Poll finds women unhappy with body image

Eighty per cent of Australian women are dissatisfied with their own body image, researchers say.

And 90 per cent told the University of Queensland researchers they knew other women who were unhappy with their shape.

While the air-brushing of models' photographs - the subject of recent debate - seems to matter little, there is a call for a greater diversity of body shapes in fashion magazines and advertisements, studies show.

Using a greater variety of women as fashion models is a "marketable alternative" to the stick-thin waifs dominating fashion magazines, health psychology researcher Renee Fletcher told AAP.

"Obviously, there have been clear links between exposure to ultra-thin models which are currently over-utilised in the fashion and advertising industries and poor body image," Ms Fletcher said.

"There have been calls to eliminate thin models and replace them with more average and realistic-sized models."

Ms Fletcher said there had been little research into the topic, so she and research partner Phillippa Diedrichs had monitored an internet forum debate on the website of a popular Australian women's fashion magazine.

They monitored 65 women debating models' body shape in 300 separate posts.

They found there was a good deal of confusion about what constitutes a healthy female body shape.

There was also concern about the normalisation of obesity and the ways in which average-sized models are marketed.

"If we are going to change these images in the media we need to look at consumer reactions because there's no use in changing these unless we know what consumers feel about it," she said.

Ms Fletcher said there was a clear advocacy for more diversely-shaped models, but also a desire that thin models were not eliminated.

"Thin models were seen as a source of aspiration ... like a beauty and weight Holy Grail," she said.

"So while wanting more diversely-shaped, more relatable bodies, at the same time they still liked the idea of using thin models."

She said while there was sympathy for underweight models because of possible eating disorders, those with overweight body shapes were blamed for not doing something to lose weight.

Psychology honours student Jessica Ahern said most women were dissatisfied with their own body and wanted to see more diversity in the media.

She found that 80 per cent of the respondents to her study of 332 women were unhappy with their body image.

The study also indicated a need to portray different races, sizes and cultures.

"There is a lack of representation of different cultural groups," she said.

The research was presented to the Australasian Society for Behavioural Health and Medicine annual scientific conference in Brisbane this week.