MATT CAPOWSKI/Arizona Daily Wildcat Mimi Nichter, author and assistant professor of anthropology, talks about teenage girls' body images yesterday at the ILC. Nichter said most teenage girls identify their conception of "the perfect girl" as being 5'7," 100 to 110 pounds and blonde.

Negative body images can limit one's potential

When she moved from Hawaii to go to the UA, Chelsea Richards knew she'd face a drastic environmental change.

What she didn't expect was such a different atmosphere in terms of body image.

"My friends and I at home ate whatever we wanted and didn't worry about our weights," said Richards, a political science freshman.

"Here, I see girls who look so thin and frail everyday, and a lot of the girls I've met have serious issues with their bodies."

It was this culture shock that prompted Richards along with more than 100 others to attend "Fat Talk: Listening to Teenage Girls Talk About Their Bodies" yesterday.

Mimi Nichter, assistant professor of anthropology and the author of "Fat Talk: What Girls and Their Parents Say About Dieting," addressed issues about the female teenage body.

Nichter, who has conducted extensive research on issues affecting young women's body images, said women's concern with appearance may be limiting their potential.

"We need to begin to appreciate diversity in terms of size," she said.

When asked if they had recently dieted, 60 percent of girls said "yes," but one-half of those girls dieted less than one week.

Teenage girls identified their conception of "the perfect girl" as being 5'7", 100 to 110 pounds and blonde.

"More than half of teenage girls are a size 13 or larger," Nichter said. "Being perfect was an unattainable dream that led to a devaluing of their own looks."

Marcie Leimsieder, a family sciences senior, said that Tucson's warm temperatures prompt skimpier clothing - making body image an important issue at UA.

"I think that this is a very image-oriented campus," she said.

Although Nichter's research focuses primarily on middle school- and high school-aged girls, she said that body image is also a serious issue during college.

Nichter explained "fat talk": when girls complain about their weights so they will be reassured by their friends.

"My thinking is that young women talk openly about their bodies in high school, but by the time they get to college, they're supposed to accept their bodies," Nichter said. "This just makes the fat talk more internal; it goes underground."