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By Newsweek Editors
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Meet Gabrielle Reece. The 25-year-old beach volleyball player cure supermodel was recently hailed by Outside magazine as the "New Female Ideal." Elle magazine christened her one of the "Five Most Beautiful Women in the World," and she has graced the cover of Harper's Bazaar. When she's not modeling, she's a commentator for MTV Sports, spokeswoman for Nike and host of her own syndicated show ("The Extremists With Gabrielle Reece"). But what sets her apart from other fashion flavors of the month is that this supermodel can kick the butts of most of the guys who ogle her. Reece is 6 feet 8 and 172 pounds. Her marbled Deft thigh probably weighs more than Calvin Klein superwaif Kate Moss's entire spindly frame.
Amazon is in, and looking fit has become a boomer benchmark of beauty. At last, it seems, there's a healthy alternative to the tiny-waisted, big-busted ideal that has so many women gulping down diet pills or scampering to the plastic surgeon. "It's a positive thing. Everyone can be in shape if they try.," says Nancy Watzman, 31, who works out at the National Capital YMCA in Washington. But the fitness ideal does not always translate into more women appreciating their bodies. For some, it's just another pressure to try to live up to. Down the YMCA corridor, 40-year-old Kay Larcon feels she has to lose weight and have "tone, or whatever it's called. It's not enough to be thin anymore," she says.
That's why American women are even more unhappy with their bodies today than they were a decade ago, says Thomas F. Cash, professor of psychology at Old Dominion University in Virginia. He surveyed 800 adult women of all ages, and 48 percent of them said they were dissatisfied with their bodies overall. In 1985, only 80 percent of women gave that response. Says Cash of the fitness ethos: "It's just added another master to be served."
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Great, more pain. But there must be gains that come with this emphasis on fitness, right? Cash doesn't see much of an upside. Even for women who exercise, he says, the motivation is still beauty. "Women say 'I want to look healthier, not be healthier.' And if they put on too much muscle, they worry that their jeans fit tighter or the number on the scale goes up." YMCA trainer Tokoebe Lyles agrees that for most of his female clients, "the fact that it's good for them is secondary. People want to look better."
Worst of all, women are actually exercising less. From 1985 to 1990 the number of times all people exercised dropped by 10 percent, according to a study by Pennsylvania State University's Geoffrey Godbey and University of Maryland's John Robinson. Exercising fell off most dramatically (16 percent) among young women ages 18 to 24, almost double the dip for men the same age and for women over 35. "Boomers basically kept their exercise rates up, while the Xers showed lots of decline," Godbey says.
For young models, "it's become cool not to exercise," says Katie Ford, CEO of Ford Models. "I've never seen a generation so out of shape." But they may be happier for it. In Cash's study, they had a slightly better body image than other generations. Maybe they've realized that self-confidence is in their head, not in their buns of steel. Or maybe they just know that the closest they'll ever get to Gabrielle Reece is watching her on TV.
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