A recent study conducted by Boston researchers concluded that adolescent girls believe they are overweight because fashion magazine spreads feature models who tip the scales at 108 pounds.

Forty-seven percent of young women said they wanted to lose weight because of the magazines’ pictures, but only 29 percent of those surveyed actually could be considered overweight.

If the media doesn’t re-evaluate who it features, the percentages will continue to be grim.

This is nothing new. The editors of women’s magazines, including YM and Glamour, didn’t express any shock at the statistics.

What is the counter argument? Is it that sex sells magazines and thin people are more attractive than heavier people?

No one can deny sex sells magazines.

However, more than half of American women wear a size 14 or larger. So why are the models who are featured in fashion spreads tend to look like they’ve been on steady diets of Tic-Tacs and rice cakes?

They’re certainly not representative of the “average American woman” or teen-ager.

A revolution in women’s magazines is so overdue, even the little steps that editors are taking seem laughable.

In fact, Seventeen Magazine is approaching a women’s magazine milestone; it’s featuring the first “plus-sized” model in a prom fashion spread.

And, of course, how big is this model? A gargantuan-sized 14, the same size as sexual icon Marilyn Monroe.

It’s bad enough that these rags tend to run features with titles such as “How to find a Guy,” “How to Keep a Guy” and “How to Please Your Guy.”

As if the articles didn’t make a vulnerable, young girl feel insecure enough, the pictures that accompany them certainly would.

But is it the fault of the magazines’ editors? Not entirely.

It’s society’s fault, and it’s society that has to change and evolve. If Americans hadn’t changed their ideals about beauty, young women would still be struggling to fit inside corsets and wrapping their feet.

Adolescence is difficult enough without the added pressure to look like Kate Moss or Cameron Diaz. These goals are just not attainable; it’s only with the aid of dieting and airbrushing that Cameron and Kate look like Cameron and Kate.

A better solution to curbing these percentages would be to start embracing a different standard of beauty — one that is more realistic.