" (2). Miss America is a pageant that supposedly supports not only a woman's body, but her mind as well. Thomas McCarthy states "the pageant exists for the purposes of providing personal and professional opportunities for young American women.(2). On an average, contestants are fifteen percent below the recommended body weight for their height. (Levitt and Schneider 2). The voluptuous Marylin Monroe was a size twelve, and she was the epitome of what was considered beautiful. Today actresses and models are rarely seen over a size six. Anne Marie Gibbons, an eighteen year old girl from New York, said her desire to be thin was fueled by anyone she saw in the movies, she said she always wanted to look like the person on the magazine cover. She was one of the millions of girls in America whom suffered from an eating disorder (2). I found some surprising information on page 4 of Levitt and Schneider's article, "even some of the most beautiful stars choose or are required to use body doubles for nude or semi-nude scenes--as, for example, Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman." Shockingly enough, even Hollywood felt Julia Roberts was not perfect enough to be shown semi-nude. There is an overwhelming importance put on being beautiful by the media. Women could use the extra time and effort into pursuing things that interest them, or about being passionate toward a charitable cause. Instead, they feel in order to be successful as a woman they must be thin.
.
As a country we strive for instant gratification, which carries over into the dieting world. .
When dieting is taking too long, or we are not getting the results we want, American women turn to the quick fix. Cosmetic surgery is an area of the medical field that has grown tremendously in the last 10 years. Liposuction has become one of the most popular surgeries. The procedure is described in Judith Gingold's "Adventures in Liposuction." .