It pains Lauren Greenfield to see how American girls and women increasingly confuse their appearance with their identity. She derives this observation in part from the book The Body Project by the social historian Joan Jacobs Brumberg. The book suggests that in the United States, girls are less protected by traditional institutions such as the family and religion. That makes them more vulnerable to advertising and media, in which the body and physical appearance play a prominent role. One consequence is that many girls and women regard their body as a project, in the belief that it is the most important expression of their personality.

Photographer and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield (b. 1966, United States) focuses on the youth and body culture in the United States. Thin, her film on the treatment of anorexia, received prizes at various international film festivals.