Fashion Industry Pressures Teen Girls to Be Skinny: Survey

The fashion industry is at least partly to blame for American girls' fixation on being thin, according to 89 percent of respondents who took part in a survey released by the Girl Scouts of the USA.

The poll of more than 1,000 girls ages 13 to 17 also found that 88 percent said the media puts a lot of pressure on them to be skinny, United Press International reported.

Among the other findings:

* Other strong influences on how teen girls feel about their bodies included peers (82 percent), friends (81 percent) and parents (65 percent).

* Nearly one-third of respondents said they have starved themselves or refused to eat in an effort to shed pounds, 42 percent said they know someone their age who has induced vomiting after eating, and 37 percent said they know someone their age who's been diagnosed with an eating disorder.
* 81 percent of the teen girls said they would like to see natural photos of models instead of digitally altered and enhanced images.

Despite their criticism of the fashion industry, about 75 percent of the girls said fashion is "really important" to them, UPI reported.

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