Mirror, mirror: Why are American women dissatisfied with their bodies?

American women have a problem.You

can't blame it 100 percent on the media, although researchers estimate

women see 400 to 600 images each day promoting weight loss, or a "thin

look."Neither are family and friends unduly responsible for this problem. But they have been shown to contribute.The

bottom line is, most women in this country are dissatisfied with their

bodies, according to psychologists and nutritionists. Studies show as

many as 86 percent of American women want to lose weight, and girls as

young as age 5 have been shown to engage in dieting."Body-image

dissatisfaction is an epidemic among women," said Katherine Beals, a

dietician and associate professor in the University of Utah's nutrition

division.While there is no one reason why so many women

struggle to love how they look, researchers believe culprits include

the media, family and also historical views of women's bodies as

aesthetic objects.Nicole Hawkins, a psychologist and director

of clinical services at the Center for Change in Orem, Utah, works with

people struggling with anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders.From

her perspective, groups such as the media, clothing companies and the

weight-loss industry help contribute to an overarching "message of

perfectionism" that women receive from society.Consider: Many

of the images women see from these groups are of models who have been

digitally airbrushed to unrealistic proportions, according to Hawkins.One

recent example is a Ralph Lauren advertisement. The model in the ad had

been digitally slimmed to the point her head was larger in width than