I respectfully disagree that it has more to do with general self- confidence and gender roles although that certainly may be a part of it for many women. My original point dealt with a phenomena called "self-objectification." In this culture, most women are socialized to obsess on their appearance. There is an old cliche "tell a man he looks awful and he thinks he must look awful. Tell a woman she looks awful and she thinks she IS awful." This preoccupation with appearance can literally affect how a woman performs on a daily basis. I am including an Alternet article that talks about the studies where girls who self-objectify have a harder time throwing soft balls. The split in concentration caused by self-consciousness affects their physical coordination. The article also refers to the studies where women who take math tests in their bathing suits had lower test scores. There were no differences in test scores for men who took the tests in their bathing suits. Sorry I don't have the time to hunt down the original studies, but this article makes its point fairly well: http://tinyurl.com/create.php The solution is to realize how unrealistic the media images are. Attractiveness, health, charisma, and leadership skills come in packages much much more diverse than what is represented in MSM. Those images focus on deliberately create dissatisfaction to sell products, they intentionally undermine the self-confidence for health self-esteem!