![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The diminishing self image of the American Woman
http://my.ev1.net/english/news/newsarticle.asp?articleID=49743760&subject=health
More Girls Try Taking Steroids to Tone Up
An alarming number of American girls, some as young as 9, are using bodybuilding steroids not necessarily to get an edge on the playing field, but to get the toned, sculpted look of models and movie stars, experts say.
Girls are getting their hands on the same dangerous testosterone pills, shots and creams that have created a scandal in major league baseball and other sports. Often, these are the same girls who have eating disorders, according to some research.
"There's been a substantial increase for girls during the 1990s, and it's at an all-time high right now," said Charles Yesalis, a professor of health and human development at Pennsylvania State University.
Lloyd Johnston, a University of Michigan professor who heads an annual government-sponsored survey on risky behavior by young people, said: "Other than pedophilia, this is the most secret behavior I've ever encountered."
Overall, up to about 5 percent of high school girls and 7 percent of middle-school girls admit trying anabolic steroids at least once, with use of rising steadily since 1991, various government and university studies have shown.
Researchers say that most girls are using steroids to get bigger and stronger on the playing field, and they attribute some of the increase in steroid use to girls' rising participation in sports. But plenty of other girls are using steroids to give themselves a slightly muscular look, they say.
"With young women, you see them using it more as a weight control and body fat reduction" method, said Jeff Hoerger, who runs the staff counseling program at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
In the past couple of years, he has helped two young women using steroids one an 11th-grader with "an average figure" whose swimmer friend suggested steroids would help with weight loss. "She was just looking for quick results," Hoerger said.
The sports medicine division at the Oregon Health and Science University found that two-thirds of Oregon high school girls who admitted using steroids were not athletes and that girls who were considering taking steroids had tried other, risky ways to get thin.
"They were more likely to have eating disorders and to abuse diuretics, amphetamines and laxatives," said Dr. Linn Goldberg, head of the division.
In teenage girls, the side effects from taking male sex hormones can include severe acne, smaller breasts, deeper voice, irregular periods, excess facial and body hair, depression, paranoia and the fits of anger dubbed "roid rage." Steroids also carry higher risks of heart attack, stroke and some forms of cancer.
Researchers say youngsters generally get illegal anabolic steroids on the black market from relatives or friends, from the local gym and over the Internet. At least one study indicates some parents and coaches supply steroids to teen athletes.
Dr. Eric Small, chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on sports medicine, said adults should gently ask youngsters about possible steroid use.
"Talking about supplements and steroids needs to start in the third grade," Small said. "If you wait till ninth grade, it's too late."
More Girls Try Taking Steroids to Tone Up
An alarming number of American girls, some as young as 9, are using bodybuilding steroids not necessarily to get an edge on the playing field, but to get the toned, sculpted look of models and movie stars, experts say.
Girls are getting their hands on the same dangerous testosterone pills, shots and creams that have created a scandal in major league baseball and other sports. Often, these are the same girls who have eating disorders, according to some research.
"There's been a substantial increase for girls during the 1990s, and it's at an all-time high right now," said Charles Yesalis, a professor of health and human development at Pennsylvania State University.
Lloyd Johnston, a University of Michigan professor who heads an annual government-sponsored survey on risky behavior by young people, said: "Other than pedophilia, this is the most secret behavior I've ever encountered."
Overall, up to about 5 percent of high school girls and 7 percent of middle-school girls admit trying anabolic steroids at least once, with use of rising steadily since 1991, various government and university studies have shown.
Researchers say that most girls are using steroids to get bigger and stronger on the playing field, and they attribute some of the increase in steroid use to girls' rising participation in sports. But plenty of other girls are using steroids to give themselves a slightly muscular look, they say.
"With young women, you see them using it more as a weight control and body fat reduction" method, said Jeff Hoerger, who runs the staff counseling program at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
In the past couple of years, he has helped two young women using steroids one an 11th-grader with "an average figure" whose swimmer friend suggested steroids would help with weight loss. "She was just looking for quick results," Hoerger said.
The sports medicine division at the Oregon Health and Science University found that two-thirds of Oregon high school girls who admitted using steroids were not athletes and that girls who were considering taking steroids had tried other, risky ways to get thin.
"They were more likely to have eating disorders and to abuse diuretics, amphetamines and laxatives," said Dr. Linn Goldberg, head of the division.
In teenage girls, the side effects from taking male sex hormones can include severe acne, smaller breasts, deeper voice, irregular periods, excess facial and body hair, depression, paranoia and the fits of anger dubbed "roid rage." Steroids also carry higher risks of heart attack, stroke and some forms of cancer.
Researchers say youngsters generally get illegal anabolic steroids on the black market from relatives or friends, from the local gym and over the Internet. At least one study indicates some parents and coaches supply steroids to teen athletes.
Dr. Eric Small, chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on sports medicine, said adults should gently ask youngsters about possible steroid use.
"Talking about supplements and steroids needs to start in the third grade," Small said. "If you wait till ninth grade, it's too late."
no subject
The worst part is, no matter what, you can never compete with what PhotoShop can do to the female body.
no subject
no subject
Also, increasingly I notice that newspaper or "People Magazine" casual photos of celebrities suggest women with bodies no different than those of hundreds of thousands of other women - then you realize that the glamor photos are simply not real. They're all faked.
no subject
Examples
I've seen more extreme examples of the art somewhere... but this is the one I found first:
http://www.glennferon.com/portfolio1/index.html
New project....
She could sponsor selling inexpensive copies to school systems for showing to health classes. Girls and boys both need to see this--I know a friend whose husband freaked when she became ill and gained ten pounds. This did not bode well for the relationship.
Re: New project....
It's amazing. The girls are so normal looking until they coat them with makeup, wig them up and touch up their photos.
And then they judge them on how well they model and rip them to shreds and say all these horrible catty things about them. And then kick them out when they suck.
So it's all, this all the things that models have to go through to model, and mock the uber skinny chicks. I prefer the mocking of uber skinny chick portion of the show.
Re: New project....