A new study finds that women over 40 are rarely used in editorial and advertising images, even in magazine like Vogue with one-fifth of its readership being women over 50. While this in and of itself may not seem like a big deal, the question is what's the trickle-down effect?
It's easy to focus on how superskinny models negatively influence young women's body images, but stats show that older women may be affected by this unrealistic body ideal as well. Whether the cover models and actresses are young — or old but airbrushed to look 20 years younger — this underrepresentation of realistic, middle-aged women could be contributing to this age group having eating disorders, says the author of this latest study. For example, research from 2001 found one percent of middle-aged women have bulimia compared to 0.9 percent of women ages 18 to 25. I think it's time that magazines geared toward older women should match their cover models to their demographic. What do you think?
Click through to see some examples of over-40 cover models who show they can rock the glossies as well as, or even better than, the young 'uns.
