While women have made great strides in recent decades, the culture at large is bound by narcissistic constraints on how women should appear. These unattainable beauty standards, widely disseminated through the media, have a drastic impact on women and their body image. Social standards of female beauty are presented in all forms of popular and alternative media, bombarding women with images that portray the ideal body. Such beauty standards are almost completely implausible for most women. Most celebrities and models seen on television and in advertisements are well below what is considered normal for American women. “The average American woman is 5'4" tall and weighs 140 pounds, while the average American model is 5' 11" tall and weighs 117 pounds. Most models are thinner than 98% of American women” (Being Truly Beautiful).Research conducted by Westminster College provides concrete evidence that three theories are primarily responsible for the negative mindset of the average American woman. These theories include: social comparison, cultivation, and self-schema Images seen in reality television, magazines, and advertisements. Each perspective has helped researchers examine the mechanisms by which media images result in body image disturbances in women. The Swan, a 2004 reality television program broadcast on FOX, in which women deemed visually unattractive were subjected to an extreme makeover that included various forms of plastic surgery. The show's title was a derivative of the fairy tale The Ugly Duck, in which a simple bird matures into a beautiful swan. Images seen on... center of sheet... the busy Liberal Arts College in Salt Lake City, UT, offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in liberal arts and professional programs, including business, nursing, education and communications . Np, nd Web. November 17, 2013. Thompson, J. K., & Coovert, M. D. (1999). Body image, social comparison, and eating disorders: A covariance structure model. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 26(1), 43-51.Thompson, J. K., & Heinberg, L. J. (1999). The influence of the media on body image disorders and eating disorders: we have insulted them, now can we rehabilitate them? Journal of Social Issues, 55(2), 339-353. Tiggemann, M., & Slater, A. (2004). Thin ideals in music television: A source of social comparison and body dissatisfaction. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 35(1), 48-58.