Three Facts The Media Does Not Want You To Know
By Nancy Hill, Thu Dec 8th

I don't know about you, but I usually feel rotten after I leafthrough one of the popular women's magazines. Have you evernoticed suddenly feeling ugly, fat, frumpy, or flawed afterreading a copy of Vogue, Glamour, Mademoiselle, etc.? Well, it'snot a coincidence. The fact is that most women's magazines don'texist to inform, help, or entertain us. The sole reason fortheir existence is to sell us stuff ~ mostly stuff we don't evenneed.

How do they do that successfully? In marketing, it's called"creating a need." They make us feel bad about ourselves sowe'll buy products to fix us. It's a nasty little game theyplay...

1. Magazines cater to advertisers on what content to offer. Forexample, they won't publish photos of women who love and accepttheir normal bodies. If they do run an article with that idea(which doesn't happen often), they'll accompany it with a photoof an underweight model. Women who love their natural bodiesaren't good customers for the diet advertisers.

2. They consistently depict images of unattainable beauty.Models generally stand about 5'9" and weigh around 110 pounds.The average American woman is 5'4" and weighs 140. Most of usare never going to look like models no matter how hard we try.And not even models themselves can live up to thephotoshopped-to-perfection images that are created when theirphotos are digitally "airbrushed." The media specifically setout to convince us that we are unattractive unless we look likethese fake images. Blatant ads or "recommendations" within thearticles convince us to eagerly buy products.

3. Then they keep changing the rules. Every magazine issue has abetter diet, different makeup, and/or the latest style. Theycontinually promote

the newest, best, improved, reformulated,etc. products. There is no way to ever keep up so we keep buyingand buying, ever hopeful that the latest purchase will make uslook and feel good.

It's a bad trade-off. We spend our days feeling bad aboutourselves and squander our hard-earned money on junk. We wasteour life energy in a futile effort to change our bodies.Meanwhile, the media and advertisers skip happily along withtheir ever-expanding profits.

Well I don't know about you, but I'm tired of the message. I amchoosing to not look at magazines that depict unrealistic imagesof beauty, that make me feel bad about myself, or that showendless images of emaciated actresses. I've decided to like whoI am rather than trying to emulate anyone else.

I'm taking back my life and telling the media to take a hike.And I'm on a mission to invite others to join me. I'm tired ofwomen wasting their money and their lives. I invite YOU to joinme in walking away from the emotionally violent content oftoday's women's magazines. I believe that we are each beautifulin our own unique ways. I'm all for taking delicious, nurturingcare of ourselves and for being well-groomed.

But I also believe women have a lot to offer the world beyondhow we look. And I'm calling on all of us to enjoy life and makea difference in the world instead of wasting our time and moneytrying to attain the media's impossible version of perfection.

About the author:©2005 Nancy Hill has helped thousands get free of the dietingnightmare with her ebook, "Undieting - 11 Simple Steps toReclaim Your Body and Your Life." Sign up now for the Free 7-DayUndieting Email Course and discover how to get your lifeback. Feel free to reprint this article, just use the wholearticle with this resource box attached.