it’s no accident that youth is increasingly promoted, along with thinness, as an essential criterion of beauty. If not all women need to lose weight, for sure they’re all aging, says the Quebec work for Women’s Health in its 2001 report. And, according to the industry, age is a disaster that needs to be dealt with.
[C] The stakes are huge. On the one hand, women who are insecure about their bodies are more likely to buy beauty products, new clothes, and diet aids. It is estimated that the diet industry alone is worth anywhere between 40 to 100 billion (.) a year selling temporary weight loss (